Reflective Bible Study

While none of the 12 disciples grasped Jesus’ statements regarding His upcoming betrayal and crucifixion, one in particular was completely blinded by his preconceived ideas about Jesus that he didn’t realize his role in the process until it was too late. Judas Iscariot, the disciple who had determined to betray Jesus, had seen Jesus outwit and out maneuver the religious leaders more times than he likely could count, and because of this, I imagine Judas believed Jesus would do it again.

However, the only way this belief works is if Judas simply ignored all of Jesus’ statements about His upcoming death while they were headed towards Jerusalem. Even the gift of perfume, which had sparked Judas’ anger when Jesus challenged him on it, was attributed to anointing Jesus for burial. There were so many warnings, signs, and predictions Judas simply discounted or ignored, that when he realized what happened, and what he had done, it was too late.

Matthew’s gospel describes Judas’ response when realizing his mistake. Let’s read this passage together and discover what happened, what Judas tried to do, and what we can learn about the religious leaders at this point of the first century. Our passage is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 27, and we will be reading it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

¹ Early in the morning all the chief priests and the leaders of the people decided to execute Jesus. ² They tied him up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

³ Then Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, regretted what had happened when he saw that Jesus was condemned. He brought the 30 silver coins back to the chief priests and leaders. ⁴ He said, “I’ve sinned by betraying an innocent man.”

They replied, “What do we care? That’s your problem.”

⁵ So he threw the money into the temple, went away, and hanged himself.

⁶ The chief priests took the money and said, “It’s not right to put it into the temple treasury, because it’s blood money.” ⁷ So they decided to use it to buy a potter’s field for the burial of strangers. ⁸ That’s why that field has been called the Field of Blood ever since. ⁹ Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true, “They took the 30 silver coins, the price the people of Israel had placed on him, ¹⁰ and used the coins to buy a potter’s field, as the Lord had directed me.”

All throughout this passage, we see prophecy being fulfilled. Whether all the parties involved realized they were fulfilling prophecy at the time is debatable, but at least in the case of the religious leaders, they would have been the ones who clearly should have seen it. The religious leaders set the price of 30 silver coins, and the religious leaders purchased a potter’s field with the money. All of this was written hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth.

Perhaps the religious leaders didn’t care if they fulfilled some prophecy because they believed Jesus didn’t fulfill all the prophecies. In their minds, 90% of prophecies wasn’t good enough. Only 100% of their interpretation would do. What they didn’t realize is that Jesus didn’t come to fulfill 100% of their interpretation of the Old Testament prophecies. Instead, Jesus came to fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah’s first appearance, and some of the Old Testament prophecies would remain reserved for future fulfillment – specifically when Jesus returns as King.

However, this isn’t the only big thing we see when looking at this passage. It is also interesting that while Judas Iscariot realized the error of his ways, the religious leaders remain completely blinded of their own faults – except that they acknowledge that Judas did in fact betray innocent blood.

Judas returned the money, perhaps hoping that it would free Jesus. Judas acknowledged that he sinned. He confessed to the religious leaders his mistake. If the religious leaders had been living according to God’s will for their position, they might have had sympathy or a more loving response for someone who appeared to be repentant who was asking for forgiveness.

However, the religious leaders respond by saying in verse 4, “What do we care? That’s your problem.”

Judas threw the money back at them, before leaving and committing suicide. This is where the religious leaders are blind on multiple levels. While they don’t acknowledge or care that they use the money to buy a potter’s field to bury strangers in, which had been predicted, they do acknowledge the money was tainted and it shouldn’t be put into the temple treasury. By acknowledging that the money was not clean, the religious leaders incriminate themselves because they were the ones who made the money dirty in the first place by using it to pay for an innocent Man’s betrayal.

Also, the religious leaders ignore the detail that the money likely came out of the temple treasury when they gave it to Judas. Even if the group of religious leaders all contributed a little of their personal wealth, that wealth was probably paid for by the temple treasury, or at least from the offerings of the people. Because of this, we can logically conclude that Jesus’ betrayal was paid for with God’s money.

However, the money not only financed Jesus’ betrayal, but also the purchase of a field to bury strangers who had died. This is fascinating in my mind because in a very subtle way, the two ways the religious leaders use these 30 pieces of silver speak to their ignorance of who Jesus was. The religious leaders use God’s money in preparation for killing Someone they don’t truly know, and they pay for a field to bury those who have died that they don’t really know.

If the religious leaders believed Jesus to have been God’s Messiah, they wouldn’t have betrayed or rejected Him, but they chose to reject Jesus because He didn’t fit their view of God. In a similar way, we should be wary of creating our own picture of who God is.

The religious leaders had a picture of God and of His Messiah that they viewed the world through, and it caused them to miss the true Messiah when Jesus actually came. They missed out because Jesus didn’t fit their picture. If we create a picture of God that we then expect Him to fit Himself into, we will also likely be disappointed if/when He decides to do something contrary to our beliefs or ideas.

Instead, we should intentionally focus on God with an open mind, and let Him lead us on the path He wants us to follow, and if—or when—something happens that we don’t understand, we reserve judgment until we are able to ask God in person when we reach heaven. When we reach heaven, we will better be able to understand what happened in our own lives, and we will be able to get clearer answers for the questions that seemed unanswered in this life.

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

Always intentionally seek God first and put Jesus first in your life. Avoid making a picture, box, or framework that you expect God to fit into, because He is bigger than our thoughts can imagine, and He has a much bigger perspective than we are capable of understanding.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself in order to grow your own personal relationship with God. While listening to a pastor or a podcast can be helpful, if you aren’t personally reading the Bible regularly, you are missing out on the relationship with God that He wants you to have with Him. Personal study leads to a personal relationship.

