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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Blessed Through Obedience: John 13:1-17

Published September 5, 2025 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: John 13:1-17 (NIV)

1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Read John 13:1-17 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

At the conclusion of His teaching the disciples about washing each other’s feet, Jesus shares a powerful statement that applies to not only what they just experienced and heard, but this statement also applies to basically everything else Jesus taught them over the previous 3+ years of ministry. John ends this portion of his gospel by telling us Jesus concluded by saying, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (v. 17)

The context of this verse is Jesus sharing about humbly following His example and washing the feet of other believers. In our discussion on this verse and promise, we must keep this context in our minds. At the most basic level, Jesus promises us that we will be blessed if we follow His example in our own lives.

Another teaching that is shared in this context is the one Jesus shares in the verse right before this one. In verse 16, Jesus tells His followers, “no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” When we move through life with the idea in our minds that we are humbly following Jesus who is greater than we are, it frees us up when we face rejection or hostility because we can lean on the truth that we have something better waiting in our future.

But also, when we look at some other details and truth shared in this event, we can see even more context for this promise Jesus shares. Further down in the chapter, Jesus tells His followers, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

We can take Jesus’ promise about blessing us for obeying His words and apply it to this new command as well. In some ways, this promise in verse 17 becomes a key for gaining blessing from every teaching Jesus shared.

However, with this promise, we must not begin thinking that obedience will always immediately translate into the blessing that we desire. God has many ways of blessing us and it would be foolish of us to limit what we are willing to call blessings. Also, we should not obey simply to get a blessing. While we can start here, we must not stay here because this path leads to legalism.

Instead, the frame we must use when looking at this promise is obeying Jesus because we are amazed at what He has done for us. Our obedience is a “Thank You” for having already blessed us. Any future blessing God wants to bring into our lives as a result of our obedience is simply extra toppings on the big way He has already blessed everyone who follows Jesus and believes in Him: The biggest blessing is the assurance and gift of salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. There is nothing God can bless us with that surpasses this, and nothing we can truly give Jesus that equals what He has already given to us.

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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Jesus and Sour Wine: Psalm 69:20-21

Published September 4, 2025 in Audio Journal Entries

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Moving forward to another prophecy that was fulfilled while Jesus was on the cross, we turn our attention onto several verses tucked within a psalm written by David. Within this psalm, we discover something that seems difficult to believe happened by chance, even though historians might say that this type of thing was common. While I don’t know how significant this connection point is, or if what was described ultimately became common practice for those being crucified during the first century, I do find it amazing how the details David describes are included within Jesus’ crucifixion, and in such a way that it is easy to see the connection.

Let’s read what David wrote. Using the New American Standard Bible, reading from Psalm 69, starting in verse 20, David writes:

20 Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick.
And I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
And for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me gall for my food
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

While it would be easy to continue reading, after describing what he was offered, David shifts his focus in the next few verses.

On the surface, while I suspect none of us would want to be put in a situation like David was in while He wrote this psalm, it is interesting in my mind that at a point where there would be no one to comfort or sympathize with him, he would be offered gall and vinegar.

Moving forward to the New Testament, and specifically Jesus’ time on the cross, Matthew’s gospel gives us insight into the fulfillment of this prophecy. In Matthew, chapter 27, starting in verse 33, we learn that:

33 [And] when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.

John’s gospel records this a little differently, though equally relevant. In John, chapter 19, starting in verse 28, we learn that:

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. 30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

I will be the first to acknowledge that I don’t know whether Jesus was offered the wine multiple times during the hours that He hung on the cross. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were multiple points when the wine was offered to Him.

However, taking a step back for a moment, I thought it interesting that the Psalm described gall being mixed with vinegar, while Matthew’s gospel describes gall being mixed with wine. This prompted me to look up what, if any, difference there is between vinegar and wine, or more specifically sour wine, as John’s gospel describes the liquid that was present.

