Reflective Bible Study

As we continue looking at the parables Jesus shared, we come to one of the more familiar parables in all the gospel record. However, when I was putting together this year of podcasts, I did not realize that the two times this parable was shared each had a slightly different focus. For this reason, and because it appears as though Jesus told two similar parables in two different settings, we will split up these very similar parables into two episodes and focus our attention on one of the key details that makes these parables different.

Our parable in this episode comes immediately following Jesus inviting children to spend time with Him and Jesus teaching the disciples that we should love and accept those that are considered the least in the world because when we do, we are inviting God into our midst.

Immediately following this is our passage and parable. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 12, Matthew continues telling us Jesus’ message:

¹² “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? ¹³ If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. ¹⁴ So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

In this passage, the context of the sheep refers to the sheep being children, like children, or simply being those who are the least in the world’s eyes. In this parable, what we might write off as a loss is not forgotten in God’s eyes. God loves the smallest, least significant child who has chosen to love and accept Him, and according to Jesus’ words in this parable, God is not going to let a child under His watch and care be lost.

This is an amazing theme and truth for us to consider. The last verse in this passage states “it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.”

God is passionately interested in saving His children and keeping them safe. This not only refers to keeping His children safe for the time we spend in heaven, it also references keeping us safe during the time we spend on earth in this life.

But wait. What about all the bad things that happen to people who are clearly following God? Why do bad things happen to good people?

Many people have used this argument to discredit God because they cannot see a God of love allowing pain, hurt, and death if He could stop it and has promised protection. This is a rational, logical argument built on a flawed foundation. This argument assumes that God wants us to have comfortable, or average, lives in a sinful world. This argument ignores the future, subtly assuming that this life is all there is.

To challenge this argument, we look to one word in our parable. It is the very last word. It is the word “perish”. “It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.”

While perish means to die, more often than not, when used in a Biblical context, the word perish does not mean the first death that has a future resurrection. The word perish refers to a death where there is no future resurrection. It is most famously contrasted with eternal life in one of the most famous verses in the entire Bible, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This contrast is important for us to pay attention to because it tells us that God’s primary goal is to keep us safe for eternity, or specifically, for eternal life. He wants to keep us safe from the death that has no resurrection. That is His goal. God’s goal is not for us to have a good or great life in a sinful world; His goal is to have us redeemed into an eternal life in a perfect, new heaven and new earth.

While a sinful earth is all we truly know, God doesn’t want us to be so sheltered from the sin that defines it that we would prefer it over the new sinless heaven and earth He has promised us in the future. God’s goal is a future where sin no longer exists, and in order for that to happen, those who are saved and redeemed from this sinful world must experience the consequences of sin.

I am certain that God protects us from way more than we could ever realize. I’m sure Satan would kill anyone and everyone he could for simply acknowledging Jesus. Satan is trying to build a kingdom and world that is united against God. This kingdom is a kingdom of sin. We can be thankful that God is stronger than Satan and that God protects us from a countless number of bad things that could happen.

That doesn’t mean that God protects every one of His children from every negative thing in our sinful world. Stopping all sin would be trying to force sinlessness onto this world where Satan is tempting people to turn away from God. If the world, specifically God’s people in the world, don’t experience the effects of sin, then there would be no reason to look forward to a new heaven and a new earth.

God wants to save all of His children for eternity. As our parable concluded by saying, “It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.” God knows that in the timeframe of eternity, the history of sin is insignificant. Instead of protecting His people from every bad thing that could happen, He protects us from most things while allowing things to happen that help us desire the end of sin.

God’s goal for us is not an easy life in a sinful world; His goal for us is a sinless, eternal life in a perfect world. That means that if bad things happen in our lives, or if people we love die, we have reasons to look forward to the sinless new heaven and new earth where there will be no more pain, hurt, disease, or death.

Remember that death in this life awaits a resurrection. This means that the death we might experience has no real power over us. Jesus conquered this death, and because He conquered this death, we can see it as simply a stepping stone on our way into eternity.

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

As always, continue to seek God first in your life and trust that He knows what He is doing in the world today. While things might feel like they are spinning or spiraling out of control, remember that God is still in control, and His goal is redeeming His people for eternity while also being sure sin will never reappear in the new heaven and new earth.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each day. Intentionally set aside time for growing closer to God and be sure to make your relationship with God personal. Don’t let me or anyone else get in between you and God.

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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Over our last two episodes, we looked closely at Jesus’ miracle raising Lazarus from the dead. In many ways, this was an unprecedented miracle, because Lazarus had been dead and buried longer than any resurrection miracle prior to this. And this miracle serves as a powerful foundation for us to place our faith on that when we have chosen Jesus, He will be able to raise us from the grave just like He raised Lazarus.

Because this miracle was so powerful and amazing, we come to our passage for this episode, which focuses on what happened because Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. In this passage, we see not only the response of the people present and those they told, but also of the religious leaders who already disliked Jesus.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read it using the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 45, John tells us:

⁴⁵ Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did, and they believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them returned to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said, “What shall we do? Look at all the miracles this man is performing! ⁴⁸ If we let him go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our Temple and our nation!”

