Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Assuming His Guilt: John 18:28-40

Published March 19, 2021 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 18:28-40 (NIV)

²⁸Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

³⁰“If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”

³¹Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. ³²This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

³³Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

³⁵“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

³⁶Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

³⁷“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

⁴⁰They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

Read John 18:28-40 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Of all the gospel writers to share about Jesus’ trial before Pilate, the gospel of John includes the version that may be my favorite. Matthew and Mark both share similar, very abridged versions, while Luke goes into details about how Pilate sends Jesus to see Herod, who then sends Jesus back.

However, the gospel of John is the only gospel that includes an actual conversation between Pilate and Jesus. All the other gospel writers simply include one question and one response Jesus gave. In John’s gospel, we learn that there was a brief discussion, but what is amazing in this discussion is not the discussion itself, but a subtle shift ended up happening that turned Pilates focus.

The passage opens with Pilate asking the Jewish leaders, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” (v. 29)

The Jewish leaders sidestep the question by saying, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” (v. 30)

The Jewish leaders give no charge or accusation, but instead simply press Jesus’ guilt. This simple detail is one that by itself makes this case unique. But a subtle shift happens during Jesus’ conversation with Pilate, because when we read Pilate’s verdict at the end of their conversation, we see something that is easy to miss.

Following their conversation, Pilate comes out and addresses the crowd of Jewish leaders by saying at the end of verse 38, “I find no basis for a charge against him.” But Pilate doesn’t stop there. He continues by saying, “But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” (v. 39)

Now, Jesus would have been a free person had these leaders not arrested Him, so it makes no rational sense for Pilate to offer to release Jesus as though He was a prisoner. If Jesus was unjustly arrested, then He should be released as a separate action aside from the custom of releasing a prisoner. It is in these two verses that we see the shift from Pilate believing Jesus is innocent to assuming His guilt.

In this way, we come to the big realization I had when reading this passage: While Pilate eventually bends to the crowds demands for crucifixion a few verses later, in these two verses, Pilate becomes just as responsible for Jesus’ death as the Jewish leaders themselves. The Jewish leaders may have been the ones to arrest Jesus, but Pilate, in assuming His guilt from His status as a prisoner when he directly says that he finds no fault in Jesus, also is just as responsible because he chose to not set Jesus free.

In this passage Jesus’ death is not only because of the Jewish leaders present, but the gentile leaders as well. In this way, both groups of humanity (Jews and Gentiles) are responsible for Jesus’ death on the cross.

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.

Worry vs. Trust: Matthew 6:25-34

Published March 18, 2021 in Audio Journal Entries

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iHeartRadio | RSS

Read the Transcript

As we continue moving through Matthew’s gospel, and specifically through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Jesus comes to a challenging message, but unlike some of the previously challenging messages, this challenge is about something that isn’t specifically a sin, but a challenge related to trust.

Let’s read what Jesus told the crowd, before unpacking how this is relevant in our lives over 2,000 years later. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 25, Jesus continued preaching, saying:

²⁵“So I tell you, don’t worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes. ²⁶Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. ²⁷You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.

²⁸“And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. ²⁹But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. ³⁰God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don’t have so little faith! ³¹Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²The people who don’t know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them. ³³Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. ³⁴So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

In this passage and message to everyone present, Jesus challenges us on the validity of worrying about things in our lives. Jesus basically says in these few verses that worry is worthless. Worry does not gain us anything positive.

So then why do we worry if it isn’t productive or positive?

I don’t have a good answer for this question, except to give the theory that worry comes from a lack of trust. For those who believe in God, worry comes from not trusting that God will have all the details worked out. For those who don’t believe in God, worry is simply not trusting that things will work out in the end.

Sometimes this fear is warranted. Sometimes, God, or life, doesn’t make things work out for us. Sometimes bad things do ultimately happen. While this could be a great place to talk about why bad things happen to good people and bad people alike, I will resist the urge to do so here.

Instead, our passage focuses us on the singular topic of worry. Jesus directly gives us the challenge in verse 27, “You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.”

Worry is not productive. Worry does not benefit our lives in any way. In contrast to worry, we might spend a few minutes planning some “what if” scenarios, but after we have decided on the various courses of action, then we move forward with life ready to take whatever action is planned out based on the outcome of what we are concerned about.

This strategy balances planning and trust. If we are concerned about something we cannot change or affect, then worrying about it doesn’t do any good. Instead, we should plan what we will do when an outcome to the situation happens. Having a plan lessens worry.

In contrast, the things that cause us to worry where we can change the outcome are not things worth worrying about. Instead, we must intentionally work to improve the situation and to bring about the change we would like to see happen. While most situations have more variables we cannot control than the variables we can, we must focus on doing only what we specifically can and then trusting God will work out the other details.

There is no getting around trust being the antidote for worry. However, when we are tempted to worry, there is something else we can do can help grow our trust if it is weak. This other thing will seem obvious and maybe a little cliché when I say it, but that doesn’t change its validity.

