Reflective Bible Study

One thing I always find fascinating is how Jesus interacts with those He is about to help. In some ways, it is as though Jesus always has His “teacher” hat on even while He is healing. In this passage, we find another example of Jesus teaching while also healing, but it is unique from many other examples because Jesus decides to push back against a popular idea: He must be present to heal.

Since this miracle is one of the earlier ones, and one of the first included in John’s gospel, part of me wonders if all the previous miracles Jesus did to heal people were ones where He was present to speak directly to the situation, and perhaps to place His hands on the person being healed.

Perhaps Jesus knew what this official would do, but Jesus, while responding to this official also speaks to the crowd of people following Him when he says, “You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me.” (v. 48)

Not really being deterred in his request, the official asks again, “Sir, come before my child dies.” (v. 49)

While Jesus could have waited for the child to die before going to raise him back to life (He did this in Lazarus’ case), Jesus uses this as an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of believing based on the evidence: “Jesus answered, ‘Go. Your son will live.’” (v. 50a)

In this event, Jesus pushed back against the idea that seeing is believing. Jesus knows that belief cannot always be based on physically seeing, and so He takes this event and uses it as a teaching example for believing in the evidence. The official understands and believes Jesus because immediately after hearing Jesus’ response, “The man believed what Jesus told him and went home.” (v. 50b)

This is one of the first examples of individuals who believed Jesus’ words at face value, and this official’s belief was rewarded, because we learn that at about the very time Jesus was talking, his child’s fever broke and his son began the road to recovery.

In this event, Jesus wants us to trust Him based on His word and the evidence we have. In this regard, we can have the same level of incredible faith that this official had when He believed Jesus at His word, and left knowing that his son would live.

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.