Reflective Bible Study

Up to this point in Jesus’ ministry, we have seen Him heal those who were sick, those who were disabled, and those who were possessed by evil spirits. However, as we come to the miracle we will focus in on in this episode, Jesus enters a completely new area for miracle working, and this all begins with Jesus feeling sorry for a widow who needed help.

Let’s read our passage to discover what happened. Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 7, and we will be reading from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 11, Luke tells us that:

¹¹ Some time later, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd went along with him. ¹² He approached the town gate. Just then, a dead person was being carried out. He was the only son of his mother. She was a widow. A large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, he felt sorry for her. So he said, “Don’t cry.”

Let’s pause reading here for a moment, because what Jesus feels and what He does appear to conflict with each other. In about the same breath, Luke tells us Jesus felt sorry for the widow, and He tells her to not cry. Crying when one has experienced loss is about the most natural thing that we can do.

However, I believe Jesus wants to teach us something about God and about loss that we don’t often think of. Regardless of what Jesus is about to do in this passage, the perspective Jesus has is one that focuses on eternity. While Jesus is about to raise the dead boy back to life, even if Jesus had not done so, we can trust and know that when we believe in Jesus, we are guaranteed a future life at the resurrection. Death in this life is not the end, even if death in this life feels like a huge loss.

After telling the widow to stop crying, Jesus then does the truly amazing miracle. While Jesus had healed people of any and every sort of illness or disability, what comes next takes His ministry to a new level. Continuing in verse 14:

¹⁴ Then he went up and touched the coffin. Those carrying it stood still. Jesus said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to talk. Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶ The people were all filled with wonder and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” ¹⁷ This news about Jesus spread all through Judea and the whole country.

In our passage, not only does Jesus raise this young man back to life, we discover in this miracle a revelation that those present make that is truly profound.

While one might begin to put the focus on Jesus as the source of this resurrection miracle, the crowd present has a slightly different response. On realizing what had just taken place, Luke describes the people present as being “filled with wonder” and praising God. In this miracle, God received the glory and the credit, not Jesus. Luke quotes the people present saying, “A great prophet has appeared among us. God has come to help his people.”

Those present for this miracle describe Jesus as a prophet, which is another way of saying a messenger for God, and they even push past this idea by saying that God has come to help His people. In a subtle way, these people give Jesus honor by recognizing God working in His life. These people recognized that with the arrival of Jesus, God had come to help His people.

This truth extends much further than these first-century Jews realized. Jesus’ arrival in history marked God coming into History to save all His people. God’s people in the context of our discussion include both those who were faithful, loving Jews, as well as God’s people who were not Jewish.

With the arrival of Jesus, we now have a picture of God that we can place our faith on. Prior to this, the sacrifice of an innocent animal as a sin offering foreshadowed what Jesus would do. Those who lived before the cross looked forward to the sacrifice God would make on their behalf through the sacrifice of the lamb. Even if the first-century Jewish culture had misinterpreted the Messiah’s role for His first coming, they had kept the sacrifices intact, and through all the legalism present in that era, we still can see the theme that something else would take the punishment for our sins.

I don’t believe these witnesses of Jesus’ first resurrection miracle could have responded the way they did without the Holy Spirit’s help. Since this was the first time a resurrection miracle had happened in Jesus’ ministry, it is rational for us not to see anything about faith in Jesus displayed through this event. However, faith in Jesus isn’t the only source of Jesus’ miracles.

In this passage, we can see Jesus raise this dead boy to life not just for the benefit of his widowed mother, but that through this event, God would receive the glory. In a similar way, I wonder if we would see more miracles in our lives if we intentionally pushed for the glory to go to God and not to ourselves. While it is easy to take credit for our part in something amazing, God should be the recipient of the majority of our praise, if not all of it.

Jesus healed people as a way to show people God’s love for us, and Jesus healed people in miraculous ways that changed peoples’ lives for the better. In our own lives, we should live seeking to give God the glory and to show people God’s love through how we live, act, and help others. Christians should not be known for their political pursuits, but for their prayerful, personal love for others.

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 keep seeking God first in your life and be sure to give Him the credit and the glory for the things He has blessed you with. God has blessed all of us in so many more ways than we even can realize, and it isn’t too much to stop and acknowledge the blessings we recognize. Also, intentionally show your thanks to God by loving others. God loved the worst member’s of humanity, and as His followers, we are called to do the same.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn more about God and to personally grow closer to Him each and every day. While a pastor or podcaster can give you ideas to think about, filter everything through the truth you find in God’s word and let Him take and transform not only your heart, but your life as well.

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!

As we continue moving through Mark’s gospel, we come to a point where Mark includes a brief side-story that is not directly connected to Jesus, but one that gives us insights into a few comments that are mentioned later on in Jesus’ ministry leading up to a very uneventful meeting that took place on the morning Jesus was crucified.

However, the reason this event is significant is not because of how it leads into Jesus’ story, but instead it is significant because of how it ends the story of Jesus’ forerunner in ministry. Three of the four gospel writers include this event, and this tells us that this event was significant to those in the early church.

Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 14, Mark tells us that:

¹⁴ King Herod heard about Jesus, because he was now well known. Some people said, “He is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead. That is why he can work these miracles.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”

Other people said, “Jesus is a prophet, like the prophets who lived long ago.”

