Reflective Bible Study

In two of the gospels, specifically Matthew and Mark, we discover a miracle that seems similar to one that we have already focused in on, but one that is quite profound when we look at how it is different from the other miracle. The other miracle is the only miracle that all four gospel writers included, and when I say that, you may remember that the miracle I’m referring to is the feeding of the crowd of more than 5,000 that we spent two episodes focusing in on.

However, lesser known is another miracle, where Jesus feeds a crowd larger than 4,000. While some people might think that these two miracles were the same, there is enough evidence and uniqueness in what happens in this episode’s miracle to clearly point to this being a separate event. And as a separate event, this miracle has some profound themes we can learn from.

Our passage for this episode comes from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 15, and we will read it from the New Living Translation of the Bible. Starting in verse 32, Matthew tells us:

³² Then Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the way.”

³³ The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?”

Let’s pause here for a moment because I want to draw out a couple things that we can already see in the verses leading up to the miracle. First off, this miracle is prompted by Jesus’ compassion and the necessity of the situation. Three days with Jesus away from towns in the wilderness is a long time, and from what Jesus describes, many of those who came did not plan for a trip of this length. This detail is powerful, because this means that many in the crowd following Jesus wanted to be near Jesus even more than they wanted to eat. As I say this, I am doubtful of how many self-professed Christians could be described in this way living in the world today.

The other big idea I see in this passage’s introduction is the initial response the disciples give, which is asking where they could get enough food for such a big crowd. All gospel chronology suggests this happened after the previous miracle of food multiplication, so this means that the disciples forgot what Jesus had done in the past, or they doubted His present circumstances for being able to do it again. This detail is also powerful, because it tells us that our present problems will always appear larger than our past victories. Only when we intentionally focus on what Jesus has done for us in the past will we have faith that He wants to help in our current situation.

Now that we remember and have a clear picture in our mind about what Jesus had done in the past, we can continue reading to discover what Jesus does to solve this problem in their present. Continuing in verse 34, Matthew tells us that:

³⁴ Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”

They replied, “Seven loaves, and a few small fish.”

³⁵ So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.

³⁷ They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. ³⁸ There were 4,000 men who were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children. ³⁹ Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan.

In this passage and the miracle, we see some fascinating unique details that frame God’s blessings and God’s answers to prayer. In the previous miracle where 5,000 plus were fed, the gift of food came from an outside source, specifically a boy offering his lunch to Jesus. That miracle had the prayer being answered from an outside source.

To contrast this, our current miracle describes the food coming from the disciples’ own reserve. This means that sometimes, it is up to us to supply what God needs to bless others. Sometimes God will bring us outside help to help us when blessing others and when answering our prayers, while other times, God will expect us to use what He has already given to us to bless others.

When we pray, we should be open and willing to accept help from wherever God sends it, and we shouldn’t shy away from using our own resources if no outside help comes.

Also, we learn from both miracles that no gift is too small. I believe that Jesus could have multiplied one loaf just as easily as He multiplied seven. When we bring our gifts to Jesus, we should never consider the gifts as too small or too insignificant for Him to use them. Instead, we should bring our gifts and readily offer them to Him. As we easily see in both miracles, Jesus is more than able to multiply a small gift into a large one when we are willing to give Him what we have. We might think that what we have to offer God is insignificant, but no heartfelt gift given to God is insignificant in His eyes.

When comparing these two miracles, we discover that the source of each miracle was total, complete gifts. While both sources of bread and fish likely were larger days, or even hours before, when the gifts are presented to Jesus, we don’t see any hint of food being held back. This means that when we offer God a gift, we should offer God the full, best, complete gift that we have. I doubt either of these miracles would have been as effective if the supplier of the food had held part of the supply back.

In this pair of similar miracles, we discover that God is more than willing to bless us when we pray, when we need help, and/or when He knows we will be better off with the gift than without. God is also more than willing to multiply the small, seemingly insignificant gifts into blessings for a greater number of people than we could even imagine. And God is interested in heartfelt gifts over gifts given with reservation.

All this leads us to the big truth that the greatest gift that we can give God is our hearts. Jesus came to love us and to redeem us from sin, and the least we can return to Him for this amazing gift is our hearts, our minds, and our lives.

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

Always seek God first and place Him first in your life. Praise God and thank Him for everything that He has done for us and be willing to let Him use you for His grand purposes. Step into God’s plan and give Him the greatest gift you can give, which is the gift of your heart!

Also, as always, pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Seek to grow closer to Him through the pages of His Word and study the scriptures faithfully and prayerfully to let the Holy Spirit into your heart and mind.

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

While I didn’t plan for it to be this way, this year of podcasting through the gospels has reserved a whole block of challenging passages. The next one on the list happens to be an illustration Jesus shares where people are divided over how much truth it teaches. This illustration is called the Rich Man and Lazarus.

