Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Judging the Miracle Worker: John 7:25-36

Published May 27, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 7:25-36 (NCV)

²⁵Then some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “This is the man they are trying to kill. ²⁶But he is teaching where everyone can see and hear him, and no one is trying to stop him. Maybe the leaders have decided he really is the Christ. ²⁷But we know where this man is from. Yet when the real Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”

²⁸Jesus, teaching in the Temple, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. But I have not come by my own authority. I was sent by the One who is true, whom you don’t know. ²⁹But I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”

³⁰When Jesus said this, they tried to seize him. But no one was able to touch him, because it was not yet the right time. ³¹But many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus. So the leading priests and the Pharisees sent some Temple guards to arrest him. ³³Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer. Then I will go back to the One who sent me. ³⁴You will look for me, but you will not find me. And you cannot come where I am.”

³⁵Some people said to each other, “Where will this man go so we cannot find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live and teach the Greek people there? ³⁶What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘You cannot come where I am’?”

Read John 7:25-36 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

One interesting dilemma the crowds faced when looking at Jesus’ life was with the number of miracles that Jesus performed. Even though Jesus said some pretty hard to understand truths, it seemed that God was fully supporting Him because of the miracles and all the people Jesus was able to help.

In this passage in John, we see an interesting dividing line present among those who were listening to Jesus. On one hand, there was a number of people who wanted to arrest Jesus for saying things that implied He was making Himself equal with God.

On the other hand, there were people in the crowd who were stuck wondering what to make of all His miracles. None of the prophets performed as many miracles as Jesus did, and this prompts many of those present to ask the rhetorical question, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?” (v. 31)

The volume of miracles drew these people to believing in Jesus. While the people acknowledged Jesus said some challenging ideas, the question they ask is profound because it points us to think about whether God would be so supportive of someone if they were not the Messiah (i.e. the “Christ”).

In this way, the miracles Jesus performed prompted the people to take notice. For many, the miracles became the starting point for their faith in Him.

It can be the same with us today.

For many people, following Jesus began with some experience that drew us to Him. This could have been an experience tied to forgiveness, a selfless act, or a miracle Jesus performed in our lives. Whatever the case, many people can point to a point in time when Jesus helped them through a difficult or impossible challenge.

But while this is an okay place to start, making the foundation for our faith in Jesus only on the miracles He does for us makes a very unstable relationship with Him. It sets us up for a possible great deception. What would happen if someone came in the future who seemed to perform more miracles than Jesus? Could someone performing miracles lead you away from Jesus?

Miracles are given to draw attention to an individual, and then it is our job to determine if the miracle worker is from God based on what they teach and how they live. Jesus lived selflessly, and He focused on uplifting those who were pushed down in the culture of His day. That aligns perfectly with how the Bible describes God.

In contrast, any miracle worker who comes seeking their own glory then must not be coming from a place where God is supporting them. If someone is leading you away from focusing on Jesus, the their ministry is supported by another spiritual force.

When Jesus stepped onto the scene, He performs enough miracles that prompt those present to take notice. It was then up to the crowd to decide for themselves if Jesus was really from God or not – based on His life, character, and teaching.

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.

Loved, Healed, and Forgiven: Mark 8:22-26

Published May 26, 2022 in Audio Journal Entries

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iHeartRadio | RSS

Read the Transcript

While moving through Mark’s gospel and comparing what Mark included in his gospel versus what the other gospel writers include, not much of Mark’s gospel is truly unique. However, the miracle that we will be focusing on for this episode is one of the few events that made it only into Mark’s gospel. I wonder if this is because this event was kept relatively secret, or if something within the event prompted the other gospel writers to exclude this event from their own respective gospels.

Whatever the reason for only Mark including this miracle, I am glad that he did. Of all the miracles Jesus did, this one may be the most fascinating one in my mind. So without any further delay, let’s read it.

Our miracle and passage are found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 8, and we will be reading from the New International Version. Starting in verse 22, Mark tells us that:

²²They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. ²³He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

²⁴He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

²⁵Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. ²⁶Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

This miracle is fascinating in my mind. This is the only miracle that I can recall where it takes Jesus a second try to get it right. While other miracles are attributed to faith, and at least one of the gospel writers suggested that the lack of faith in a situation could cause a miracle to not happen, this is the only miracle where the man is healed, but only after a second attempt by Jesus.

However, was this really a second attempt, or was there something happening behind the scenes that made the second try of this miracle distinctly different?

Looking at the details in this miracle, one set of details is easily overlooked. These details form the foundation for this situation. First, the man is brought to Jesus when Jesus has entered Bethsaida. Jesus then leads the man outside of Bethsaida. Finally, Jesus tells the man to go home and to not return through Bethsaida. Putting together these details points us to the high likelihood that the blind man was not from Bethsaida. It is possible this man lived close by, but it is also possible that those in this village searched out someone they knew Jesus could help, and then convinced this man to come to Jesus.

