Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Justice Is Triumphant: Matthew 12:9-21

Published December 9, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 12:9-21 (GNT)

⁹Jesus left that place and went to a synagogue, ¹⁰where there was a man who had a paralyzed hand. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they asked him, “Is it against our Law to heal on the Sabbath?”

¹¹Jesus answered, “What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath? Will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹²And a human being is worth much more than a sheep! So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath.” ¹³Then he said to the man with the paralyzed hand, “Stretch out your hand.”

He stretched it out, and it became well again, just like the other one. ¹⁴Then the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

¹⁵When Jesus heard about the plot against him, he went away from that place; and large crowds followed him. He healed all the sick ¹⁶and gave them orders not to tell others about him. ¹⁷He did this so as to make come true what God had said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁸“Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
    the one I love, and with whom I am pleased.
I will send my Spirit upon him,
    and he will announce my judgment to the nations.
¹⁹He will not argue or shout,
    or make loud speeches in the streets.
²⁰He will not break off a bent reed,
    nor put out a flickering lamp.
He will persist until he causes justice to triumph,
²¹    and on him all peoples will put their hope.”

Read Matthew 12:9-21 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

The more I read the gospel of Matthew looking for insights into Jesus’ life, the more I am amazed at the prophecies that Matthew draws our attention to from the Old Testament about the coming Messiah.

At the close of this passage, after Jesus had thoroughly angered the religious leaders at the synagogue He was visiting that Sabbath and then left the area because they were plotting against Him, Matthew breaks from the narrative for a moment to share a prophecy that Isaiah included about what Jesus would be like:

“Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
    the one I love, and with whom I am pleased.
I will send my Spirit upon him,
    and he will announce my judgment to the nations.
He will not argue or shout,
    or make loud speeches in the streets.
He will not break off a bent reed,
    nor put out a flickering lamp.
He will persist until he causes justice to triumph,
    and on him all peoples will put their hope.” (v. 18-21 [Isaiah 42:1-3])

In this prophecy about God’s “Chosen Servant”, we learn that He will have God’s Spirit on Him, He will announce God’s judgment on the nations, He won’t argue, shout, or be a street preacher. These things describe Jesus’ public ministry.

Isaiah continues God’s message by saying that the coming Messiah “will not break off a bent reed, nor put out a flickering lamp”. These two ideas seem out of place a little in that I wonder if Isaiah/God is being literal with these two descriptions, or if they are symbolic.

As symbols, the first statement about not breaking a bent reed could mean that Jesus would not hurt someone who is already hurting. Jesus came to heal people, so as a symbol, Jesus would heal the bent read, not break it off.

As a symbol, the second statement might refer to Jesus not extinguishing the faith of someone whose faith is already wavering. As I have read the gospels, Jesus pushed against the religious leaders almost exclusively. While He did challenge the crowds on occasion, often times causing the crowds to disperse, I never see an example of Jesus not helping to strengthen the faith of someone whose faith was about gone. Instead, Jesus seemed to always help strengthen the faith in hearts that needed strength.

Isaiah/God concludes by telling us that Jesus would persist until justice triumphs, and that all people would put their hope in Him. This brings me to the big thing I see in this passage and prophecy: Jesus is the place where we must place our faith, our hope, and our trust. God intends for us to lean on Jesus for our salvation. When justice triumphs, we look to what Jesus accomplished on the cross for us, so that we don’t have to face the punishment for our sin filled past.

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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The Disciples’ Doubt: Mark 16:9-14

Published December 8, 2022 in Audio Journal Entries

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As we come to the end of Mark’s gospel, we will spend this episode, and the next one looking at the longer conclusion of Mark’s gospel. As I shared in our last episode, many people a lot smarter than me have significant doubts to Mark writing this conclusion. This is primarily because a different style of writing is used in this conclusion, the way this conclusion summarizes what happened using different theological content than the rest of Mark’s gospel, and because several significant early manuscripts do not include this ending. The footnotes in my New American Standard Bible conclude that “Mark’s gospel probably ends at chapter 16, verse 8, or the original ending has been lost”.

I had debated leaving this ending out of our podcasts, but decided against it because while there is debate over whether Mark included this conclusion in his original gospel, nothing included in it is contrary to Christianity or Christian belief. Also, I decided to include it because leaving off at the end of our last episode’s passage seems to leave Mark unfinished.

