Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Spiritual Bias: Luke 22:66-71

Published November 23, 2023 in Audio Journal Entries

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Moving from the night of Jesus’ arrest and to the morning Jesus was ultimately crucified, we arrive at Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders. In order to condemn Jesus to death, the religious leaders needed to find something Jesus was guilty of.

While many of the gospels share different details about what happened during the twelve hours between the garden and the cross, the way Luke’s gospel frames Jesus’ trial is fascinating. Let’s read what happened.

Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 22, and we will read from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 66, Luke tells us:

⁶⁶At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, ⁶⁷and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”

But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. ⁶⁸And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. ⁶⁹But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”

⁷⁰They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”

And he replied, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹“Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”

In Luke’s version of Jesus’ trial, I am amazed at what the religious leaders actually latch on to as a condemnation of Jesus. While other gospel writers share this event differently, if we were to take and focus on Luke’s gospel alone, nothing in Jesus’ response sounds worthy of death in my mind.

Oddly enough, according to what we just read in Luke’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t really even claim to be the Son of God.

In case this didn’t stand out for you, let me read this passage again and pay close attention. Reading again from verse 66:

⁷⁰They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”

And he replied, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹“Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”

In this passage, all that these religious leaders actually hear is Jesus predicting that God would honor Him, which might not be acceptable in their minds, but it certainly isn’t worthy of death in my mind.

The only other thing Jesus says is that the religious leaders themselves are pressing the specific title onto Him. Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man, while the religious leaders are claiming Jesus’ title is the Son of God.

However, is there something happening behind the scenes in this passage that the religious leaders understand but we might not fully grasp living in a different culture and thousands of years removed from the first century world?

I suspect the answer is a yes.

While the conclusion of this trial was a clear setup according to Luke, because Jesus never really says what they claim to “hear” Him say, perhaps there is something lost in translation, or perhaps this was really the only sliver of an opening these leaders had to condemn Jesus.

The something I suspect that gets lost on us living so far removed from this event is that it appears as though Jesus references back to the unanswerable question He asked the Pharisees just a few days earlier. In Luke, chapter 20, verses 42 and 43, Jesus quotes David from the Old Testament who said: “The Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”

While this passage also doesn’t sound that significant, it is believed that David was quoting this conversation as being from God the Father to God the Son. With God the Son being the one to be honored at God’s right hand, we now have a solid context for why these religious leaders were upset with Jesus’ claim.

David has predicted that God’s Son would be the one to sit at God’s right hand, and Jesus has just stepped into claiming that position for Himself from that point forward.

When reading this passage, I am continually amazed at the religious leaders. I am very confident that these leaders understood Jesus’ reference to the position He would be given as equal to Jesus claiming to be God’s Son – even if nothing Jesus directly says claims this title. The religious leaders were smart enough to connect the dots when they wanted to find Jesus guilty of something.

However, the religious leaders were not smart enough to keep connecting the dots to realize that the Messiah God was sending to them would be rejected and killed by them. They didn’t realize that they would ultimately reject the Messiah that they were desperately longing would arrive.

It is the same with us today. Too often, we get so focused on one way of thinking that we stop being able to think there are other options, or other ways of interpreting the facts. Like these religious leaders, we know lots of information, but we have overlaid this information with a thick layer of bias that we cannot begin to see that the same information could really be telling other stories. It is this way when two people with different worldviews look at the same fossil record, or when two different people who are both very opinionated on opposite sides of the political spectrum describe the same political event.

The lenses we have on our eyes called our biases filter our lives through our beliefs. These biases lead to the religious leaders in the first century ultimately killing the Messiah God sent to them because Jesus didn’t fit their biased picture of who the Messiah would be.

Our biases today can just as easily cause us to miss out on signs God is sending or on amazing things He is doing in the world around us. Because our biases and beliefs filter the world around us, we must be extra diligent about what we use to form our biases and our beliefs. If left unchecked, our biases will stop us from truly learning anything new, and these same biases will trap us into missing out on seeing God.

The best way to combat bias in your life is to open up the Bible and read it for yourself. The amazing thing about the Bible is that it challenges every single bias we might have. The Bible challenges every area of science, every angle of politics, every angle of service, every angle of business, and every area of human interaction. The only thing the Bible doesn’t really cover is technology. The only way for you to know whether what I just said is actually true or not is to pick up the Bible and read it for yourself.

