Welcome to Cam’s Reflective Bible Study Journal

Cam’s Reflective Bible Study Journal is a blog/podcast where Cam, one of Reflective Bible Study's founders, shares things he has discovered from his time studying the Bible (usually from one or more of the four gospels).

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Sharpening Our Minds: Luke 2:41-52

Published July 29, 2022 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: Luke 2:41-52 (NIV)

41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Read Luke 2:41-52 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Only in the gospel of Luke do we find an interesting event sandwiched between Jesus’ birth story and His baptism. In this event, when Jesus is twelve years old, He decides to stay in Jerusalem when His parents begin their trip back up to Nazareth. Only after a full days worth of travel do Mary and Joseph actually realize Jesus isn’t with the group. While we learn later that Jesus had stayed in the temple to spend time with the teachers there, part of me wonders why Jesus chose to do this.

“After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” (v. 46-47)

In these verses, we see what Jesus was doing, but I am curious more along the lines of why.

Perhaps Jesus wanted to get a feel for who these teachers were, or maybe He wanted to understand the angle that these teachers interpreted the Old Testament prophecies. Maybe Jesus was interested in learning how open these teachers and leaders were to new ideas regarding the Messianic role. Perhaps, Jesus knew this would be easier as a young man then it would be when He was older and actively preaching, teaching, and healing.

Or maybe Jesus wanted to try to insert some ideas in these teachers’ minds regarding a different way of looking at the scriptures. Perhaps Jesus wanted to plant some seeds that He was hoping would grow by the time He would start His ministry.

Whatever the reason, we learn in this passage that Jesus’ questioning ability, and His understanding of the scriptures amazed everyone present. This tells us that at an early age, Jesus studied the Bible, and He used it as the foundation for His ministry on earth.

This also tells me that Jesus used the scriptures to sharpen His mind, and that the more we personally study the Bible, the sharper and more discerning our minds will be.

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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Me-Focused Worship: Mark 11:15-19

Published July 28, 2022 in Audio Journal Entries

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In the verses we skipped over during our last episode, we discover a powerful event that likely ticked the religious leaders off even more than they already were and an event that prompted them to be even more intentional about looking for an opportunity to arrest and kill Jesus. However, also included in this event is an amazing picture Jesus gives us for His temple, and by extension, we could also include other places that are built for us to worship Him that don’t happen to be the temple in Jerusalem.

Let’s read what happened and discover some things we can learn from this event. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 15, Mark tells us that:

15 When they came to Jerusalem, Jesus went into the temple courtyard and began to throw out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons. 16 He would not let anyone carry anything across the temple courtyard.

17 Then he taught them by saying, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves.”

18 When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings heard him, they looked for a way to kill him. They were afraid of him because he amazed all the crowds with his teaching.

19 (Every evening Jesus and his disciples would leave the city.)

In this short passage, we see three distinct parts. The first part includes Jesus stopping the commerce from happening in the temple. The second part includes Jesus teaching those present, which also happens to be an explanation for why He stopped commerce in the temple. The third part is the response and reaction the chief priests and religious experts have to what Jesus did.

Prior to this reading, I had not ever noticed one word in this passage related to the chief priests’ response. Mark tells us in verse 18 that “When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings heard him, they looked for a way to kill him.”

The key word I had not noticed before was the word “heard”. Prior to this, I had always pictured these religious leaders being the most upset with Jesus chasing out the moneychangers and the commerce, but with the way we see Mark frame this event, I get the picture these religious leaders were less upset about Jesus chasing the commerce out of the temple than they were about what Jesus said.

Immediately before this verse, we read in verse 17 that Jesus taught those present saying, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves.”

Regardless of the words Jesus used to challenge what He saw taking place in the temple, I suspect that Jesus’ challenge to the religious leaders appeared to be larger than one single idea at one single time. Instead, I get the impression that the chief priests and experts in Moses’ teachings saw Jesus’ challenge as a challenge directly aimed at their authority and their role. While Jesus doesn’t call any specific person out by name, He challenges these leaders that they are letting the temple descend away from God’s ideal and into a gathering place for exactly the wrong type of person.

While anyone and everyone are welcome to come to worship, when we come to worship God, we should bring our hearts along with a repentant attitude. It is unlikely God accepts worship from unrepentant sinners.

So does God dislike money or commerce? I don’t think He does.

Instead, God created society and everything that has been used as money over the years. I think God created commerce as a way of helping humanity understand a little bit more about His nature. Without commerce, we would have a hard time measuring value in a society larger than a couple hundred people.

However, commerce mixed with sin reveals some of the more evil aspects of humanity. When sin enters a transaction, the focus ceases to be how this transaction benefits everyone who is involved and it instead becomes how this transaction can benefit me the most. With sin involved, commerce becomes a me-first activity, and we stop thinking about others.

According to Jesus, this is how the commerce in the temple was described. At the end of Jesus’ statement in verse 17, He used the phrase, “A gathering place for thieves.”

A thief is someone who is thinking only of himself and not of the well-being of the person he is stealing from. A thief rationalizes that he needs whatever is being stolen more than the person who currently owned it. In some extreme cases, a thief simply steals because He wants to or is hired to. Thievery is a self-focused attitude and action, regardless of the rationalization or corruption involved in whatever the scenario is.

By describing the commerce in the temple as thievery, we can see that what was happening in the temple was not benefitting those who came to the temple. This also means that what was happening in the temple was not honoring God. Ultimately, what was happening in the temple stopped people from coming to God rather than aiding them to come into His presence.

In this event, we see Jesus push back against a me-focused worship experience. Worship is not about our preferences, our likes or dislikes, or about anything to do with ourselves. Instead, worship is all about God and what He wants.