With that said, let’s read the first portion of Mark’s extended conclusion and discover what we can learn from this event. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 9, the author of this conclusion tells us:

⁹ Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.

¹² After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. ¹³ They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.

¹⁴ Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Let’s stop reading here and save the rest for our next episode. In these few verses, it is interesting that Mark does not include any “new” information. All three encounters included in this portion of the conclusion are found in other gospels. The first encounter Mark’s conclusion described was Jesus speaking to Mary first. This is interesting because only John’s gospel includes this detail. While Mark and John could include the same thing while Matthew and Luke focus on different details, it would be very abnormal since Mark shares the most content with Matthew and Luke while John is left with many unique details and many unique events.

Following describing that Jesus spoke with Mary first, this conclusion shifts focus and summarizes that Jesus then appeared to two disciples as they were walking to the country. This event is found in detail in Luke’s gospel, and while we don’t know which two disciples these were, they were traveling to the town of Emmaus.

Thirdly, this conclusion describes Jesus appearing to the eleven disciples. Since Judas Iscariot had committed suicide and the disciples had not replaced his position yet, this referenced meeting would have included Thomas. John’s gospel describes two appearances with the first appearance missing Thomas, while the second appearance Thomas is present for.

When reading the first part of this conclusion, I can understand why some scholars have doubts about what is included here. The big thing I notice is that unlike the rest of Mark’s gospel, which includes details, this conclusion seems to prompt us to read other gospels to discover the details of what happened. One theory about Mark’s gospel is that it was written first, and if this was the case, it logically wouldn’t gloss over events that should have details included. Every other event in Mark’s gospel is either included in detail or not included. Mark doesn’t summarize without giving details.

However, there is a big theme that we can discover in this first half of Mark’s extended conclusion, and this theme is worth paying attention to. In each of the sections, we see a theme repeating. After Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, she reports this to the disciples. Verse 11 describes the disciples’ response: “When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.”

Next, Jesus appeared to two unnamed disciples traveling to the country. Verse 13 describes the rest of the disciples’ response: “They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.”

Verse 14 then includes Jesus appearing to the group of eleven as they were together and we see the following challenge, “He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.”

In this first section of Mark’s extended conclusion, the big theme that we can see is the difficulty these disciples had believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead. While other gospel writers, Matthew specifically, describe the religious leaders believing but bribing the soldiers to lie about what happened, the people who should have been the ones who believed the most were the disciples, who Jesus repeatedly told He would be killed and then resurrected.

This first section of Mark’s conclusion also suggests that the disciples had a difficult time accepting that Jesus would appear to people outside of their close circle before He appeared to them as a group. While this is what happened, I can understand the difficulty they faced with this reality. If Jesus had returned to life, the first logical place for Him to appear would be to His group of followers.

However, I wonder if the disciples doubted because they realized they had failed Jesus several nights earlier. When the mob came to arrest Jesus, they all scattered and fled. I wonder if doubts were in their minds that said Jesus had given up on them because they had abandoned Jesus.

But these doubts are lies from Satan. While we fail God more frequently than many of us would want to admit, God does not give up on us. One big failure on the part of these disciples is that they were hiding away, having locked themselves in a secret room. The first followers to see Jesus were the ones who were outside of that room. I have a suspicion that Jesus had really wanted to get the disciples to come to the tomb early on the morning of His resurrection, and to witness what the guards experienced. However, instead of scattering like the guards did, the disciples would be present for one of the greatest events in history, and they would get to see Jesus resurrected and death defeated.

Instead, like we all seem to default to, the disciples doubted other people because they did not see or experience what happened first hand. We all can fall into this trap, but this trap is a lie from Satan. Jesus did step out of the grave victorious, and this means that Satan’s lies against God have been shown to be false. Jesus loved us so much that He willingly faced some of the worst torture sinful humanity has come up with in order to show us how much God loves us.

Jesus was willing to face the cross for you. Instead of doubting God’s love and Jesus’ gift, let’s place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus that His sacrifice is enough to cover our sins and give us salvation!

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 accept Him rather than doubt. When people share what Jesus has done for them, accept and celebrate their stories. Look forward with them to the day Jesus returns to take us home to be with Him forever.