With that said, let’s wrap up this podcast with some direct challenges related to this big truth:

As I always begin by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life and intentionally place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus. Ask God to help remove any unhealthy biases from your life and ask Him to help you better reflect His love and His character to the world around you!

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself. Everyone has an opinion of the Bible, and it can be easy to simply take someone else’s opinion about what the Bible says and agree with it. However, with eternity on the line, accepting someone else’s opinion about the Bible is the worst thing you could do. It is like having a beautifully wrapped present in front of you and a stranger telling you it is just an empty box. If you believe the stranger and never open the gift, you will never truly know what was inside the box!

It’s the same way with the Bible. Don’t let someone else trick you out of discovering God’s gift to you through the pages of His Word.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or fall away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Year in Luke – Episode 47: When looking at Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders on the morning He is crucified, discover how the religious leaders’ bias causes them to actually condemn an innocent Jesus, or perhaps rightly condemn Someone who claimed much more than they should have.

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What Friendships Really Need: Luke 16:1-18

Published November 22, 2023 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Luke 16:1-18 (NCV)

¹ Jesus also said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man who had a manager to take care of his business. This manager was accused of cheating him. ² So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of what you have done with my money, because you can’t be my manager any longer.’ ³ The manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking my job away from me? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I’ll do so that when I lose my job people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁵ “So the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe?’ ⁶ He answered, ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write four hundred gallons.’ ⁷ Then the manager asked another one, ‘How much do you owe?’ He answered, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eight hundred bushels.’ ⁸ So, the master praised the dishonest manager for being clever. Yes, worldly people are more clever with their own kind than spiritual people are.

⁹ “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches so that when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever. ¹⁰ Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot. ¹¹ If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?

¹³ “No servant can serve two masters. The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.”

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who loved money, were listening to all these things and made fun of Jesus. ¹⁵ He said to them, “You make yourselves look good in front of people, but God knows what is really in your hearts. What is important to people is hateful in God’s sight.

¹⁶ “The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were preached until John came. Since then the Good News about the kingdom of God is being told, and everyone tries to enter it by force. ¹⁷ It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter in the law to be changed.

¹⁸ “If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.”

Read Luke 16:1-18 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Have you ever read a passage and assumed a specific detail was present, only to realize later that it is nowhere to be found?

This passage is one that is like this for me.

Up until now, when I read in this passage, I always assumed that when the master “praised the dishonest manager”, he also chose to not fire him – but this is nowhere stated, and not really even implied.

The dishonest manager is praised for using his last ounce of position to make friends, but while this puts a little bit of social pressure onto the master to not fire him, these actions themselves make the manager less trustworthy for this position than even before. The dishonest manager’s actions, while they made him some friends, sealed the decision in place that he should no longer be employed.

However, just under the surface is an interesting truth that goes along with this idea: When we are facing significant changes in our lives (such as a job loss in this case), we recognize that relationships are more important than money, knowledge, fame, or a large estate. This single event caused the dishonest manager, who likely didn’t have any friends (dishonesty will do that) to shift his focus onto making friends over accumulating stuff.

Significant life changes cause us to review and reprioritize our focus.

In your life and in mine, when we see big changes coming, we begin to look for ways to manage these changes. Most often in this search, we look for someone who can help us navigate the unknown. Moving through life’s challenges with a friend is much better than facing these challenges alone.

Everyone learns this lesson at some point. It is better to learn it now, before a significant event forces us to change. Facing trials changes our character: we either become more of what we were before, or we choose to change directions moving forward.

This dishonest manager shifted his focus from the money to the relationships. Would these relationships last? Maybe, but only if this event changed his character. Without honesty and/or integrity, friendships don’t last.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Giving and Receiving: Matthew 11:20-30

Published November 21, 2023 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 11:20-30 (NIrV)

²⁰Jesus began to speak against the towns where he had done most of his miracles. The people there had not turned away from their sins. So he said, ²¹“How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you, Bethsaida! Suppose the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon. They would have turned away from their sins long ago. They would have put on clothes for mourning. They would have sat down in ashes. ²²But I tell you this. On judgment day it will be easier for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ²³And what about you, Capernaum? Will you be lifted to the heavens? No! You will go down to the place of the dead. Suppose the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom. It would still be here today. ²⁴But I tell you this. On judgment day it will be easier for Sodom than for you.”