⁴⁹ One of them, named Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said, “What fools you are! ⁵⁰ Don’t you realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?” ⁵¹ Actually, he did not say this of his own accord; rather, as he was High Priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish people, ⁵² and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.

⁵³ From that day on the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus. ⁵⁴ So Jesus did not travel openly in Judea, but left and went to a place near the desert, to a town named Ephraim, where he stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ The time for the Passover Festival was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to perform the ritual of purification before the festival. ⁵⁶ They were looking for Jesus, and as they gathered in the Temple, they asked one another, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?” ⁵⁷ The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must report it, so that they could arrest him.

In this passage, from how the events are framed, we could conclude that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead a few weeks before the annual Passover celebration.

It is also interesting, that the religious leaders give orders that anyone with knowledge of where Jesus was must report it so they could arrest Jesus. This detail is interesting because during the week of the Passover celebration, Jesus speaks openly in the temple at least twice, and leading up to this, Jesus openly rides a donkey into Jerusalem. These events are prime events to arrest Jesus, but an arrest does not happen.

However, the most fascinating piece of this entire response to Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is what the high priest prophesies about Jesus. Caiaphas, the high priest that year, told the religious leaders in verse 50: “Don’t you realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?”

Even though John follows this quotation up with the powerful idea that this was a prophecy, in this statement itself, we have so much depth that it is hard to grasp it all.

On the surface, Caiaphas’ statement is relevant, because in their minds, Jesus’ presence and ministry was significant enough to threaten Rome, and Rome did not like to be threatened. However, it is also worth noting that any time Jesus drew a crowd of followers larger than a certain size, He began to challenge this crowd with difficult to accept spiritual truth prompting the crowd to leave and many in the crowd to doubt. This is recorded in the gospels on at least two occasions, though I suspect there were more. We don’t have to look very far in Jesus’ ministry to realize overthrowing Rome was not anywhere on His agenda.

However, while Caiaphas said these words as a defense against the threat of Rome, and primarily for self-preservation, these words have a much deeper meaning, also foreshadowing Jesus’ ultimate mission in this world.

In an ironic twist, the highest spiritual authority in the Jewish faith, who also happened to be Jesus’ most high-profile opponent, is led by God to give the most powerful prophecy describing Jesus’ mission and purpose for coming to this world.

Even though I’m sure Caiaphas did not fully grasp the full significance of His statement, God used Caiaphas, who was openly against Jesus, to give a true prophecy about what Jesus came to accomplish.

At that point in history, the set of prophecies that the religious leaders focused on were the ones where the Messiah overthrows Rome, and where the Messiah ultimately lasts forever. There were prophecies that describe a Messiah who suffers, is betrayed, and who is killed as a sacrificial lamb, but these prophecies were discounted, minimized, or outright ignored.

The last thing on these religious leaders’ minds was that Jesus was the Messiah God would send. Jesus didn’t fit their picture for the messiah, even if it was clear that Jesus was actively stepping into the role of Messiah.

Earlier this year, we saw that these religious leaders rejected Jesus because He was raised and from Nazareth. This was true, but it was a false assumption that Jesus was born in Nazareth. It is easy for us to see this in the scriptures, but perhaps more challenging for those in the first century who only knew of people being born and raised in one location. If it had not been for the census, Jesus’ wouldn’t have been born in Bethlehem, and I suspect if it had not been for Herod’s threat, Mary and Joseph may have raised Jesus in Bethlehem, being familiar with the prophecies about the Messiah.

In the first century, the religious leaders used plenty of reasons to reject Jesus as the Messiah. But even with their choice to reject Jesus, God used Jesus’ opponents in a powerful way to fulfill His prophecies about the Messiah. Topping this list is Caiaphas’ prophecy about Jesus’ mission into this world to die, and John’s side-note describes Jesus’ mission perfectly in verses 51 and 52. Caiaphas prophesied that “Jesus was going to die for the Jewish people, and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.”

Jesus came to this earth to redeem not just one race, one religion, or one ideology. Jesus came to redeem and unite all of God’s people that were scattered throughout the world. Jesus’ mission is bigger than we could ever imagine, and I suspect that God’s people are more diverse than we could ever imagine either. Jesus came to unite and redeem God’s people, and that means for us living today that when we ally ourselves with Jesus, we join with the body that will be saved when Jesus returns! Allying with Jesus leads to eternal life.

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, seek God first in your life and choose to place your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief in Jesus, allying yourself with His plan, His mission, and His purpose for your life.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to purposely grow closer to God each and every day. While God can use people for His purposes regardless of whether they have allied themselves for or against Jesus, only when we grow towards Jesus will we be saved for eternity, and the best place for us to find Jesus is within the pages of the Bible, and specifically in the pages of the gospel record. Through the gospels, we discover not only what Jesus is like, but what God is like as well.

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 walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!