When we are tempted to worry, we should turn to God in prayer and ask Him for two things: We should ask Him to help the situation we are worried about in the best way possible from His perspective, and we should ask Him for help trusting that He knows best.

While we might have an idea of what outcome we would like to see in any given situation, our perspective isn’t God’s, and it is better to defer some of the big decisions and big challenges to God because some of these things are better left in His hands.

Remember that above everything else, God wants each of us to ultimately end up with Him in heaven. This means two things. First, this means that we have faith in Jesus and that we have a saving relationship with Him. Secondly, this means that we must actually want to go to heaven. While the first is obvious for most people, the second is where things get challenging.

If God were to take every single piece of bad out of this world, there would be very little desire to go somewhere better. In a way that I don’t understand all that well, when bad things happen in this world, one outcome that is positive is that we are reminded that God has a better place in mind for our future, and that we can trust He will take us there when He returns.

Remember that when bad things happen or when we are tempted to worry about a potentially bad thing happening, trusting in God is the antidote for our worry. We can mix this trust with a few minutes planning some “what if” scenarios, but after we have these plans in place, we trust God will work things out as He knows best. We can even pray for His best outcome to happen and that He will help us trust that whatever happens is for the best from an eternal perspective.

Worry by itself is worthless. However, if worry prompts us to plan, act, and trust in God even more, then it accomplished what it was designed to do. Worry is only present to remind us we are not trusting God, and when we trust God, worry get’s pushed away.

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, and when worry wants to challenge your trust in God, take your worry to God in prayer, asking for more trust, and asking for guidance moving forward. While we can make plans for what could possibly happen, regardless of what happens, we want to follow the path God knows is best when He brings resolution to what we are concerned about. Prayer is the best way to ask God for help with trust when worry wants to invade our lives.

With our prayer, we should also be sure to regularly study the Bible for ourselves to learn how God has worked in the past and how He has promised us He will do the same in our lives. While our lives and our world are very different from the world and lives of those who lived back then, trusting God when challenges come is always relevant.

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

Year in Matthew – Episode 11: Part way through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He turns His attention onto the topic of worry, and how worry is not valuable. Discover how what Jesus says is relevant for our lives regardless of what point in history we live.

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

God as Our Father: Luke 2:41-52

Published March 17, 2021 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Luke 2:41-52 (NIV)

⁴¹Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. ⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. ⁴³After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁵¹Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵²And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Read Luke 2:41-52 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

From Jesus’ birth story until the time of His baptism when He was 30 years old, very little is known about Jesus. All we have shared in the gospels are transition statements, except for one story that only the gospel of Luke includes. This event is when Jesus staying in Jerusalem after the Passover festival while Mary, Joseph, and their extended family head back home. It is only after a full day’s travel that Mary and Joseph realize that Jesus isn’t with their group of travelers.

Once Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the temple, we see an interesting idea within Mary’s question to Jesus, and in Jesus’ response. On finding Jesus in the temple, Mary asks Jesus, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” (v. 48)

Jesus responds to Mary by saying, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (v. 49)

What is fascinating to me is that at the age of twelve, Jesus had shifted His perspective from simply seeing Joseph and Mary as His parents to seeing God as His true Father. Mary calls Joseph, “your father” in her question, but Jesus responds with the phrase “My Father” in a way that refers to God.

At age twelve, Jesus already understood His uniqueness, and Mary and Joseph probably had shared with Him the miraculous events surrounding His birth. At that point, Jesus may have even remembered some of the time they spent in Egypt or the moving trip back to Nazareth.

But the big takeaway that I see in this idea for all of us is that regardless of how old we are, we can see God as being our Father, and we can place Him in this role in our lives.

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.

Effective Evangelism: John 12:12-19

Published March 16, 2021 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 12:12-19 (NIV)

¹²The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

¹⁵“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

Read John 12:12-19 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

If there was ever a moment that, as a group, the Pharisees felt defeated by Jesus, it is probably in this passage. There are plenty of places where we read about questions or tricks that they unsuccessfully challenged Jesus with, but following the event in this passage, we read a very revealing phrase that only John includes in his gospel.

Following the great celebration where Jesus rides a young donkey into Jerusalem, John includes a little side-note about who the crowd was, the crowd’s response, and the Pharisees reaction to what was happening. John tells us, “Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!’” (v. 17-19)

While the Pharisee’s statement is interesting, the really big lesson we can learn is from the crowd itself.

John tells us the crowd started with those who had witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus, and they were the biggest evangelists of Jesus in that region. John says that, “Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign [resurrecting Lazarus], went out to meet him.” (v. 18)

This leads us to one of the big things we can learn in this passage/event: Personal evangelism has always been one of the most effective ways of sharing. It was this way in the first century, and it is still this way today. A solid network of dedicated fans can draw more people in than the best mass-marketing efforts available. In Jesus’ case, His network of fans prompted the Pharisees to say that it felt like “the whole world has gone after Him!” – The more we lift Jesus up – pointing people to Him and what He has done for us – the more effective our evangelism and sharing will be.

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.