Reflective Bible Study

Immediately after Jesus sharing the illustration we looked at in our last episode, where Jesus tells us it is better for us to step down and let others honor us rather than seeking honor for ourselves, someone prompts Jesus with a statement that leads into another parable. One of the most interesting things I find when reading this event is how the statement that is made is contrasted by the behaviors that are demonstrated by characters in Jesus’ story. This discrepancy is going to be one of the main details we focus our attention on in this episode.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 14, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 15, Luke tells us that:

¹⁵ One of those eating with him heard this. So he said to Jesus, “The person who will be at the banquet in God’s kingdom is blessed.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to him, “A man gave a large banquet and invited many people. ¹⁷ When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come! Everything is ready now.’

¹⁸ “Everyone asked to be excused. The first said to him, ‘I bought a field, and I need to see it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I bought five pairs of oxen, and I’m on my way to see how well they plow. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ Still another said, ‘I recently got married, and that’s why I can’t come.’

²¹ “The servant went back to report this to his master. Then the master of the house became angry. He told his servant, ‘Run to every street and alley in the city! Bring back the poor, the handicapped, the blind, and the lame.’

²² “The servant said, ‘Sir, what you’ve ordered has been done. But there is still room for more people.’

²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go to the roads and paths! Urge the people to come to my house. I want it to be full. ²⁴ I can guarantee that none of those invited earlier will taste any food at my banquet.’”

When reading this parable, I am always a little amazed at the attitude of those who were first invited. This is even more evident when we pay attention to the detail that Jesus does not refute the statement that someone in the group makes that launches Him into this parable.

Leading into this parable is the statement, “The person who will be at the banquet in God’s kingdom is blessed” and nowhere in this entire discussion does Jesus refute this idea.

Instead, Jesus shares a parable that describes how those who have been invited, who should have been the honored guests, all decide that the banquet isn’t worth their time. In the minds of these original invitees, there are many more important things to do. These people give up on the blessing of being in God’s kingdom when they place other priorities ahead of spending time with God.

It is amazing to realize that we can fall into a very similar trap today. Life makes it very easy to become too busy to spend time with God. While devotionals, verses of the day, and things like this can help us feel connected and spiritual, if our relationship with God does not extend beyond this, our relationship likely could be described as shallow. Instead, like a good close friendship, we should focus on spending both quality and quantities of time with God. A relationship with God cannot and should not be rushed.

Instead of rushing your relationship, why not simply take God with you wherever you go. While this sounds an awful lot like a cliché, the truth is that God is with us wherever we go, and it is to our benefit to acknowledge that He is with us at all times. Acknowledging that God is with us 24 hours a day and seven days a week might be a little daunting, but it also might make us a little more aware of what we spend our time doing. Knowing that God is with us at every moment might give us comfort when we are facing trials, but it also might make us uneasy if we know what we are spending time on is not within God’s will for us.

However, while it might be easy to look down on those who were originally invited and say they got what they deserved when they rejected the invitation, we should actually thank them. When reading this story, the impression I get is that if those who were originally invited had accepted the invitation, then the rest of the people would not have been included. It is only because of the man’s anger at those he originally invited that opened the door for anyone and everyone else to be included.

Some people might look at this parable and say this is a subtle challenge to the Jews in the first century for their rejection of Jesus. This could be the case. However, have you ever thought that if those Jews had not rejected Jesus, it’s possible that you wouldn’t have received an invitation.

However, while we may be tempted to look down on the first-century Jews for rejecting their invitation, or be outright hostile towards them for how they treated Jesus while He was alive on earth, we are just as capable of rejecting God’s invitation as they were. When we let things crowd God out of our lives, and when we cease acknowledging His presence with us, we then risk growing apart from Him. When we grow apart from God, we are likely to minimize the significance of His invitation as well.

We should be happy and grateful that those who were first invited rejected the invitation. Because they chose to do this, the barrier for being invited dropped to zero. We see through this parable that anyone and everyone, regardless of their past, present, or future is invited. This also means that while everyone is invited and encouraged to accept the invitation, there are many more opportunities for people to reject the invitation.

Don’t be someone who rejects the invitation to God’s banquet. Like the unknown person commented to Jesus, “The person who will be at the banquet in God’s kingdom is blessed”. Choose to accept God’s banquet invitation, and let His Holy Spirit bless you both in our present world and life as we look forward to this banquet, and when we are called home to heaven to experience this banquet first hand!

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

As I always begin by challenging you, continue to seek God first in your life. Value the invitation He has given to you and choose to keep your connection with Him strong.

Also, in order to keep your connection and relationship with God strong, be sure to pray and study your Bible for yourself regularly and take God with you throughout your days with whatever you face. Don’t let busyness or worry distract you or pull you away from God. Instead, let your time with Him empower you to be more of the person He created you to be.

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!

As we approach the half way mark in our year moving through John’s gospel, we come to one of the longest events in John’s gospel, and, if I’m not mistaken, the miracle Jesus did that takes up the most dedicated space in any gospel record. This miracle is raising Jesus’ friend Lazarus from the dead.

However, because of its length, we will split this event into two episodes, focusing on the first part of the event in this episode, specifically when Jesus hears the news that Lazarus is sick.

Let’s read the opening to this event, and discover some amazing things in how Jesus responds to the news of His friend’s sickness. Our passage for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read it from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

^1-2 A man by the name of Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on the Lord’s head and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick.