²⁵At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father. You are Lord of heaven and earth. You have hidden these things from wise and educated people. But you have shown them to little children. ²⁶Yes, Father. This is what you wanted to do.

²⁷“My Father has given all things to me. The Father is the only one who knows the Son. And the only ones who know the Father are the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to make him known.

²⁸“Come to me, all you who are tired and are carrying heavy loads. I will give you rest. ²⁹Become my servants and learn from me. I am gentle and free of pride. You will find rest for your souls. ³⁰Serving me is easy, and my load is light.”

Read Matthew 11:20-30 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Hidden in plain sight within this passage from Matthew’s gospel are two phrases that we may be tempted to skip over while reading. The first phrase directly relates to Jesus, and it focuses on something He has received from God.

Matthew tells us that following one of Jesus’ prayers, He says that “My Father has given all things to me.” (v. 27a)

This statement is a little perplexing if we think about it deeper, because what does Jesus mean by “all things”?

Does “all things” mean everything organic and inorganic in the universe?
Does “all things” mean all people, animals, and life?
Does “all things” mean remove an individual’s free will or free choice?

While we could answer yes to some or all of these questions, a more important and deeper question for us to ask is what caused God to choose to give Jesus “all things”? Aside from being His own Son, what made Jesus worthy to be entrusted with everything?

The clue we have comes from an unlikely place – which is the other phrase we may be quick to gloss over. Several verses earlier, prior while describing the cities where He had been rejected, Jesus says that “the people there had not turned away from their sins.” (v. 20b)

In these cities where Jesus spent much of His time, and where a good percentage of His miracles had happened, the people had not changed. Perhaps they believed Jesus to be special, significant, and maybe even sent from God, but it was not enough to convince them to give up the sin in their lives and/or their sinful lifestyles.

These people are condemned because they chose not to give up something when Jesus came offering something better.

In contrast, it seems as though Jesus continually gives things up. Jesus gave up heaven and He came down to earth to be with us. Jesus gave up fame and popularity numerous times by intentionally challenging those present about their lives and their focus. Jesus gave up His life so that others could be saved.

It is in Jesus’ nature to give up, and because Jesus is more other-focused than self-focused, He can be trusted with everything. God gave Jesus “all things” and that includes you and me. We didn’t have a choice in this matter. But the first thing Jesus did following receiving us as a gift is return our freedom of choice. We cannot change the scope of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, but we can choose whether we will accept it and let God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit work in and through our lives.

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Flashback Episode — The Brightest Truth: Matthew 27:1-10

Published November 20, 2023 in Audio Journal Entries

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Continuing our walk through Matthew’s gospel, we come to the place where Matthew wraps up the details of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal, and in the details of this event, while preparing for this episode, I had not noticed a detail in this event until now. In this detail, we get a brief glimpse of what Judas may have been thinking when he decided to betray Jesus, but when things go a different direction than what Judas thought they would, we discover a powerful truth about how Satan treats humanity.

Let’s read this event and discover what we can learn from one of the darkest parts of the gospel message. Our passage for this episode is found in Matthew, chapter 27, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

¹Early in the morning all the chief priests and the leaders of the people decided to execute Jesus. ²They tied him up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

³Then Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, regretted what had happened when he saw that Jesus was condemned. He brought the 30 silver coins back to the chief priests and leaders. ⁴He said, “I’ve sinned by betraying an innocent man.”

They replied, “What do we care? That’s your problem.”

⁵So he threw the money into the temple, went away, and hanged himself.

Let’s pause briefly here, because I want to draw attention to what I saw in this passage while preparing for this episode. Before this event, when Judas Iscariot was in the garden leading the mob to arrest Jesus, when it said that all the disciples scattered, in my mind, Judas disappears along with them. In my mind, only Peter and John turned back in order to be near Jesus. Peter turned back and ultimately hung out in the courtyard, while John likely stood on the outer edge of the room Jesus was being tried in.