Also, be sure to continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, we can open our hearts to God and we can learn to trust Him as we learn just how much He loves us. While skeptics like to point to challenging events in the Bible, God has revealed Himself to us through the Bible and the biggest theme we can find in the Bible is God’s love for us and His desire to redeem us from sin!

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

Year in Mark – Episode 49: In the first part of the extended conclusion to Mark’s gospel, discover a big theme present in several of the summaries of Jesus appearing to people following His resurrection, and how this theme is relevant for our lives today.

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Allying With Jesus: Luke 14:25-35

Published December 7, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Luke 14:25-35 (TNIV)

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even life itself—such a person cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

³⁴ “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? ³⁵ It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Read Luke 14:25-35 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Throughout the gospels, as Jesus moved from town to town, He attracted large crowds and plenty of fans who enjoyed watching and listening to Him. However, periodically, to challenge the crowd’s motivation, Jesus would share difficult to accept ideas.

In our passage for this journal entry, let’s focus on the progression of the ideas presented in one of the times Jesus challenged the crowds that were following Him.

Verse 26: Jesus give one of His most challenging statements regarding following Him – something that would make people really question whether or not it was worth it.
Verse 27: Jesus then gives them the direction their life will go – the cross, which meant rejection, humiliation, as well as death. So far, we don’t see a very bright (optimistic) picture.
Verses 28-30: Jesus then give a comparison about building a tower, and how ridiculous it is for someone to only build it half way – whether that is because they didn’t plan ahead and ran out of money, or because they became disinterested and simply stopped. This tells me that our commitment and dedication must be there until the end.
Verses 31-32: Jesus gives a strategic thought which compares death (attacking a stronger king), vs. submission (surrendering to a stronger king).
Verse 33: Jesus summarizes the completeness of the dedication of His true followers – that they give up everything in order to follow Jesus.

Looking at this progression, we have Jesus being the most important relationship, so important that it doesn’t matter what other people think, say, or do – even if it results in death.

We then see Jesus challenging us and saying this commitment must be complete and a half-dedicated disciple looks as ridiculous as someone who has a half-built building.

And finally we move to the idea that we face either death or submission because the enemy is stronger than we are.

We give up everything to follow Jesus, we intentionally make Him the priority in our lives, and we resolve to keep Him as our number one priority – each day.

Verses 34-35: Jesus describes His followers as salt – something that was used for flavoring and for preservation. When “salt” (or a follower) has lost its/their purpose, they are completely useless.

To be followers of Jesus, we must be completely dedicated to Jesus, we must submit to His will and plan for us as long as we are alive, and we must live a life that shows our dedication to Him in such a way that it impacts others.

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The Freedom to Choose: Matthew 28:11-15

Published December 6, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 28:11-15 (NASB)

The guards who witnessed the resurrection can teach us some surprising things about human nature. While they were placed there by those who were most against Jesus, they became the ones who would have the most amazing story to share.

The first people they would be responsible to share what happened with would be those who hired them: the chief priests and religious leaders.

This is where things get interesting. When you tell your boss some amazing, but also unbelievably bad news, there are some different ways that the boss could respond. They could get mad, be upset, simply not believe the news, or any number of other responses. In the case of the report these guards bring, the news they brought was about the worst possible news that could have come, and it was lucrative for the guards because their already questionable morals were again tested with a big bribe to change the details of what actually happened.

The chief priests and religious leaders know that the only rock solid, valid testimony would be the guards, and if they can change the story the guards tell, then they can maybe salvage the plan to erase Jesus’ fame and glory.

But this is where we can learn about ourselves from these guards. The guards chose to spread the lie. The passage concludes with the statement, “They took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story [the lie] was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.” (v. 15)

The lie was more believable than the truth, and in this event, we can learn the important idea that it is vital for each of us to wisely choose who we obey. In this event, we see God leaving the free will of the guards in place; God allows the guards to spread lies about what happened. But even with the lies, God knows that the truth will come out, and even though the debate surrounding the resurrection has been going on ever since that point in time, in the end, the truth will be the only story that is left when we reach the new heaven and the new earth.

God allows us the freedom to choose the type of person we will be, and He lets us make choices that go counter to His will because He values the freedom of choice above all else. But with this freedom comes the responsibility on our parts that we are careful who we choose to obey. The ideas we obey and the worldview we adopt have eternal implications – and while we have the freedom to reject God, that didn’t stop Jesus from giving His life for those who choose to accept Him.

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