Reflective Bible Study

A little less than half-way through Matthew’s gospel, we come to a passage where Jesus is again teaching. While Jesus’ message in this portion of Matthew’s gospel isn’t as famous as the long Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ words to those present in our passage for this episode are no less challenging. In some ways, what Jesus challenges us with in this passage is even more challenging than before.

Let’s read what Jesus shared, and discover how we can apply Jesus’ challenges in our own lives. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 10, and we will read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 24, and jumping into Jesus’ teaching, we read:

²⁴ “No pupil is greater than his teacher; no slave is greater than his master. ²⁵ So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!

Quick note: in the context of this message, Beelzebul would be another name for Satan or the devil. In other words, we shouldn’t be surprised if others call us names or accuse us of being agents of Satan. We should be satisfied simply being and living like Jesus, our Teacher.

Continuing in verse 26:

²⁶ “So do not be afraid of people. Whatever is now covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known. ²⁷ What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops. ²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell. ²⁹ For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. ³⁰ As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. ³¹ So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!

³² “Those who declare publicly that they belong to me, I will do the same for them before my Father in heaven. ³³ But those who reject me publicly, I will reject before my Father in heaven.

³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law; ³⁶ your worst enemies will be the members of your own family.

³⁷ “Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be my disciples. ³⁸ Those who do not take up their cross and follow in my steps are not fit to be my disciples. ³⁹ Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it.

⁴⁰ “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹ Whoever welcomes God’s messenger because he is God’s messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward. ⁴² You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward.”

Let’s stop reading here. This passage has a bunch of really strong challenges in it. Jesus challenges us to make His messages public and to broadcast what He has shared with us as we have studied. Jesus tells us that we shouldn’t fear people because our souls cannot be touched or hurt by humans. Instead, we should fear God, who has the power to destroy both our body and our soul. Jesus tells us we are valuable in God’s eyes, and while this passage doesn’t directly say how valuable, the biggest reason Jesus came to this earth was to show us how much God values us!

Jesus challenges us with the truth that we must publicly declare that we are allied with Jesus if we want Jesus to acknowledge us before the Father in heaven. If we try to live a life of secret faith, where we are privately disciples of Jesus but publicly against Him or on the fence, then Jesus tells us that He will reject us before the Father. This sounds harsh and challenging, but it also draws our attention to an interesting truth that a secret disciple isn’t a valuable disciple. A disciple of Jesus must at some point declare that they are with Jesus. While the point in time they choose to do this might vary, they cannot stay hidden for their entire lives.

Some people believe that Jesus came to bring peace into the world, but Jesus challenges this idea with His next statement. Jesus tells us that Jesus came to bring division and debate. Because of Jesus, families would be split up and divided. I don’t believe that this is Jesus’ goal for coming into this world, but it is a reality as individuals wrestle in their minds and hearts about who Jesus really is. Some of the family might realize and believe Jesus to be God’s Son, while others believe Him to be an imposter. Jesus knows His coming would cause division, but His coming is too important for God’s people to let the fear of dividing people stop Him.

Jesus challenges us that if we are to be His disciples, we are to love Him over anyone and everyone else. We are to place Jesus first in our lives and to lay our goals and ambitions aside for what God’s goals and ambitions for us are. By losing our own lives, we are able to gain Jesus’ life, and His life in our lives brings us eternal life!

While most of Jesus’ message is bleak and challenging, Jesus finishes with an amazing promise. Those who welcome Jesus’ messengers are really welcoming Jesus, and whoever welcomes Jesus is welcoming God as well. Everyone who welcomes those God has sent will share in God’s rewards. When we are kind to those who follow God and when we are kind simply because we are God’s followers, Jesus promises us that God will reward us.

While Jesus’ arrival in this world causes a huge split between people of every background as we all must make the choice regarding who Jesus is for us, we can know and trust that when we choose Jesus in this life, and when we live for Him, we will be rewarded by God in the next life. While our current life will have challenges and trials because we chose to publicly follow Jesus, we can know and trust that our future lives are safe in God’s hands.

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, be sure you are intentionally seeking God first in your life. Choose to publicly ally yourself with Jesus and let Him lead and guide your life. Live a life filled with God’s love and a life that is focused on helping the least of those in society and those who cannot help you back. Live your faith in a way that honors God, that honors Jesus, and that uplifts humanity. When we show God’s love in the world today, our lives become the greatest witness for our faith.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow a personal relationship with God. Through personal study, God will teach us through His Holy Spirit what we should speak and share with others, and with God’s Holy Spirit, we can live the life God has called us to live.