The short search I did turned up the information that vinegar as a term is pretty generic, and that sour wine shares many similar properties with vinegar. Being offered a vinegar that would be edible or drinkable would be very similar, or perhaps even indistinguishable from being offered wine that had turned sour. While some people might consider this change of terms a failed prophecy, I don’t. Instead, sour wine is in my mind a type of vinegar, and Matthew and John are actually describing a more specific substance under the generic heading of vinegar. It also wouldn’t surprise me if the vinegar David writes about being offered would be the same level of edibleness as the sour wine Jesus was offered.

However, aside from the prophetic nature of this offer of wine, is there anything else that we should understand about this detail that was written into Jesus’ time on the cross?

In my mind, there is.

First off, focusing our attention onto the wine and gall mixture that Jesus was offered at the start of His time on the cross, and the detail that Jesus ultimately refused this initial offer, prompts me to understand that Jesus was not interested in hastening His death, or in deadening His senses, which wine and gall would have done. In some places, gall is described as a poison, while other places describe it as a bitter spice. Either way, wine and gall would have numbed Jesus’ senses to the pain of the cross, and while it seems difficult to imagine, if Jesus had done something to minimize the pain He faced on the cross, the case could be made that the price He paid, and the sacrifice He offered, was not as valuable.

Also tied to this thought is the idea that as Someone set apart from birth as dedicated to God, Jesus was to avoid any alcohol or fermented drink. Traditionally this would be called a nazirite pledge, though it is unclear whether Jesus’ life and ministry would be constrained in the same or in a similar way. Also complicating the nazirite pledge is passages that clearly describe Jesus as drinking wine – except that when I search for a passage like this, I cannot find one where Jesus drank wine prior to this crucifixion event. The closest suggestion to Jesus drinking is found in Luke’s gospel, where Jesus is contrasted with John the Baptist who didn’t drink, while Jesus is framed as eating and drinking too much.

Even when describing Jesus’ last supper with His disciples, there isn’t a description given for Jesus drinking from the cup prior to giving it to His followers. Jesus simply promises that He won’t drink from that point on. While it could be said that Jesus drank immediately prior to this statement, it could also simply be a reaffirmation to a non-drinking pledge that was already in effect.

Complicating Jesus’ drinking or not drinking of wine is the Bible’s generic usage of this term. Wine in the Bible is used to describe both fresh, unfermented grape juice, as well as the fermented grape juice that we would call wine in our culture today. This means that we must be extra cautious when understanding what is being described. When the word wine is used, does it mean every type of drink that is derived from grapes, does it mean only unfermented fresh grape juice, or does it mean only fermented grape juice that is more commonly called wine.

Sometimes we have a clue, since some places describe new wine or fresh wine and contrast it with old wine, giving us a clue that new, fresh wine would be unfermented, while old wine was fermented. A clear example of this usage is when Jesus is illustrating new wine being placed in new wineskins rather than in old ones.

My suspicion is that Jesus avoided all forms of grape juice as much as possible, and that the drink in the cup He connected spiritually with His blood would have been new wine, or unfermented grape juice. This is because Jesus’ life was pure and undefiled, and fermentation in a drink that represented Jesus’ life would make it impure.

However, what of Jesus’ time on the cross. While Jesus clearly rejected the wine mixed with gall when He was first raised up on the cross, multiple gospels describe what we read about in John’s gospel that describe Jesus being given sour wine right before His death. It is interesting though that the gospels are almost entirely silent on what Jesus did with the sour wine He was offered. The only clue is in John’s gospel where John says that after Jesus “received” the sour wine, which prompts me to believe Jesus ingested some of it.

If Jesus ingested some of the sour wine that was offered to Him, some might say this act broke His promise to His disciples the night before. However, to contrast the negative way of framing this idea is a powerful, positive symbolic idea: By ingesting some heavily-fermented, impure, sour wine, Jesus was internalizing sinful human nature and taking this imperfection with Him to the grave. This would be a symbolic way of saying that Jesus took our sins with Him to the cross.

