Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Anticipating Our Resurrection: Mark 6:14-29

Published April 14, 2022 in Audio Journal Entries

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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:

¹⁴King 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.”

¹⁵Others said, “He is Elijah.”

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

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

¹⁷Herod 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. ¹⁸John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to be married to your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹So Herodias hated John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn’t, ²⁰because 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.

²¹Then 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. ²²When 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.” ²³He promised her, “Anything you ask for I will give to you—up to half of my kingdom.”

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

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

²⁵At 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.”

²⁶Although 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. ²⁷Immediately the king sent a soldier to bring John’s head. The soldier went and cut off John’s head in the prison ²⁸and brought it back on a platter. He gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹When 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!

Year in Mark – Episode 15: When looking at the death of Jesus’ forerunner in ministry, John the Baptist, discover the subtle promise we can look forward to in the resurrection, and discover an unlikely person in this event who believed resurrection was possible.

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Discrediting Jesus: John 8:12-20

Published April 13, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 8:12-20 (NCV)

¹² Later, Jesus talked to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life.”

¹³ The Pharisees said to Jesus, “When you talk about yourself, you are the only one to say these things are true. We cannot accept what you say.”

¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Yes, I am saying these things about myself, but they are true. I know where I came from and where I am going. But you don’t know where I came from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge by human standards. I am not judging anyone. ¹⁶ But when I do judge, I judge truthfully, because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. ¹⁷ Your own law says that when two witnesses say the same thing, you must accept what they say. ¹⁸ I am one of the witnesses who speaks about myself, and the Father who sent me is the other witness.”

¹⁹ They asked, “Where is your father?”

Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father, too.” ²⁰ Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the Temple, near where the money is kept. But no one arrested him, because the right time for him had not yet come.

Read John 8:12-20 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

In this journal entry, we look at Jesus responding to an accusation that the Pharisees bring towards Him. In the scope of all the accusations the Pharisees bring, this may be the most practical one, but also the one that shows them to be the most blind to the evidence.

In this passage, the Pharisees try to discredit Jesus’ ministry by saying that He is only speaking for Himself, and that they cannot accept His testimony, because there is not a second witness. This is a valid argument, but first we must ignore and/or discredit the other evidence.

Prior to this event, John the Baptist has publically declared that Jesus was the Messiah they should follow. Also, the miraculous events surrounding Jesus’ birth and early childhood serve as a more than credible second witness. These are two easy examples of a second witness that would need to be ignored in order to make this “one witness” accusation.

However, Jesus chooses instead to focus on the clearest second witness: The Father (and to a lesser extent, The Holy Spirit). Two times before this event, God the Father had spoken directly to the people to confirm Jesus as His Son: First at the Baptism (Mark 1:9-11 / Matthew 3:13-17 / Luke 3:21-22), and secondly at the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-13 / Matthew 17:1-13 / Luke 9:28-36). This is two direct times where The Father acts as a second witness. The Holy Spirit supported Jesus’ ministry through the countless miracles that Jesus performed.

However, Jesus counters their argument by saying that He did not come to judge them, even if they are judging Him. Too often we pick shallow arguments in order to discredit following Jesus in our own life today, but that is not Jesus’ issue, it is ours.

Jesus will be the Judge in the future, but now, He seeks to draw us to God through His testimony, the testimony of the Father, the testimony of eye-witness accounts who lived in the first century, and the testimony of thousands of believers who have lived and died during the last 2,000 years.

It is not enough to believe that Jesus existed. Instead we must believe in Jesus, which means placing our faith, hope, and trust in Him. He had the required number of witnesses – and more. Are we going to accept His testimony?

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 Prayer Cliché: John 16:16-33

Published April 12, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 16:16-33 (NIV)

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

¹⁷At 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’?” ¹⁸They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹Jesus 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’? ²⁰Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹A 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. ²²So 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. ²³In 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. ²⁴Until 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. ²⁶In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

²⁹Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰Now 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.”

Read John 16:16-33 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

If there was ever a verse and theme that has been taken and turned into an almost meaningless cliché, it would be the idea and theme that we can find in Jesus’ last conversation before His arrest and death. In this conversation, John tells us what Jesus told the disciples: “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. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (v. 23-24)

The idea that God will give us whatever we ask for in Jesus’ name is an incredibly powerful idea. In some ways, it is almost too powerful of a gift for us. But this theme has also become a cheap, shallow cliché that has prompted many people to use “God”, “Jesus”, “Father”, and “Lord” as filler words in their prayers. It has also prompted the popular prayer closing statement of “In Jesus name, Amen.”

After all, if we are calling on God in Jesus’ name, then in this set of verses, we have the clear promise that God will give us what we ask for. Jesus even goes so far as to say that we must ask God for things in order to make our joy complete.

So these verses must mean that we can pray the most selfish prayers, with the most sinful hearts, and if we end them by calling on Jesus’ name, God is then required to answer us. But for those who have tried this, reality seems to contradict Jesus’ words. Not all prayers that end with Jesus’ name being called upon are promptly answered, and not all prayers that are filled with the various names for God and Jesus are answered positively.

If this promise is not working in our lives, then this must mean we are missing something in these verses. If God made the promise, then He will keep it to give honor to His character. God will answer the promise and prayer because of who He is and not because of who we are.

When looking for conditions or prerequisites for this promise to be answered, two come to mind.

