Reflective Bible Study

In our passage for this entry is a pretty well known example of giving, but what many people don’t expect to find is a picture of Jesus hidden within it. Sure, Jesus is the one making the point and drawing our attention to God’s truth about giving, but in a subtle way, He is also drawing our attention to God’s character – and His upcoming gift to the world.

“Calling his followers to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people. They gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had; she gave all she had to live on.’” (v. 43-44)

While this widow has been held up as an example of sacrificial giving, part of me wonders if doing this also steals the spotlight away from Jesus, the ultimate Sacrificial Giver. In this event, the widow gives all the money she has to live on, but she still has her life – at least for the moment. In contrast, Jesus gave His life – which is very literally “all He had to live on”.

Stepping back to look at a bigger picture, we can also see a picture of God’s character. While God is the richest Being in the entire universe, the gift He chose to give was Himself, and One who was most loved by Him. In this way, God showed us – the actively sinning human race we are a part of – how much He loves us.

God, the richest Being in the universe, gave the ultimate sacrificial gift, which in turn allows us to accept the gift of forgiveness, grace, and eternal lives even though we have sinned.

When we think of people in the Bible who are humble, chances are that the person this passage focuses on is not among the highest on our list. However, in this passage, we see a glimpse of the character of John the Baptizer, and the glimpse we see is one that shows His understanding of His role in relation to the Messiah.

The key phrase that reveals John’s character is how he opens his response: “A man can get only what God gives him.” (v. 27)

This phrase summarizes a deep understanding of life and the secret of contentment. In the context, John is speaking of followers and fame, but if we look at the theme/idea surrounding this phrase, it can be applied to most every area of our lives in the marketing-centered society that we live in. Marketing tries to get you to feel like you need or would benefit from having something else; contentment says I am okay with what I have.

John follows up this statement by saying, “You yourselves heard me say, ‘I am not the Christ, but I am the one sent to prepare the way for him.’” and “He must become greater, and I must become less important.” (v. 28, 30)

John understands his role, and it is not being Jesus. He is content with the followers God has given him, but he understands his mission is to not collect followers, but to point the followers he collects to the actual Messiah. John seems thrilled to simply be living during a time when he could meet the Messiah personally.

“A man can get only what God gives him.” (v. 27)

While culture says that it is up to us (our drive, our connections, our talent, our determination, etc.), John counters this idea by pointing us to the source, and that all we are given ultimately comes from God.

The illustration Jesus shared in our passage for this post might seem a little discouraging to some. In this illustration, a persistent widow wears down a stubborn, indifferent judge. If it were not for the opening explanation and closing remarks, we might get the idea that God is like this judge, and that He needs lots of convincing to actually step in and act.

The key to this entire parable is spoken in the words of the judge: “For a while the judge refused to help her. But afterwards, he thought to himself, ‘Even though I don’t respect God or care about people, I will see that she gets her rights. Otherwise she will continue to bother me until I am worn out.’” (v. 4-5)

By finishing off the statement by looking into a future of persistence from the widow, the judge realizes he has met his match and decides that it is easier to simply grant the widow’s request then to keep ignoring her.

Jesus draws His point from the judge’s words. He says, “God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day . . .” (v.7a). However, if we stop reading there, it makes God appear to be like this judge, who only grants requests to the most persistent askers. Instead, Jesus finishes this verse off by saying, “and he will not be slow to answer them.”

Unlike the judge, Jesus/God will be quick to answer our prayers, and while the answer we receive might not be the one we wanted the most, it is the one God knows is best.

As Jesus and the disciples were headed to Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus pulls the disciples aside and tells them about what will happen to Him while they are there. Prior to this, Jesus’ followers already are aware that the Jewish leaders are looking for a way and time to arrest and kill Him, and it is likely that Jesus’ message here doesn’t ease their minds at all.

Mark’s gospel opens this event with an interesting description: “They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid.” (v. 32a)

This introduction is amazing in my mind because not only does Jesus know exactly what is coming, He is blazing the trail ahead right on schedule for it to happen. While this makes sense in most circumstances, the trail Jesus is leading the disciples on is the trail He knows will bring Him pain and death – even if He also knows that resurrection is in His future.

Mark tells us the disciples were astonished at Jesus, and those who followed were fearful. The whole group knows that Jerusalem includes the most powerful people who opposed Jesus, and Jerusalem was the place in the entire country where Jesus would be most easily condemned to death. The disciples are astonished that Jesus actively is leading the group towards certain death, and those following along are fearful not just for Jesus, but for themselves as well.

Often when a high profile arrest happened, those following would be arrested too, and there had been times in Roman history where all of a leader’s followers were executed (even crucified) along with the leader the Romans wanted to kill. If Jesus was correct with His prediction that death would meet them in Jerusalem (and He was), then those following along were completely justified in their fear.

But while Jesus blazed the trail forward, while the disciples were astonished, and while those following along were fearful, we don’t see any indication that the astonishment or fear present in the group caused people to stop walking with Jesus. All the disciples and all those following in the large group stayed with Jesus and this is important for us to remember.

We can learn from Jesus’ last trip to Jerusalem that sometimes we will be amazed, astonished, or even fearful when walking with Jesus, but we can trust that He knows the future, and that at the end of history, the safest place for us to be is beside Jesus – even if being beside Jesus has been scary at times.