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 abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through Luke’s gospel, we find an event that almost directly relates to the event in our last episode, but one that we might not see the connection at first. The details of this passage begin while Jesus is up on the mountain with the three closest disciples, while the nine remaining disciples are facing a dilemma they thought they could handle while Jesus was gone.

Let’s read about what happened, about what these disciples were unable to do, and how Jesus succeeded when these disciples failed. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 37, Luke tells us that:

³⁷ The next day, when they [referring to Jesus, Peter, James, and John] came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. ³⁸ A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. ³⁹ A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. ⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

⁴¹ “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

⁴² Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

Pausing our reading here, in this passage, while Jesus and His closest disciples were up on the mountain, the remaining disciples were unsuccessfully trying to cast out a demon. Matthew and Mark have the disciples ask Jesus why they could not do it and Jesus responds with a statement challenging their faith and telling them this type of demon can only come out with prayer and possibly fasting.

While this is a good answer and a good reason, it falls a little short when we place this failure against the previous successes that these nine disciples would have had not long before when they were traveling among the towns and villages in Israel. In our last episode, we looked at how the disciples had successfully healed people and cast out demons. However, in this passage, they are now unable to do it.

Why might this have been?

As I think about the details of this event, I wonder where the hearts of the disciples were while Jesus was on the mountain. If the disciples had pride in their hearts about their past success, their pride or arrogance might have blocked the Holy Spirit from working through them to heal this boy.

Another thought is that the attitudes the disciples had when being presented with this problem did not point to God receiving the glory. If the disciples were interested in taking the glory for this miracle and healing onto themselves, then they were doomed to fail. When Jesus did a miracle and when He chose to heal, in every case, Jesus wanted to either show God’s love, give God the glory, or both. If the disciples weren’t interested in God getting the ultimate glory for this miracle, then their attempts were doomed to fail.

A third thought is that God may have kept the disciples from being successful in their genuine attempts to heal this boy because He wanted them to learn something from the failure. More often than we would like it to be, we are able to learn more from failure than from success. When we fail, we are challenged to try again and we are challenged to learn more than if we simply had succeeded. Success is great, but it doesn’t teach as much as failure can.

Jesus’ message to the disciples that this kind of demon can only come out through prayer, faith, and possibly fasting draws our attention to the importance of having a strong, close, connection with God. Prayer, faith, and fasting are all spiritual disciplines that point us to and connect us with God. Jesus’ message to the disciples might be that they needed a stronger connection with God to succeed with this significant miracle. In our own lives and in the big themes of the Bible, strengthening our relationship with God through prayer and faith is never a bad decision!

However, Jesus has a message He wants the disciples to hear. While the crowd is praising God about this miracle, Luke draws our attention onto a message Jesus wants all 12 of His disciples to hear.

Continuing in the second part of verse 43, Luke tells us:

While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, ⁴⁴ “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” ⁴⁵ But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

In the last verses of our passage, Jesus wanted the disciples to know that this successful feeling would not last. During the times of triumph, Jesus wants the disciples to know that this moment will pass. While celebrating successes is a good thing, it is always wise to remember that life is made up of challenges and successes.

At the high points, it is just as vital to realize and remember the low points as it is to remember the high points when we are facing low points in our journey. Jesus challenges the disciples with a message they didn’t like Him reminding them of when they were thinking of celebrating this success.

I am also amazed by how Luke finishes off this passage. Luke describes the disciples being afraid to ask Jesus about this message. While the meaning of Jesus’ prediction was hidden from them, fear stopped these disciples from asking for clarification. If any of the disciples had pushed past the fear to ask, I am certain that crucifixion weekend would have gone completely differently.

Fear can stop us in our tracks if we let it. Jesus desperately wanted the disciples to ask Him about this prediction so He could explain it further, but the disciples were repeatedly closed to the idea that Jesus had anything but success in His future. Jesus ultimately was triumphant, but Jesus’ success only came after His biggest trial – and Jesus’ trial not only challenged Jesus, it challenged all the disciples beyond what the disciples believed.

When we face challenges in our lives, remember the successes in our past. When we face success, remember the challenges of our past and that challenges will come in our future. And above everything else, remember that Jesus is triumphant, and that He will be with us through both the trials and the triumphs of 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, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to remember God in the trials and in the triumphs. Choose also to lean and depend on God, giving Him the glory for everything He has blessed you with. Intentionally thank God for everything He has done for you and through you in your life.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. Remember that it is never a bad choice to focus on strengthening your relationship with God. Don’t let culture, the world, or anyone convince you that a personal relationship with God is unnecessary. A personal relationship with God is one of the most important things we can have, and wherever you are on your journey with God, focusing on growing closer to and leaning into God is never a bad choice.

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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!