However, in order for Judas Iscariot to be clearly aware of the outcome of the trial, he would also have needed to be present. With Judas’ reaction to the outcome of the trial, we can conclude that Judas believed the trial would have gone differently. Verse 3 tells us Judas’ response: “Then Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, regretted what had happened when he saw that Jesus was condemned.”

This regret gives us a picture that Judas believed Jesus would not be found guilty of anything, and Judas wanted to be present when Jesus revealed who He was to the religious leaders. Judas actually wanted to be an instrumental role in bringing about Jesus’ step into the role of Messiah.

However, Judas did not understand the role of the Messiah Jesus came to be. In a somewhat ironic twist to the story, Judas actually succeeded in his goal of moving Jesus towards the role of God’s Messiah to humanity, even though he was not alive to witness the end of the events he started.

Another amazing detail in my mind is the reaction of the religious leaders. While Judas Iscariot tries to undo what has happened while realizing he betrayed an innocent man, the religious leaders are clearly more guilty because they don’t care about Jesus’ guilt or innocence. Judas returned and admitted his sin, and the religious leaders replied, “What do we care? That’s your problem.”

The religious leaders reject Judas Iscariot’s realization that he had sinned. While Judas was likely trying to undo what he had done, Judas is also looking for a path to forgiveness. Realizing one has sinned is the first step towards being saved. Judas realized he had sinned, while the religious leaders reject the betrayer they helped create.

After throwing the money back at the religious leaders, Judas leaves and hangs himself. Then our passage continues in verse 6, back with the religious leaders. Matthew tells us that:

⁶The chief priests took the money and said, “It’s not right to put it into the temple treasury, because it’s blood money.” ⁷So they decided to use it to buy a potter’s field for the burial of strangers. ⁸That’s why that field has been called the Field of Blood ever since. ⁹Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true, “They took the 30 silver coins, the price the people of Israel had placed on him, ¹⁰and used the coins to buy a potter’s field, as the Lord had directed me.”

The biggest truth in this entire event that is amazing in my mind is how the religious leaders walk almost blindly through fulfilling prophecy. This is amazing in my mind because of all the people in the first century, the chief priests would have been the most aware of the prophecies about the Messiah. If these religious leaders had truly recognized what they were doing while also wanting to discredit Jesus from being the Messiah, they would have intentionally changed the details of what happened in some way. If they wanted to break from prophecy, they could have paid a different amount, such as 20 pieces of silver, or even 35. The religious leaders could have taken the money and spent it on anything but a potter’s field.

However, while taking Jesus to the cross, the religious leaders fulfill more prophecies then they are willing to realize or admit, and this truth ultimately confirms the idea that they are the ones who ultimately rejected the Messiah God sent to them.

In this event, I see in the last stages of Judas Iscariot’s life a model for how Satan treats all of humanity. Satan tempts us to do something we know we probably shouldn’t do, and after we have done what he tempted us to do, he ridicules us, causes us to feel regret, shame, and embarrassment, and after we have fallen for the temptation, Satan is eager to remind us how bad of a person we really are.

Judas Iscariot believed he had no hope and he commits suicide. By committing suicide, Judas Iscariot missed out on seeing what he actually prompted. Because of Judas’ betrayal, the religious leaders rejected Jesus and condemn Him to death, the Romans crucified Jesus, and then God accepts Jesus’ sacrifice for humanity by resurrecting Jesus on the third day. Even though Judas Iscariot was not alive to witness it, he actually helped Jesus fulfill His mission.

While this is one of the darkest parts of the gospel message, it helps reveal one of the brightest truths about God/Jesus. Without the darkness of Jesus’ death, we wouldn’t have the hope of Jesus’ resurrection, and because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we can claim the promise that we too will be raised from the dead like Jesus when He returns to bring all God’s people home!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to place your faith in Jesus. Recognize that because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we have the hope and promise of resurrection in our future when we place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. By studying the Bible personally with a prayerful, open mind, we are able to open our hearts to God and to grow a personal relationship with God and a strong foundation for our faith in Him.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or be tempted or tricked into leaving where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year in Matthew – Episode 47: While reading one of the darkest parts of the gospel story, discover how Judas Iscariot actually succeeded in what he had wanted to accomplish, even if he didn’t understand what he wanted, and even if he wasn’t alive to witness it.