Another detail worth paying attention to is that this blind man was brought to Jesus. This detail is important because it shows more initiative coming from this group of people than from the blind man himself. Related to this detail is the detail that the group of people were the ones begging Jesus for the miracle, not the blind man.

With all these details put together, we can conclude that this group of people were more interested in seeing a miracle than on giving God the glory, or even on helping this man who was blind. Instead of seeing an opportunity for God to help someone in their presence, this group wanted to see Jesus perform for them. Oddly enough, knowing that faith is needed for a miracle to take place, I believe that if Jesus had attempted the miracle in the presence of this group of people, not only would Jesus have let the spotlight shine on Him, but also this miracle likely would have worked the first time. This would have been because those bringing this man to Jesus had the faith necessary to see him be healed.

However, Jesus wanted to heal more than this man’s eyes and He wanted to help this man without stealing the focus off of God. Jesus wasn’t interested in getting an audience or on gaining popularity. Instead, Jesus wanted to help people on an individual level as much as possible.

Up to Jesus asking the blind man a direct question after they are away from those who brought him to Jesus, we do not see or hear anything specific about this blind man. From the details leading up to this miracle, we don’t get the picture this man had faith or hope that he would ever be able to see. We are left to wonder if this man was born blind, or if he was blinded because of something that had happened earlier in his life.

However, when Jesus asks the man if he can see anything while they are alone, we start to get answers for some of our questions. This man responds to Jesus’ first attempt by telling Jesus that he can see people, but they look like trees walking around. If this man had never seen anything, I don’t believe he would know what a tree looked like. Instead, this detail makes me think something happened earlier in this man’s life that caused him to lose his eyesight.

This then leads us to another interesting conclusion. In this culture, people believed that sickness and disability happened because God was punishing people directly, or perhaps indirectly in the case of parents sinning and children being punished. If this man had eyesight then lost it, it is quite likely that he believed God was punishing him for something in his life that had happened.

If you believe God is punishing you, you don’t believe God would want to heal you. In the case of this man, I bet he was doubtful, skeptical, and probably reluctant to even be brought to Jesus. It is likely that this man told those people when they found him that God wouldn’t be interested in healing him because God was too busy punishing him instead.

This makes Jesus’ first attempt a successful attempt at healing this man. However, with the first attempt, while Jesus only partially heals this man’s eyes, Jesus healed this man’s hope, and I believe this man went away believing He had been forgiven. With a restored hope, this man had enough faith necessary for Jesus’ second attempt to fully heal his eyesight.

In our own lives, when bad things happen, it might be easy to let doubt tell us that God is mad at us and that He is causing the challenges we are facing. However, if we believe God is mad at us, then there is no reason to have any hope that our lives could be better. If God is truly mad at us, there is no hope, and if God was very mad at us, we wouldn’t be alive. If God had rejected humanity, Jesus wouldn’t have come to this planet.

However, Jesus did come. Jesus did heal someone who likely believed God was directly punishing him. Jesus gave His life as a substitute for our lives, and through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have the promise of a new life with God.

Jesus came to show us what God is really like. Jesus came to show us God’s love for us. And Jesus came to demonstrate for us that even if we are in open rebellion towards God, He still loves us and He wants to forgive us when we repent and return to Him.

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 have faith and hope that God loves you and that He wants the best for you. When bad things happen, choose to see these things as a wakeup call from a God who loves each of us and not as a divine punishment from a cruel spiritual dictator. God loves us and He wants the best for our lives.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and Bible study, we can open our hearts to God and let Him into our lives. When God is in our lives, we will know how much He loves us and we will be fully equipped to show His love to a world that needs to see God’s love more than ever!

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!

Year in Mark – Episode 21: In a miracle that only Mark included, discover some things we can learn from a miracle that didn’t work entirely the first time around. Or maybe it did and what Jesus healed first is something a little less visible on the surface.

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

To Follow, or Not: Matthew 19:16-30

Published May 25, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 19:16-30 (NCV)

¹⁶ A man came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to have life forever?”

¹⁷ Jesus answered, “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good. But if you want to have life forever, obey the commands.”

¹⁸ The man asked, “Which commands?”

Jesus answered, ” ‘You must not murder anyone; you must not be guilty of adultery; you must not steal; you must not tell lies about your neighbor; ¹⁹ honor your father and mother; and love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ”

²⁰ The young man said, “I have obeyed all these things. What else do I need to do?”

²¹ Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, then go and sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. If you do this, you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”

²² But when the young man heard this, he left sorrowfully, because he was rich.

²³ Then Jesus said to his followers, “I tell you the truth, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ Yes, I tell you that 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.”