While I have no idea whether Jesus ingested the sour wine right before taking His last breath, any way we understand this is powerful. Jesus took our sins, our imperfections, and our guilt with Him to the cross, and He offers us His perfect, sinless life in exchange. This is great news worth sharing and celebrating!

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, continue to seek God first in your life. Accept Jesus’ offer of His sinless life in exchange for our sin-stained lives and lean on Him for help moving through life.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, to purposefully grow closer to Jesus and to God each and every day. Through personal prayer and Bible study, discover just how much God loves you and just how much Jesus wants to redeemed 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!

Year of Prophecy – Episode 36: While hanging on the cross, Jesus is offered wine not once, but twice. Discover how this may have been prophesied and what that means for us living over 2,000 years later.

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

When Jesus Caused Blindness: Luke 24:13-34

Published September 3, 2025 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: Luke 24:13-34 (NASB)

The passage we will be looking at in this post is one that fascinates me. While walking along the road to Emmaus, two disciples, and these would be people who had followed Jesus for a year or more, walk with Jesus along the road and completely miss realizing who He was: “While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.” (v. 15-16)

These disciples longed to be with Jesus again, and they completely miss the fact that they were with Jesus again!

This tells me something interesting about ourselves as humans: We can blind ourselves to what is happening around us if we don’t believe the truth to be possible. These disciples did not believe that Jesus had rose from the grave, so recognizing Him as a traveler on the road would be impossible. It is only after they begin to understand what this “Traveler” was explaining from the scriptures that these disciples began to see how what happened to Jesus was what the Old Testament described.

However, this passage says that “their eyes were prevented”, which is another way of saying that God/Jesus hid Himself from them for the time it would take to explain the truth. Perhaps, if Jesus had simply revealed who He was, the disciples would have been too distracted by Jesus’ presence that they would have missed understanding what Jesus wanted to teach them from the Old Testament. This also means that sometimes God will hide Himself from us when He wants to teach us something.

Sometimes it feels as though the times when God is distant is when we want Him the most, and perhaps it is not that God is really distant, but that we are blind to His presence, and maybe it is because He wants to teach us something.

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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Not Believing In Jesus: John 7:1-9

Published September 2, 2025 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: John 7:1-9 (NASB)

Sometime during the middle of Jesus’ ministry, John’s gospel describes a time when Jesus appears to be alone with His brothers. In this event, John records a startling detail that is profound when we look at it a little closer. John tells us that “For not even His brothers were believing in Him.” (v. 5)

This detail is significant for us to pay attention to because too often, those closest to us may be among the least supportive of us. While this is not always the case, plenty of cases can validate this statement. However, I think most times those closest to us don’t support us, they believe they are being helpful. Sometimes, help comes in the form of telling someone you love some difficult to accept things.

Perhaps we don’t feel supported by those we know love us because we know they don’t approve of something we do, some people we associate with, or a habit we have. Sometimes having a lot of history with a person is not helpful for building a stronger relationship because people can get caught up with each other’s faults.

However, the word John uses in this statement is the word “belief” and this is a little different than simply supporting someone. While believing in someone leads to supporting them and their decisions, believing in this context also means trusting, having faith in, and being loyal to the person in question. In this passage, John tells us that Jesus’ brothers – those He was closest to and had the most history with – did not believe in Him.

Jesus would have been aware of this and because of this lack of belief, trust, and faith, Jesus knows that it is better for Him not to travel with His brothers. While His brothers recognize that Jesus is special and that He can perform miracles, they miss understanding the purpose Jesus came and the counter-cultural way He saw Himself.

Reading this prompts me to think that sometimes it is better to take a step back in our faith – but not a step back in a literal sense, but a step back to then focus again on the big picture. When we look at the big picture and keep our eyes open for examples of God leading and blessing people in the world around us, we can avoid the trap Jesus’ brothers fell into because they had decades of history together – which included plenty of pretty normal events.

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.