The first prerequisite is shared in the verse right before this, where Jesus says, “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.” (v. 22)

This verse sets up a time period for our verse with the promise in it because Jesus then continues by saying, “In that day…” (v. 23a)

To start this promise off, Jesus refers to a day following the disciples’ sadness turning into joy, and this happened following the resurrection. It is possible that Jesus gave this promise to only those eleven disciples, but it is also possible that the first prerequisite is that we already have a relationship with Jesus. The disciples had been with Jesus for several years, and it is only after they had become close that Jesus gives them this promise. It may be the same with us.

The second possible prerequisite is found in the phrase, “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.” (v. 24a)

With this phrase, Jesus describes that the disciples had never used Jesus’ name in a request before. This could then mean that Jesus’ promise should be valued and kept sacred rather than simply being used for every whim that comes into our minds. If anything in this promise becomes a cliché, then it has also become insincere and an insincere prayer may not even reach God’s ears.

After looking closer at this promise, it is hard to escape the truth that those who have a relationship with God and who have placed their hope, faith, and trust in Jesus can sincerely pray in Jesus’ name, and have their requests answered. You and I can be included in this promise if we are willing to place Jesus first in our lives in a meaningful way and focus on building a meaningful, sincere relationship with Him.

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Flashback Episode — A Great Reminder: Mark 3:7-12

Published April 11, 2022 in Audio Journal Entries

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Earlier during this year of podcasting through Jesus’ miracles in the gospels, we focused in on a passage where demons came out screaming that Jesus was God’s Son. While it seems like this may have been an isolated incident, it is possible that this detail was more frequent during Jesus’ ministry, and that the gospel writers simply stopped recording the detail because of how common it was. We can see this hinted in a rather generic passage of healings that Mark’s gospel includes.

Our passage for this episode comes from Mark’s gospel, chapter 3, and we will be reading it from the Good News Translation of the Bible. Starting in verse 7, Mark tells us that:

⁷Jesus and his disciples went away to Lake Galilee, and a large crowd followed him. They had come from Galilee, from Judea, ⁸from Jerusalem, from the territory of Idumea, from the territory on the east side of the Jordan, and from the region around the cities of Tyre and Sidon. All these people came to Jesus because they had heard of the things he was doing. ⁹The crowd was so large that Jesus told his disciples to get a boat ready for him, so that the people would not crush him. ¹⁰He had healed many people, and all the sick kept pushing their way to him in order to touch him. ¹¹And whenever the people who had evil spirits in them saw him, they would fall down before him and scream, “You are the Son of God!”

¹²Jesus sternly ordered the evil spirits not to tell anyone who he was.

In Mark’s passage, we don’t really learn much that could be called new based on other passages we have looked at so far this year. Previously we have seen Jesus cast evil spirits out, heal people, we have seen evil spirits declaring Jesus to be God’s Son, and we’ve seen Jesus silence these evil spirits. Jesus has also been so crowded in with people listening to Him preach that He has preached from a boat.

There isn’t much new that we can learn from this passage, but while this is the case, there are two things that are worth us focusing in on.

The first thing we’ll focus in on is that when we are living within God’s plan for our lives, God will bring people into our lives that He wants us to reach out to, people that He wants us to touch with His love, and people who will challenge us to grow. When we are living within God’s plan for our lives, don’t be surprised when word gets around about what God is doing through us.

In Jesus’ life and ministry, we see this displayed clearly and visibly in this passage from Mark’s gospel. Mark describes in verses 7 and 8 how this crowd of people “had come from Galilee, from Judea, from Jerusalem, from the territory of Idumea, from the territory on the east side of the Jordan, and from the region around the cities of Tyre and Sidon.”

While this list of places doesn’t mean much to us living on the other side of the world over 2,000 years later, what we can see present here is that within a very short period of time, word spread about Jesus to a very wide region. The word that was spreading related to Jesus’ miraculous healing ability and His counter-cultural message. People spent days traveling to hear Jesus and to get help for a loved one or themselves, and when these people who needed help arrived, Jesus was willing to give them a few moments of God’s time, and touch their lives with God’s love.

The second thing we are reminded of in this passage is that unless Satan disliked having his evil spirits possessing people, the simple fact that a person possessed by an evil spirit being caught near Jesus gives evidence for God being stronger than Satan. Every time Jesus encounters an evil spirit, the evil spirit loses. The only option an evil spirit has when faced with Jesus is try to do something to discredit Jesus’ authority – and in this passage, as with ones before, the option is to declare the truth about Jesus.

If we are primed to distrust Satan, then we immediately distrust anything that comes from his mouth – even if it is the truth. We should distrust Satan, but it is best to simply ignore anything he says because it is guaranteed to be a blend of truth and lies and it will be difficult for us to discern the truth from the lies. In place of ignoring Satan, we should intentionally focus more on studying the Bible, and on discovering what it teaches us about God. When we grow closer to God, we begin to reflect Him in our lives, and we will be better able to see the devil’s tricks.

When we look at this passage and what it reminds us about Jesus, we discover that God is more powerful than Satan; that every time an evil spirit encounters Jesus, Jesus wins; and that God is more than willing to bring people into our lives for His purposes.

God has a big plan in place for history and the end of sin, and when we look at how Jesus lived His life, we discover that God loves each of us, and that Jesus came to redeem us from the sin that has trapped us.

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 Him lead you through life. Intentionally grow closer to Him in order to see the traps and the lies Satan is spreading through the world. Remember that Jesus is infinitely stronger than Satan is and that Jesus invites us to be on His winning side.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, to learn and grow each day in your faith and knowledge of God. Choose to filter everything culture wants to convince you of through the pages of the Bible to discern its true value.

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

Flashback Episode: Year of Miracles – Episode 15: In a somewhat generic passage included in the gospel of Mark, we are reminded of some amazing truths about Jesus that are often overlooked or forgotten.