²⁵ When Jesus’ followers heard this, they were very surprised and asked, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, “For people this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

²⁷ Peter said to Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. So what will we have?”

²⁸ Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, when the age to come has arrived, the Son of Man will sit on his great throne. All of you who followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹ And all those who have left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, or farms to follow me will get much more than they left, and they will have life forever. ³⁰ Many who are first now will be last in the future. And many who are last now will be first in the future.

Read Matthew 19:16-30 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

While the event we are focusing in on is found in three of the four gospels, for this journal entry, we will focus on Matthew’s version of this event. In Matthew’s version of the story, we read, “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, then go and sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. If you do this, you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.’ But when the young man heard this, he left sorrowfully, because he was rich.” (verses 21-22).

This the only time I am aware of where Jesus gives someone a task to complete before following Him. Where this story is placed in each of the gospels, it is unclear if there was enough time for the man to even complete the request, but it doesn’t seem to matter, because he went away sorrowfully, because he was “rich”.

What the story doesn’t tell us is the end of this man’s journey. He could have written Jesus off and stayed rich and “almost” perfect, but he may have instead been convicted when he reached his home and thought a lot about what Jesus had said.

“He went away sorrowfully.” This tells us that there was tension in his mind. Wealth/money/stuff or Jesus – which for their view of the Messiah at that point would have meant status and fame, even if Jesus didn’t seem to be interested in going that route. This man had a definite conflict in his mind.

We don’t know where his story ended, but that tells us something too: our story hasn’t ended either. We still have the option to accept Jesus’ call to “come and follow” Him. As we pointed out in the previous journal entry on this event, we are late in the world’s timeline of history – but we still have the option to come, which if you think about it, is all that really matters in the end.

We don’t know where this man ended up, but we can decide where we will end; we can decide to accept the invitation to “follow”.

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.

Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51

Published May 24, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 1:35-51 (CEV)

³⁵The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him. ³⁶When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Here is the Lamb of God!” ³⁷John’s two followers heard him, and they went with Jesus.

³⁸When Jesus turned and saw them, he asked, “What do you want?”

They answered, “Rabbi, where do you live?” The Hebrew word “Rabbi” means “Teacher.”

³⁹Jesus replied, “Come and see!” It was already about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him and saw where he lived. So they stayed on for the rest of the day.

⁴⁰One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. ⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” The Hebrew word “Messiah” means the same as the Greek word “Christ.”

⁴²Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, “Simon son of John, you will be called Cephas.” This name can be translated as “Peter.”

^43-44The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, “Come with me.”

⁴⁵Philip then found Nathanael and said, “We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

⁴⁶Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Philip answered, “Come and see.”

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, “Here is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn’t deceitful.”

⁴⁸“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

⁴⁹Nathanael said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!”

⁵⁰Jesus answered, “Did you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see something even greater. ⁵¹I tell you for certain that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.”

Read John 1:35-51 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

When facing skeptics, many times Christians don’t really have a good response. Sometimes, Christians enter into a head-to-head debate and challenge the skeptic, while other times, Christians simply back away or run from the challenges.

Both responses have done more harm to what the world thinks of Christians. The popularized minority groups of Christians are the arrogant, hate-others-who-have-a-certain-label Christians (who are not at all Christ-like), the always have a Bible-based answer Christians who have a verse for everything but who never share it in a loving manor (this also isn’t Christ-like), and the naïve timid Christians who seem to follow their group like blind sheep (and though this may surprise some people, it is also not Christ-like).

None of these stereotypical Christian groups really match the model Jesus shared. Jesus did not hate those who were not like Him – instead He chose to hang out with them. Jesus didn’t quote the Bible as a weapon except when the religious people had brought Him a challenge, and even then, Jesus never shared truth outside of the context of compassion. Instead, Jesus chose to always share a truth that would help the heart of the person hearing it, and He always did it in a way that uplifted those present. Jesus did not ask people to follow Him blindly – instead, He invited them to come and see what He was doing, then left the decision up to them regarding whether to follow.

In our passage, we meet the first skeptical disciple, Nathanael. Philip was open to following Jesus, but Nathanael had doubts. The last portion of this passage gives us a model for responding to skeptics:

Philip then found Nathanael and said, “We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Philip answered, “Come and see.” (v. 45-46)

Nathanael wasn’t as much skeptical of Jesus Himself as he was about where Jesus came from. This tells me that when Jesus arrives, or when He sends help when I need it, the help may come in a way that I did not expect.

But the answer for the skeptic is not debating, avoiding, or running away from the challenge; it is instead an invitation to “Come and see.” This invitation says, “Try it for 3 months or 6 months, and test it from the inside.” It is easy to criticize something from the outside, and skeptics are masters at this. Only experience can shift a skeptic’s heart – and even then, only after the skeptic has accepted the invitation.

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.