Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving through Luke’s gospel, we find an event that almost directly relates to the event in our last episode, but one that we might not see the connection at first. The details of this passage begin while Jesus is up on the mountain with the three closest disciples, while the nine remaining disciples are facing a dilemma they thought they could handle while Jesus was gone.

Let’s read about what happened, about what these disciples were unable to do, and how Jesus succeeded when these disciples failed. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 37, Luke tells us that:

³⁷ The next day, when they [referring to Jesus, Peter, James, and John] came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. ³⁸ A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. ³⁹ A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. ⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

⁴¹ “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

⁴² Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

Pausing our reading here, in this passage, while Jesus and His closest disciples were up on the mountain, the remaining disciples were unsuccessfully trying to cast out a demon. Matthew and Mark have the disciples ask Jesus why they could not do it and Jesus responds with a statement challenging their faith and telling them this type of demon can only come out with prayer and possibly fasting.

While this is a good answer and a good reason, it falls a little short when we place this failure against the previous successes that these nine disciples would have had not long before when they were traveling among the towns and villages in Israel. In our last episode, we looked at how the disciples had successfully healed people and cast out demons. However, in this passage, they are now unable to do it.

Why might this have been?

As I think about the details of this event, I wonder where the hearts of the disciples were while Jesus was on the mountain. If the disciples had pride in their hearts about their past success, their pride or arrogance might have blocked the Holy Spirit from working through them to heal this boy.

Another thought is that the attitudes the disciples had when being presented with this problem did not point to God receiving the glory. If the disciples were interested in taking the glory for this miracle and healing onto themselves, then they were doomed to fail. When Jesus did a miracle and when He chose to heal, in every case, Jesus wanted to either show God’s love, give God the glory, or both. If the disciples weren’t interested in God getting the ultimate glory for this miracle, then their attempts were doomed to fail.

A third thought is that God may have kept the disciples from being successful in their genuine attempts to heal this boy because He wanted them to learn something from the failure. More often than we would like it to be, we are able to learn more from failure than from success. When we fail, we are challenged to try again and we are challenged to learn more than if we simply had succeeded. Success is great, but it doesn’t teach as much as failure can.

Jesus’ message to the disciples that this kind of demon can only come out through prayer, faith, and possibly fasting draws our attention to the importance of having a strong, close, connection with God. Prayer, faith, and fasting are all spiritual disciplines that point us to and connect us with God. Jesus’ message to the disciples might be that they needed a stronger connection with God to succeed with this significant miracle. In our own lives and in the big themes of the Bible, strengthening our relationship with God through prayer and faith is never a bad decision!

However, Jesus has a message He wants the disciples to hear. While the crowd is praising God about this miracle, Luke draws our attention onto a message Jesus wants all 12 of His disciples to hear.

Continuing in the second part of verse 43, Luke tells us:

While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, ⁴⁴ “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” ⁴⁵ But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

In the last verses of our passage, Jesus wanted the disciples to know that this successful feeling would not last. During the times of triumph, Jesus wants the disciples to know that this moment will pass. While celebrating successes is a good thing, it is always wise to remember that life is made up of challenges and successes.

At the high points, it is just as vital to realize and remember the low points as it is to remember the high points when we are facing low points in our journey. Jesus challenges the disciples with a message they didn’t like Him reminding them of when they were thinking of celebrating this success.

I am also amazed by how Luke finishes off this passage. Luke describes the disciples being afraid to ask Jesus about this message. While the meaning of Jesus’ prediction was hidden from them, fear stopped these disciples from asking for clarification. If any of the disciples had pushed past the fear to ask, I am certain that crucifixion weekend would have gone completely differently.

Fear can stop us in our tracks if we let it. Jesus desperately wanted the disciples to ask Him about this prediction so He could explain it further, but the disciples were repeatedly closed to the idea that Jesus had anything but success in His future. Jesus ultimately was triumphant, but Jesus’ success only came after His biggest trial – and Jesus’ trial not only challenged Jesus, it challenged all the disciples beyond what the disciples believed.

When we face challenges in our lives, remember the successes in our past. When we face success, remember the challenges of our past and that challenges will come in our future. And above everything else, remember that Jesus is triumphant, and that He will be with us through both the trials and the triumphs of life!

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 remember God in the trials and in the triumphs. Choose also to lean and depend on God, giving Him the glory for everything He has blessed you with. Intentionally thank God for everything He has done for you and through you in your life.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. Remember that it is never a bad choice to focus on strengthening your relationship with God. Don’t let culture, the world, or anyone convince you that a personal relationship with God is unnecessary. A personal relationship with God is one of the most important things we can have, and wherever you are on your journey with God, focusing on growing closer to and leaning into God is never a bad choice.

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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we have seen plenty of times so far during this year looking at prophecies and connecting points between the Old Testament and Jesus, many phrases and ideas that are found in the Old Testament book of Psalms seem to point forward towards Jesus. In our passage for this podcast episode, we again turn to the book of Psalms to discover in just a few verses, several interesting connections to Jesus.

