Reflective Bible Study

Immediately following Jesus feeding the crowd of over 5,000 people that we looked at in our last episode, our passage for this episode takes place that evening. At the end of our last event, Jesus sends the disciples away, telling them to cross the lake and that He will find them later. Jesus did this because the people present who experienced the miracle of food multiplication wanted to make Jesus their king at that moment. I suspect the disciples would have supported this declaration, and Jesus wanted to stop this from happening.

This leads us into our passage for this episode. Our passage opens with Jesus praying on the mountain by Himself, and the disciples beginning their journey across the lake. Let’s read what happened.

Our passage for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 16, John tells us that:

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went to the sea. ¹⁷ They got into a boat and started to cross the sea to the city of Capernaum. By this time it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ A strong wind started to blow and stir up the sea.

¹⁹ After they had rowed three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they became terrified.

²⁰ Jesus told them, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid!”

²¹ So they were willing to help Jesus into the boat. Immediately, the boat reached the shore where they were going.

²² On the next day the people were still on the other side of the sea. They noticed that only one boat was there and that Jesus had not stepped into that boat with his disciples. The disciples had gone away without him. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord gave thanks. ²⁴ When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to the city of Capernaum to look for Jesus.

In this event, two details stand out to me.

The first detail is that immediately after Jesus stepped into the boat, the boat reached the shore where they were going. It is possible this was another miracle beyond Jesus simply walking on water, or that John abbreviated the last portion of the trip. The big truth I can learn from the first portion of this passage is that life without Jesus is significantly more difficult than life with Jesus.

Taking this idea a step further, we could also conclude that it is impossible to reach God’s goal for us without Jesus. However, when we are with Jesus, we have already arrived at God’s destination for us.

The second detail that stood out to me is found in verse 22, when we read that “On the next day the people were still on the other side of the sea. They noticed that only one boat was there and that Jesus had not stepped into that boat with his disciples.”

This detail is fascinating to me. The people who had been fed knew that the disciples had taken the only boat when they left, and that Jesus wasn’t with them in the boat when they pushed off from the shore. These people, as well as some others who made the trip across the lake to the place where the bread had been served were all looking for Jesus, expecting to find Him without His disciples.

However, they all were disappointed and too late. This detail tells me that sometimes Jesus is away from His followers, but the best place to look for Jesus is with those who are serving and following Him.

Part of me wonders what would have happened if Jesus had stayed on that shore, and if the disciples had reached Capernaum without Him. What would the crowd have done if they had found Jesus apart from His disciples? Would the crowd have wanted to pressure Jesus into being a king? Would they have demanded more food like the previous day’s miracle?

We might never know, but what we can be certain of is that Jesus walked across the lake to the disciples not just because they were having a difficult time without Him in the boat, but because Jesus loves His followers. Another thing we can learn in this event is that when we are unable to reach our goal, Jesus is happy to come find us to help us get to our destination. The disciples made it part way across the lake without Jesus, but when Jesus came to be with them, He solves the part of the trip they are unable to solve.

In our own lives, when we are dealing with turning away from sin and leaving it in our past, some aspects of this are possible for us to do on our own. However, there will be a point when we have reached as far as we can without Jesus, and when we have come to this place and want to go further, don’t be surprised if Jesus comes and offers His help.

Jesus is more than willing to help us conquer sin in our lives and when we fill our hearts with Him and God’s Holy Spirit, we actively are pushing sin out. The best way to get rid of sin is by crowding our lives with Jesus and serving Him. When we are wholly serving Jesus, we won’t have time for sin, and our focus will be on God’s will for our lives!

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

Always continue to seek God first in your life and choose to depend on Him for help turning away from sin in your own life. Resolve to focus on what God wants you to focus on and push the sin out of your life by filling it so full of God’s goals for your life that sin cannot break in. Choose to be too busy doing God’s will for you to have time to sin.

Always keep your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and His sacrifice because we cannot earn our salvation through what we do. Jesus earned salvation for us, and the best way for us to say thank You to Him is by walking forward through life with Him and without sin.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God each and every day. God wants a personal relationship with you, and we grow a personal relationship with God when we pray, study our Bibles with an open mind listening for what He wants to share with us, and when we actively step out into His will and His plan for our lives. Life with God can begin today, and life with God extends into eternity!

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!

As we continue moving through Mark’s gospel, we come to an event where one key detail is the lack of faith of those present. While all four gospels routinely demonstrate and highlight the faith of many of those Jesus healed, this event actually highlights the exact opposite. I have a suspicion that several of the gospels include this event as a warning to us about how easy it can be to choose doubt over faith, and to reject someone God sends your way because of petty details.

Let’s read this event and discover what we can learn from what happened when Jesus traveled to a place that was very familiar to Him. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read out of the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ Jesus left that place and went back to his hometown, followed by his disciples. ² On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed. “Where did he get all this?” they asked. “What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles? ³ Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?” And so they rejected him.