Jesus’ big contrast statement here is a quote from the Old Testament that described God’s ideal for His house on earth. God wants His house on earth described as a house of prayer for all nations.

This means that prayer should be a central part of our worship, a key piece of our time focused on God, and anything and everything that pulls us away from prayer and focusing on God must be removed from our worship.

Our worship is not for our own benefit. Instead, when we worship God, we are to focus on bringing Him what He wants, and God is interested in gifts that contain our hearts. Nothing in what was happening at the temple allowed someone to give their heart to God, and because of this, everything that was happening in the temple was a distraction away from what God intended the temple, specifically His house on earth, to be!

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 to intentionally seek God first in your life. When you come to worship God, be sure that you give Him the glory, the honor, the focus, the respect, and the praise He deserves, and with the gifts you bring, include the gift of your heart!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. In the pages of the Bible, discover a God who gives up everything to save and redeem you from sin and discover how we can fall in love with a God who has already fallen in love with us!

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

Year in Mark – Episode 30: When Jesus visits the temple and discovers it contains about the exact opposite of what God intended, discover what we can learn about what Jesus’ ideal for worship is and how we can model this in our own lives and churches today!

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

Unconditionally Loved: Mark 10:17-31

Published July 27, 2022 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: Mark 10:17-31 (NCV)

 17 As Jesus started to leave, a man ran to him and fell on his knees before Jesus. The man asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to have life forever?”

 18 Jesus answered, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. 19 You know the commands: ‘You must not murder anyone. You must not be guilty of adultery. You must not steal. You must not tell lies about your neighbor. You must not cheat. Honor your father and mother.’ ”

 20 The man said, “Teacher, I have obeyed all these things since I was a boy.”

 21 Jesus, looking at the man, loved him and said, “There is one more thing you need to do. Go and sell everything you have, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”

 22 He was very sad to hear Jesus say this, and he left sorrowfully, because he was rich.

 23 Then Jesus looked at his followers and said, “How hard it will be for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

 24 The followers were amazed at what Jesus said. But he said again, “My children, it is very hard to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

 26 The followers were even more surprised and said to each other, “Then who can be saved?”

 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For people this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

 28 Peter said to Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”

 29 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, all those who have left houses, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or farms for me and for the Good News 30 will get more than they left. Here in this world they will have a hundred times more homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields. And with those things, they will also suffer for their belief. But in the age that is coming they will have life forever. 31 Many who are first now will be last in the future. And many who are last now will be first in the future.”

Read Mark 10:17-31 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

The event we are focusing in on in this journal entry is included in several of the gospels. For this journal entry, let’s look at a very interesting insight that Mark includes that the other gospel writers don’t. In this little addition, we get a glimpse of Jesus’ heart.

In Mark’s version of this event, in verse 21 we read, “Jesus, looking at the man, loved him and said . . . ” Sure, Jesus loves “everyone” but this little phrase as a transition sets up the following challenge differently than one might think on the surface. It is almost as though Jesus pauses, looks deep into the man’s eyes, and collects His thoughts to make the challenge come across as direct, honest, and positive as He can.

Jesus loves everyone. This includes you and me. He wants to give us exactly what we need, but sometimes this “thing” is a problem to help wake us up to our need, or a challenge to get rid of something. In this case, this man needed to do something first, before he would be fully able to follow Jesus.

Just like Jesus isn’t mocking the man or pressuring him into doing something that is bad for him, the challenges Jesus gives us are given for our own good – our eternal good. Jesus looks at our lives with the goal being living eternally with Him, and for some people, the invitation is a “replacement” invitation.

For this man, Jesus is saying, “Replace your worldly security for eternal security. You have lots of stuff, but if you honestly think about it, your stuff will only go so far. I [Jesus] can give you security that stuff never can, but only if you replace your stuff with Me.”

This temptation is with us each day of our lives. We might not have equal levels of “stuff” but we all have the temptation to depend on the stuff we have. Stuff can only provide limited, temporary security; Jesus can provide us with eternal security – which includes love, joy, and peace. Each of us has the choice on where we place our trust.

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!

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.

The Almost Missed Opportunity: Luke 24:13-34

Published July 26, 2022 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: Luke 24:13-34 (NASB)

Sometimes, when I read the gospels, I wonder what would have happened differently if one little detail changed. In our passage for this post, we have a clear case where if one little detail changed, then things would have gone way differently.

The passage describes Jesus meeting the disciples on the road to Emmaus, which is about 7 miles away from Jerusalem. However, one little detail the passage shares is that the disciples eyes “were prevented from recognizing Him.” (v. 16)

If we would change this one little detail, the whole trip to Emmaus would have gone much differently, and these disciples would have not hesitated to invite Jesus to their home to stay the night.

However, because Jesus hid His identity, there is also another detail that is worth paying attention to: “And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.’ So He went in to stay with them.” (v. 28-29)

If the disciples had not invited Jesus to stay with them, they would have missed realizing who He was.

While they had developed a short friendship on the road traveling together, these disciples could have simply let their mysterious companion continue on His way, but then they would have had no idea this was Jesus walking with them.

Instead, as the verses describe, these disciples urged Jesus to stay with them, and they then discover who their new Friend was.

This leads me to believe that I am fully capable of choosing things that cause me to miss out on discovering Jesus. The places I go and the things I do have a direct connection to whether I see Jesus in the world today – though I might add that this is not literally as much as it is figuratively and symbolically.

The disciples had to make the clear choice to invite Jesus to stay, and that means that we must clearly make the choice to look for Jesus, and be ready to recognize Him when He chooses to reveal Himself.

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!

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.