With this as our foundation, let’s read our passage for this episode and discover how it points us towards Jesus. Our passage for this podcast episode is found in Psalm 69, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 5, the psalmist writes:

⁵ O God, it is You who knows my folly,
And my wrongs are not hidden from You.
⁶ May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts;
May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel,
⁷ Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;
Dishonor has covered my face.
⁸ I have become estranged from my brothers
And an alien to my mother’s sons.
⁹ For zeal for Your house has consumed me,
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I wept in my soul with fasting,
It became my reproach.
¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
¹² Those who sit in the gate talk about me,
And I am the song of the drunkards.

In these verses from this psalm, we can clearly see how its author, traditionally believed to be David, feels. As I say this, I’m not sure when in David’s life he wrote this, but I suspect it was one of the several times that he was running and hiding from those who were interested in harming him. In these verses, we get a clear picture that David feels like he has been made an outcast from everyone, including his family.

However, while this psalm is applicable to David’s life, it is also amazing that the New Testament draws parallels connecting these ideas with Jesus.

The first connection point we will look briefly at is found in Luke, chapter 8, and we will begin reading in verse 20:

²⁰ And it was reported to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.” ²¹ But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

In these two verses, we get the picture that Jesus saw His family as being different from what the typical definition of family is. While I don’t believe Jesus grew up in a hostile family environment, this passage stands out in my mind because Jesus redefines His family away from simply those with a biological connection.

The next passage we will look at from Jesus’ ministry is found in John’s gospel. This passage also stands out to me because it is among the few passages that shed light on how Jesus interacted with those in His family. In John, chapter 7, starting in verse 1, we read:

¹ After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. ² Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. ³ Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. ⁴ For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” ⁵ For not even His brothers were believing in Him.

It is fascinating in my mind that John draws our attention to the detail that Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe in Him. On one hand, I can clearly understand how this could be, since growing up with someone allows you to see all their faults and idiosyncrasies. On one hand it is amazing that Jesus’ brothers missed Jesus’ mission after knowing Him for over two decades, while on the other hand, I suspect that Jesus’ brothers simply were caught believing the traditional beliefs about the Messiah that first century Jewish culture held. Those in the first century were not openly looking for a Messiah who was not actively seeking the spotlight, and Jesus’ brothers mistakenly assume in their statement to Jesus that He wants to be known publicly.

In these two passages, we get the clear picture that Jesus lived a little more separated from His biological family than most people in the first century. While Jesus is with His brothers in the second passage we focused in on, there is no context given why Jesus would have opted to hide with His brothers, rather than simply somewhere else while avoiding Judea.

However, from the psalm we focused in on, we find another phrase that appears to be directly connected with Jesus’ ministry. Regardless of whether you or I believe this to be the case, the author of John’s gospel clearly identifies this connection, and John uses this connection to build his case that Jesus is the Messiah.

Early on in John’s gospel, specifically in chapter 2, we read about something Jesus did which surprised everyone present. Starting in verse 13, John tells us that:

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵ And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; ¹⁶ and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” ¹⁸ The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. ²² So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

If John’s gospel was written chronologically, then it is amazing in my mind that two times in Jesus’ ministry, He chases commerce out of the temple. In John’s gospel, which presumably happened early on during Jesus’ ministry, Jesus chases the commerce out of the temple, and John draws out the connection to this Old Testament psalm that says, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.”

When the Jews challenge Jesus on what authority He has to do these things, Jesus makes a prediction of His own, but one that was intended to be misunderstood in that moment. John draws our attention onto the meaning of Jesus’ words, specifically that Jesus was pointing forward to His crucifixion and referring to His body as a temple.

I suspect that if Jesus had been clearer in this prediction, specifically that the temple He was referring to was His body, part of me thinks that these leaders would have arrested Jesus or perhaps have even picked up stones to stone Him to death. If Jesus had been clearer in this event and in His prediction, I suspect Jesus wouldn’t have made it to the cross because the religious leaders would have killed Him sooner.

However, where does that leave us?

From this psalm that points forward to Jesus, and from Jesus’ interaction with the ideas found within this psalm, we can know and trust that God is in control. When zeal for God’s house consumed Jesus, God made a way for Jesus to escape certain immediate death by being truthful while also a little obscure or cryptic. When Jesus’ brothers believed culture’s view of the Messiah over the path for the Messiah that Jesus was walking, we discover that Jesus would not be pushed off the path for His life that God had placed before Him. Jesus willingly walked forward through life knowing the cross was in His future, and that His cross would open the way for our redemption.

And when Jesus’ family came to see Him, presumably to ask Him to stop pressing the religious leaders so hard, Jesus redefines the idea of family in a way that can easily include you and me.

We are invited into Jesus’ family when we do God’s will, and Jesus opened the way for our salvation through what He accomplished on the cross for us!

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

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life and accept Jesus into your heart and mind. Trust that God has made everything available for you to be included and adopted into His family, and that the only thing stopping you is a simple choice that He allows you to make.

If you are on the fence regarding this decision, then like I regularly challenge you to do, take this decision to Jesus in prayer. Pray and study the Bible for yourself to discover who God is and what He is like, and discover in the pages of the gospels a God who loves you more than you can possibly imagine.

And when moving forward through life with God, 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!