Reflective Bible Study

Over the past several episodes, we have been focusing in on Jesus’ last opportunity to share with the disciples before being betrayed and arrested. At this point, Judas Iscariot has likely already gathered the mob and soldiers who would arrest Jesus, and there isn’t much time left for Jesus and the remaining disciples to be together.

As Jesus begins to wrap up what He wants to share with His remaining followers, we come to our passage for this episode. This passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will be reading it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16:

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

²⁹ Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰ Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

³¹ “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. ³² “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

In this conclusion to Jesus’ message to His disciples, we see an interesting miscommunication. Jesus shares that while He has been speaking figuratively, He points forward to a time when He won’t have to use figurative language.

In response, the disciples exclaim that they are happy now that He is speaking clearly and without figures of speech. This response to Jesus’ message is followed up with a statement they likely unanimously make that now, after hearing this, they all believe that He came from God.

Jesus then responds by challenging them on this very point. If they truly all believed and knew what would happen, then they would not have been surprised or scared when the mob arrived to arrest Jesus. And even if they were surprised, they wouldn’t have abandoned Him.

However, in Jesus’ challenge to His disciples, we see a massive idea within His words that is a promise we can take and apply into our own lives. Verse 32 tells us that Jesus told the disciples: “You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”

This truth is incredibly powerful. Regardless of what our circumstances look like, how we feel, or what Satan tries to tell us to discourage us, when we believe in Jesus, we are never alone. God the Father, and His Holy Spirit are always with us. Even if everyone else has abandoned us, God is still faithful, and His presence matters more than the presence of anyone else.

The reverse is also true. Even when we feel like we have failed God and left Him all alone, He is willing to accept us back when we are ready to come back. All the disciples failed Jesus, and Jesus was willing to accept back all the disciples who were willing to come back. The only disciple who didn’t return was Judas Iscariot, who committed suicide when realizing that He was responsible for Jesus’ death, and his decision could not be undone.

As Jesus wraps up this last message to His followers, He gives all of us a promise. Verse 33 shares this promise, which says: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

When we follow Jesus, He does not promise us a life that is trouble free. Our lives might include more trouble because of our decision to follow Him. However, we are to live each day with the peace God gives us, and this peace is built on the truth that Jesus overcame the world. Jesus overcame sin. Jesus overcame death. Jesus promises to include us in His victory when He returns as King!

This promise is one worth celebrating, especially when we look at how sin-filled the world is today!

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

Always seek God first and let His Holy Spirit influence your life. Trust that God knows the future; that He knows what will happen; and that through Jesus, He defeated Satan and overcame the world. Let God’s peace guide you through life and draw you to Him.

Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. A personal relationship with God is the best way to experience the peace He offers, and it is the best way to experience Jesus’ victory in your own life while sin is still present in this world.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, chicken out of, or drift away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue our journey through Matthew’s gospel, we come to a passage that is often split into two sections, but one that is very fascinating when we look at it as a whole. In the first part of this passage, Peter, the most outspoken disciple, is praised, while in the second part of this passage, Jesus calls Peter out as Satan.

Let’s read about what happened and draw out some things we can learn from what is shared. Like all of our passages for this “Year in Matthew”, our passage for this episode comes from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 13, Matthew tells us that:

¹³ Jesus went to the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi, where he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ “Some say John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet.”

¹⁵ “What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ “Good for you, Simon son of John!” answered Jesus. “For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

²⁰ Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Pausing briefly, this is where most people stop reading. However, if we continue on, we discover something almost humoring.

Continuing in verse 21, Matthew tells us:

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, “I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life.”

²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “God forbid it, Lord!” he said. “That must never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned around and said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don’t come from God, but from human nature.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it. ²⁶ Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! There is nothing you can give to regain your life. ²⁷ For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds. ²⁸ I assure you that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Son of Man come as King.”

In this passage, we find a ton of things we could focus in on, but to keep things simple, let’s focus on just two big ideas, with one or both of these ideas being things you may not have thought of before.

The first of these ideas is Jesus’ compliment to Peter. While a casual reading of Jesus’ statement might make it seem like Jesus elevates Peter’s status to being a rock that God’s church is built on, there is an interesting twist of words that expands Jesus’ compliment to include Peter, while also being much bigger.

Verse 18 includes Jesus statement: “And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it.” In this statement, Peter is compared with a rock, and then a rock foundation is where Jesus builds His church. While I’ve heard the original Greek language contrasts the idea of Peter being a pebble with the rock foundation being a boulder or a mountain-side, I like the way this translation compares these ideas.

In Jesus’ compliment, He recognizes Peter’s contribution, which is simply proclaiming a truth that Peter could only have learned from God the Father, and this truth makes the rock foundation that God’s church is built on. According to this translation, Peter’s rock contribution, combined with many other small rock contributions make up the huge rock foundation that God’s church is built on. This rock foundation is the truth that Peter proclaimed. Peter responded to Jesus’ question by proclaiming that: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

It is this truth that God’s church is built on, and when Peter makes this proclamation, He is reinforcing God’s church and God’s truth. When we make this proclamation, we are reinforcing God’s truth and God’s church!

The second big idea in this passage is Jesus’ big insult towards Peter. Just a few verses later, Jesus pulls the disciples aside and tries to warn them about what was waiting for them when they reached Jerusalem. Jesus tells them that He would suffer at the hands of the religious leaders, be put to death, and then be raised to life three days later. When I read this event, I wonder if Peter completely missed the last words in Jesus’ statement and that He stopped hearing Jesus’ words at the details about Jesus’ upcoming death.

Is Peter’s thinking really that crazy? Most people seem to blindly side with Jesus in judging Peter, but if you were walking around with Someone you firmly believed to be God, and you believed God to be immortal, which is another way of saying that they cannot die, if this Person told you they were going somewhere to die, would that sound crazy to you?

On top of this, the dominant understanding of prophecy was that the Messiah who God would send would last forever, and lasting forever doesn’t really happen when one has died.

I am pretty certain that Peter, and most of the rest of the disciples, either didn’t hear Jesus’ promise that at the end of the three days, He would be raised back to life, or they simply didn’t know what to think of it and perhaps forgot about it until after crucifixion weekend. This is because we don’t find any of the disciples eagerly looking forward to Jesus’ resurrection on the Sunday following His death. Instead, the disciples are hiding and likely trying to strategically plan their exit from the city.

However, Jesus understands prophecy, and He understood that death and resurrection were in His future. The big thing I can learn from Peter’s challenge is that regardless of whether I understand prophecy or how the Bible describes future events, my understanding is only as good as my willingness to be open to what God is continually revealing. If I close my mind to what God wants to teach me, then I will ultimately be like the disciples who missed out on the best warning they had regarding the events of crucifixion weekend. The disciples had every opportunity to know what would happen, but they were caught believing the traditional belief of the Messiah, and a belief that the Messiah could not experience death.

I don’t think Peter’s thought was crazy, but the motivation behind it was opposite of God’s plan, and this opposition was what Jesus challenged Peter on. It is crazy to think that God would die for humanity, but this truth is one of the biggest reasons Jesus came!

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 and purposefully seek God first and place your hope, your faith, your trust, and your belief in Jesus and what He accomplished for you. Choose to be open to what God wants to teach you and openly proclaim the truth that Jesus is God’s Messiah and that He is God’s Son!

Also, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through a personal relationship with God, we can learn and know what God wants to teach us and when we are open to God’s teaching, we will avoid the traps that even the disciples fell in when they refused to accept Jesus’ words for the common understanding of prophecy at that point in history.

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