¹⁶ When Herod heard this, he said, “I killed John by cutting off his head. Now he has risen from the dead!”

¹⁷ Herod himself had ordered his soldiers to arrest John and put him in prison in order to please his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother, but then Herod had married her. ¹⁸ John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to be married to your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ So Herodias hated John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn’t, ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew John was a good and holy man. Also, though John’s preaching always bothered him, he enjoyed listening to John.

²¹ Then the perfect time came for Herodias to cause John’s death. On Herod’s birthday, he gave a dinner party for the most important government leaders, the commanders of his army, and the most important people in Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and the people eating with him.

So King Herod said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³ He promised her, “Anything you ask for I will give to you—up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴ The girl went to her mother and asked, “What should I ask for?”

Her mother answered, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵ At once the girl went back to the king and said to him, “I want the head of John the Baptist right now on a platter.”

²⁶ Although the king was very sad, he had made a promise, and his dinner guests had heard it. So he did not want to refuse what she asked. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent a soldier to bring John’s head. The soldier went and cut off John’s head in the prison ²⁸ and brought it back on a platter. He gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When John’s followers heard this, they came and got John’s body and put it in a tomb.

One thing about this event that stood out to me as we read it just now is Herod’s reaction on hearing about Jesus and thinking He was a resurrected John the Baptist. While I will be the first to say I believe in a resurrection of the dead, it is interesting that Herod also believed in a resurrection of the dead.

However, a slightly disturbing but also a little funny picture enters my brain when thinking about Herod’s response. When Herod tries to rationalize Jesus stepping into history as potentially being John the Baptist risen from the dead, Herod makes the statement that he had beheaded John. This would make John’s head occupy a completely different location than John’s body. This passage finishes off by telling us that John’s followers came for John’s body and they buried his body, now headless, in a tomb.

I don’t know if Herod’s wife kept John’s head as a souvenir or as a trophy for her victory over this irritating preacher, but regardless of whether she kept it or eventually disposed of it, John’s head was not anywhere near his body from the details of our passage.

When speculating whether John had been resurrected, the somewhat strange picture in my mind wonders if Herod thought John had resurrected without a head, or if somehow, John’s head had regrown itself. From my reading of the miracles in the Bible, I don’t recall a resurrection miracle where the person being resurrected had been beheaded beforehand.

However, this brings up an interesting point about resurrection as a belief. While we don’t have any examples that I am aware of with resurrecting someone who was cut into more than one piece, the resurrection we are looking forward to does not need our current bodies intact. Instead, when Jesus returns, regardless of the state of the atoms that composed our original bodies, Jesus has in mind new bodies for us. It is possible our new bodies will be composed of atoms, but it is also possible that God has a completely new element in mind for our resurrected and re-created bodies.

However, what about the passage and event we are focusing on in this episode? What can we learn from what is shared about John’s fate in this passage?

Whenever I read about John’s ultimate end, two ideas come to mind. The first idea is that John could have spared himself a lot of hassle if he had simply kept quiet about his disapproval of Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife. While nothing about this marriage was lawful from a Jewish perspective, I don’t ever get the impression that Herod cared what the Jews thought or believed. And, I also don’t get the impression that Herod was Jewish or cared about Jewish customs.

It is also possible that the context for this marriage was also condemned by Roman culture. I don’t know whether this was the case or not, but if so, then Herod might have cared a little more even if he didn’t care about breaking that custom.

This first big idea leads to the lesson that if we speak out against authority, don’t be surprised if we face consequences because that authority does not like to have their sins held up for display. While God might call us to speak out in tough situations, it is also possible that we are called to have wisdom and discretion with how we speak. Jesus did say some harsh words directed towards the political leadership in Judea while He was alive on earth, but I don’t recall Jesus ever condemning the lifestyle or choices of those in political power. Jesus simply had a different focus.

The second big idea is that sometimes God’s plan for our lives ends up being different from our preferred plan. Actually, this is usually the case. However, sometimes God’s plan for our lives has an end to our earthly lives before we might desire our end to be. While it is often impossible to know on this side of heaven why God allows some people to die while letting other people live, we can know and trust that God does have a plan.

I have a suspicion that if John lived past Jesus’ return to heaven, even confined to a prison, then he might have unintentionally hindered the start of the early church spreading the good news about Jesus to the known world. It’s possible that some of those who had been John’s followers who had become Jesus’ followers may have returned to John instead of seeking the Holy Spirit and spreading the gospel.

In our own lives, while we might not always understand why things happen the way that they do, we can trust and know that God has a plan for our lives. While our lives on earth may end before we think they should, God’s ultimate plan is for us to live longer than we can imagine and to live a recreated, resurrected life with Him for eternity. Even if trials and struggles come our way, we can hold onto the promise and the hope that God is bigger than the challenges we face, and eternity last longer than today’s trials.

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 and place Him first in your life. Choose to trust Him even when things don’t make sense, and keep your faith and focus fixed on Jesus and the sacrifice He made for each of us. Know that through Jesus’ death, we can have a new life with God!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to Jesus each and every day. Through prayer and Bible study, we open our hearts to God and we let Him into our lives.

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