⁴ Jesus said to them, “Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family.”

⁵ He was not able to perform any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ He was greatly surprised, because the people did not have faith.

Then Jesus went to the villages around there, teaching the people.

In this event, we see Jesus returning to His hometown, which was Nazareth, and to the synagogue that He likely grew up in. An amazing detail I see in this passage is the progression of Jesus’ rejection. Stepping through the phrases of verses 2 and 3, we see that the first reaction people had was amazement: “Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed.”

When thinking about what makes people amazed, a number of different reasons can come to mind. Among those things are being amazed because something is profoundly different and/or better. Another reason might be because something is shocking in some way. A third reason might be because something that seemed impossible just happened.

In the context of our passage and event, it is likely in my mind that the amazement came because Jesus now spoke or taught differently than before. While I don’t know if He had ever spoken up or taught in the synagogue during the time He grew up in the area, the passage suggests that He might have since those present have a somewhat startled response.

The next phrase leads us to where these people start their logical progression. They asked each other, “Where did he get all this?” In the context of our passage, the phrase “all this” could refer both to the truth He taught, and/or to the band of disciples that was tagging along with Him. Unlike other places that Jesus taught, those in Nazareth would have known that Jesus did not attend any formal school and Jesus did not sit at the feet of any great teacher or Rabbi that they were aware of. For the last 10 or so years, Jesus had simply been a carpenter and the son of a carpenter, not a teacher or healer or anyone significant or noteworthy.

Following the first question, the next one begins to plant the seeds of doubt. After wondering out loud where Jesus got what He had, they clarify specifically what they are referring to by asking: “What wisdom is this that has been given him?” In a subtle way, those present understand that what Jesus shared was amazing truth, and they recognize the wisdom in Jesus’ words, but they had a hard time accepting that the wisdom Jesus shared may have been through personal study or directly from God. While those in this synagogue admit that Jesus shared wisdom that Sabbath, they immediately turn to looking for a logical source for this wisdom.

With this seed of doubt planted, they then turn to another question they cannot answer. The next question is based on rumors that they had heard. They ask each other: “How does he perform miracles?” While we understand the miracles Jesus did were because the Holy Spirit had filled His life, those in the synagogue set themselves up to reject Jesus by asking the big impossible question. While they can admit Jesus had some wise things to say, they cannot find a source for this wisdom, and asking about how a miracle is done when one doesn’t have faith means that they won’t ever find or accept the truth. With the first three questions the people in the Nazareth synagogue ask, we have questions that they are unwilling or unable to answer.

At this point, the people turn to two questions that they are able to answer, because they cannot bring themselves to admit that Jesus has an unknown-to-them Source for His teaching, His wisdom, and His miracles. The answerable questions are: “Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?”

With this set of questions, the logical progression of this group of Jews rejecting Jesus is complete. They can answer this question with a yes. Jesus is the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, and according to this passage, Jesus had at least two sisters, because the plural nature of the last question. Jesus was one of five boys and several girls in Mary’s family. These last two questions pull Jesus back to reality in the minds of those present, and it allows them to step fully through the door rejecting Jesus’ divinity and only accepting His humanity.

Because of this, we read that those in the Nazareth synagogue rejected Jesus.

With this whole progression of questions, I picture in my mind different people asking each question. With each question, the door is opened a little more to rejecting Jesus. Instead of accepting and admitting that God had used Jesus to share a powerful and wise message with them that day, those present cannot bring themselves to see a carpenter as anything more than a carpenter, regardless of the group of disciples He had collected. This truth teaches us that it is always easier to reject Jesus than it is to accept Him. There will always be reasons for people to doubt. However, while it is easier to doubt Jesus, doubting Jesus ultimately cheats you out of experiencing a miracle in your life.

In our own lives, God can use people to share His wisdom and His truth. While we are never called to accept messengers without first looking at the quality of the message, God has a way of using sinners to help spread His message and His truth. Aside from Jesus, everyone has sinned, and this truth challenges us to look past the messengers God sends our way and to focus on the message calling us to return to and believe in Jesus Christ.

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 hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus. Through what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, we have the assurance of salvation when we accept the gift of Jesus’ perfect, sinless life in place of our own. Jesus took the punishment we deserved and offers us the life He deserved in its place.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to personally grow closer to God each and every day. While we can learn from other people, the best place to validate messages coming into our lives is by personally taking each idea and validating it against the truth of God’s Word, also known as the Bible. While customs, traditions, and society’s expectations change on a daily basis, God’s truth stays consistent, and it is as true today as it was during the Bible’s time period of history, and it will remain true throughout every generation that comes after us as well! God’s truth is the best place to build a spiritual foundation for our lives.

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 let doubt steal you away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!