⁴ When Jesus heard this, he said, “His sickness won’t end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.”

⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. ⁶ But he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “Now we will go back to Judea.”

⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “the people there want to stone you to death! Why do you want to go back?”

⁹ Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in each day? If you walk during the day, you will have light from the sun, and you won’t stumble. ¹⁰ But if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because you don’t have any light.” ¹¹ Then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up.”

¹² They replied, “Lord, if he is asleep, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was talking only about sleep.

¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead! ¹⁵ I am glad that I wasn’t there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me. Let’s go to him.”

¹⁶ Thomas, whose nickname was “Twin,” said to the other disciples, “Come on. Let’s go, so we can die with him.”

Let’s stop reading here, and save the rest of this event for our next episode.

While it is very tempting to race forward to focus in on the miracle portion of this passage, a detail in the first portion of our event is worth paying attention to, because it may explain why God doesn’t race in and act immediately when we ask.

In the first portion of our event, specifically in verse 4, after hearing the news of Lazarus’ sickness, Jesus responds that: “His sickness won’t end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.” All too often, when we think of the bad that happens to us or the bad that happens around us living in this sinful world, we are quick to judge God for letting it happen, or rationalize that since it happened, He must not exist.

However, in Jesus’ words, we discover two huge promises. First, the sickness will not end in death. We could expand this truth to say that sin will not conquer or defeat God’s people. Another way of saying this is that God’s people will outlive and outlast both sin and death.

The second huge promise is that this sickness will result in glory being given to God and His Son. While this sounds completely backward, what if all the bad that is happening in the world today was an opportunity to bring glory to God and His Son? While I don’t believe for an instant that God wished sin, pain, disease, or death to be present in His perfect creation, what if all the evil present gives God and His people the opportunity to help others?

If everything was perfect in our world, there would be no need for anyone to help another, there would be no reason for us to need a Savior, and we as a race would become unbelievably prideful and arrogant – significantly more extreme than we are right now. If humanity never sinned, Jesus would not have needed to come and face the cross, and Jesus alludes or suggests that the cross was where He would receive glory.

In contrast, in order for Jesus’ response when hearing the news about Lazarus’ sickness to be true, we must understand that Jesus has something bigger in mind. Jesus promised that this sickness wouldn’t end in death, and that it would give glory to God and His Son.

Without both parts of Jesus’ reply, we are left wondering about what happened next. If Jesus had only promised that Lazarus’ sickness wouldn’t end in death, there would be little reason for Jesus to go help Him. It would be similar to other miracles where Jesus promised people from a distance that their loved one would get well.

However, if we only had the second part of this reply, we might also be surprised at what happened next. If this sickness would ultimately result in God and His Son receiving glory, then it makes little sense for Jesus to stay where He was for two more days.

Looking at how Jesus responded to the messenger, and then what He did following this, I wonder if the disciples believed Jesus’ words to the messenger to be similar to Jesus’ words to the centurion, to the father of the dying child, and to other miracles where the one asking for a miracle was willing to accept Jesus’ promise of healing from a distance. On the surface, Jesus’ response sounds like a similar promise.

However, one of the biggest challenges I see being laid in this opening to this event is within Jesus’ reply. Jesus told the messenger that Lazarus’ sickness would not end in death, and then two days later, Jesus admits to His disciples that Lazarus was in fact dead.

This challenge is similar to what many people face today. We read about all the miracles and promises God gives us in the Bible, then we pray for God’s help and for a miracle in our own situation, and after praying this, often it can feel as though God ignores our request.

It is like the messenger racing back to Bethany after finding Jesus with the promise that Lazarus’ sickness wouldn’t end in death, but then less than 48 hours later, Lazarus dies. On the surface, this looks like a huge fail for Jesus and His promises. This looks like Jesus broke a promise. I suspect that Mary, Martha, and those present in Bethany had similar feelings of loss, of disappointment, and of doubt towards God when Lazarus stopped breathing.

However, Jesus’ promise still stands. Jesus saw this event in a larger way than this immediate sickness finishing Lazarus off for good. Instead, Jesus never promised that Lazarus’ sickness wouldn’t temporarily take Him through death. Instead, Jesus actually refers to the death Lazarus experienced as sleep, which makes this contrast even more evident. It is only when the disciples don’t understand Jesus’ metaphor that He spoke plainly to them about Lazarus’ death.

In a similar way, when we experience pain, loss, or even death, we might feel as though God’s promises have failed us. However, Jesus sees one or more steps past the immediate pain, because Jesus sees the step past our sleep-death and He sees the resurrection He will bring to all of His people when He returns.

While the disciples show virtually no faith in Jesus during this opening of the event, the opening of this event sets the stage for what would be seen as one of Jesus’ greatest miracles in His entire ministry, and a miracle that foreshadows the resurrection that all of God’s people can look forward to when Jesus returns!

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 even when our immediate circumstances don’t seem like God’s promises are coming true. God sees history with a much bigger perspective than we ever could, and the situation we are facing might be like the opening of our event in this episode. However, remember that Jesus sees one or more steps past our immediate situation, and He has promised to give God the glory for what ultimately happens.

Also, even though it is hard to do when facing trials, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself with the goal of purposefully growing closer to God and Jesus while facing trials. Often God walks with us through the trials instead of taking the trial away, and while it is not pleasant to think about, sometimes trials are God’s way of reminding us that we need Him in our lives.

However, trials have an end, and because of this, I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!