This passage has challenged Christians throughout the centuries over exactly how much truth Jesus is trying to teach. Some people say this illustration is not a true parable because it doesn’t start like one and because none of Jesus’ other parables includes a named individual, while others say that the contents of the teaching sound more parable-like than not, even with a named character.

Some people say this teaching proves there is consciousness after death, while others say that Jesus simply used a common illustration of the day but flipped the ending. This idea suggests that there was a common story told by the religious leaders that ends with the rich man being brought into Abraham’s presence, while the poor beggar ends up in the place of torment.

Personally, I don’t know if any of these angles is accurate. I am doubtful of some of them, but I also believe that most of these angles likely include some aspects of truth.

In my own mind, I see this illustration as a parable Jesus shared, similar perhaps to the illustration of the Good Samaritan. The parable of the Good Samaritan is shared following Jesus being asked a question, and it has a very non-parable-like beginning, similar to this parable.

However, what does Jesus want us to learn from this teaching? Is Jesus making a statement about the nature of death, or is He using an illustration that causes us to simply think about life from the point in time when our lives are over?

To uncover an answer to this, let’s look at the themes we can learn from this event, and while reading this passage, think about some big truths we can learn from what Jesus shares.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 16, and we will be reading from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16, Jesus continued by saying:

¹⁹ “Once there was a rich man. He was dressed in purple cloth and fine linen. He lived an easy life every day. ²⁰ A man named Lazarus was placed at his gate. Lazarus was a beggar. His body was covered with sores. ²¹ Even dogs came and licked his sores. All he wanted was to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.

²² “The time came when the beggar died. The angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In the place of the dead, the rich man was suffering terribly. He looked up and saw Abraham far away. Lazarus was by his side. ²⁴ So the rich man called out, ‘Father Abraham! Have pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water. Then he can cool my tongue with it. I am in terrible pain in this fire.’

²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember what happened in your lifetime. You received your good things. Lazarus received bad things. Now he is comforted here, and you are in terrible pain. ²⁶ Besides, a wide space has been placed between us and you. So those who want to go from here to you can’t go. And no one can cross over from there to us.’

²⁷ “The rich man answered, ‘Then I beg you, father Abraham. Send Lazarus to my family. ²⁸ I have five brothers. Let Lazarus warn them. Then they will not come to this place of terrible suffering.’

²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have the teachings of Moses and the Prophets. Let your brothers listen to them.’

³⁰ “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will turn away from their sins.’

³¹ “Abraham said to him, ‘They do not listen to Moses and the Prophets. So they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

In this parable, as I read it just now, I can see a number of big themes we can learn. Perhaps the biggest one is that after someone has died, they cannot change their decisions from this life.

This theme is in many ways intuitive, because while we are alive, we cannot change our past. We can change our decisions in the present and plan for different decisions in the future, but once the future is the present and the present turns to past, our decisions are locked in history. This makes each moment of each day significant and this theme challenges us to be conscious of the decisions we are making every moment of each day.

Also while reading this passage, we see the theme that those who are convinced of something, who are unwilling to change their beliefs, are not going to be convinced to change by anyone – even someone who returns from the grave.

While this illustration oddly enough foreshadows the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, not too long after this, we see Lazarus’ resurrection being enough to convince plenty of Jews to put their faith, belief, and trust in Jesus. However, the religious leaders who were set in their ways make plans to not only kill Jesus after this event, but Lazarus as well.

A third theme that I see in this illustration is that those who have had it hard in this life will find rest in the life to come, while those who have had it easy in this life may experience struggles. I don’t know if the time one spends following death is filled with torment or unpleasantness. But I do know that the next conscious thought one has following death will be one of regret when they realize they didn’t choose correctly.

All these themes are important to us. This illustration pushes us to look past our lives and then back at the decisions we chose while we were still alive. Does Jesus teach more about the state of the dead here? That I will leave for you to decide.

However, as we close out this podcast episode, along with the challenges, I will leave you with a question: Since Jesus loved teaching with visual illustrations, and we have many examples of this in His various parables, would it be possible to share the themes we just finished looking at in a visual way without implying consciousness after death? If so, perhaps we can uncover more themes from this illustration. However if the way Jesus shared this parable is the only “visual” way to challenge us to think with the end in mind, similar to what we talked about in the last episode, then perhaps consciousness after death is not a theme we should put much weight on.

To challenge you as we end this podcast episode, be sure to always seek God first in your life. When difficult questions come trying to shake your faith, lean into trusting God, because when our lives are over, only one thing will truly matter, and that is whether we placed our hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus Christ to save us for eternity.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself and grow your personal relationship with God. Coming to the end of your life and missing out on a personal relationship with God is the worst place to be. Don’t fall into the trap that many people will realize only after it is too late. Focus on growing your personal relationship with God today, and every day moving forward 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!