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!

During the night Jesus was arrested, Luke’s gospel records a powerful miracle that shows us just how much love Jesus has for humanity. This miracle is special because it happens simply because a miracle is needed to show God’s love. When we look at the circumstances surrounding this miracle, those who had faith in Jesus likely didn’t want this healing to happen, and those arresting Jesus probably didn’t want to show or demonstrate any faith in the one they were arresting.

However, Jesus uses this opportunity to demonstrate God’s love, and He does this in an amazing way.

Let’s read about what happened. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 22, and we will read it from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 47, Luke tells us what happened:

⁴⁷ But even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss. ⁴⁸ But Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

⁴⁹ When the other disciples saw what was about to happen, they exclaimed, “Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!” ⁵⁰ And one of them struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his right ear.

⁵¹ But Jesus said, “No more of this.” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

⁵² Then Jesus spoke to the leading priests, the captains of the Temple guard, and the elders who had come for him. “Am I some dangerous revolutionary,” he asked, “that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? ⁵³ Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns.”

This passage and miracle is amazing every time I read it. This event was likely what the disciples imagined would be the start of their rise to prominence. Every time before this, Jesus successfully evaded being arrested or trapped, but this time, the religious leaders’ mob had found Jesus with the help of the traitor.

The disciples knew the mob wasn’t interested in discussing or debating, and that the numbers of people present at this point favored the mob that had circled them. This looked like the point in time they had been preparing for in their minds when Jesus would step up into the leadership role they believed was coming.

However, this miracle is amazing, because while the disciples are preparing to fight, at the first hint of blood, Jesus calls for the situation to stop and He heals the member of the mob who was just injured. In essence, Jesus healed someone who was there as His enemy. Jesus healed someone whose goal was helping to bring about Jesus’ death.

This event, probably more than most others, demonstrates Jesus’ love, and God’s love, for humanity. While humanity was caught in a rebellion against God and more interested in sin that salvation, Jesus steps in as God’s representative and as a light in the spiritual darkness. While Jews, gentiles, and even one of Jesus’ own followers orchestrated the arrest that led to Jesus’ death, no one present for this event even suspected that Jesus chose the cross.

At the point Jesus described as the “time when the power of darkness reigns”, Jesus is more interested in healing those who are against Him than on trying to save Himself or escape. This event demonstrates God’s love for us because Jesus walked the path leading to death and all along the way, His focus was not on Himself, but on others. Jesus’ focus on others is clearly seen in His arrest, and when you are looking for it, you can see it in most every stage leading up to His last breath.

John calls Peter out as the disciple who began the defense and as the one who struck the high priest’s slave’s ear. However, while Peter seemed to be the first disciple to speak or act, it’s likely that most, if not all of the others would have done the same if given the chance.

By stepping up to defend Jesus, even while Jesus stopped the specific action, Peter displays an attitude that we all should have. Too often today, when faced with ridicule or hostility from the secular crowd in today’s world, we are too quick to back down, give up, or abandon our faith simply because the situation is challenging. A faith that is abandoned when challenges come is worthless. The only faith worth having is one that pushes back against the challenges and one that is strengthened when challenges come.

Jesus does not challenge Peter on his faith or on his desire to defend Jesus, even if Peter might feel like this is what Jesus did. Instead, Jesus challenged Peter on using a method of defending Jesus that does not demonstrate God’s love. In a fascinating way, through Jesus’ challenge towards Peter over using a sword, Jesus challenges every follower of Jesus throughout history regarding how they will choose to defend their faith.

Christian history has many examples where violence was used to defend the faith, and because of what Jesus challenges Peter about in this passage, I get the idea that Jesus would challenge every one of His followers who would lean towards violence as a way to defend their faith.

The last amazing thing I see in this miracle on the night Jesus was arrested is that Jesus let Judas Iscariot betray Him. It would have been easy for Jesus to have hidden, but that was not Jesus’ goal.

Jesus came to face the cross and death because His focus was on saving people for eternity. Jesus’ fight was not against humans or humanity, it was against the powers of darkness. While death doesn’t appear to be the way to win this fight, Jesus’ sees a bigger picture than we do and death in this case is the only way to justify God’s laws about sin while also opening the way for God’s merciful nature.

Jesus focused on helping and healing those who were intent on bringing Jesus to the cross, and this amazing miracle proves God’s love for all of humanity – including those who reject God and are hostile towards Him.

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

As always, seek God first and choose to place your love, hope, faith, trust, and belief in Him. Choose to show God’s love to the world around you and do so in a way that uplifts humanity like Jesus uplifted humanity. Jesus didn’t put people down. The only people Jesus challenged were those who felt like they were spiritually superior to others. Jesus loved those who were honestly searching and seeking God.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God. While other people have ideas, always filter what you learn through the truth of God’s Word. If an idea runs counter to the Bible, it is not an idea that will stand the test of eternity.

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

On the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, at the point when the mob is confronting Jesus, we discover an amazing detail tucked within John’s gospel that shows us Jesus really does choose to face the cross. While skeptics might argue that the verse John includes is irrelevant, for those of us who like to see the nuances each gospel writer includes, this verse is fascinating.

Let’s read this event now and discover what John includes in this event that is significant for us to pay attention to. Our passage is found in the gospel of John, chapter 18, and we will be reading it from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 3, John tells us that:

³ The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.

⁴ Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.

⁵ “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) ⁶ As Jesus said “I am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! ⁷ Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

⁸ “I told you that I am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” ⁹ He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”

¹⁰ Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. ¹¹ But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”

We’ll stop reading here. While John’s gospel gives the individual Peter attacked a name, Luke’s gospel describes how Jesus restored the slave’s ear on the spot. While this miracle and healing should have been enough to challenge the soldiers coming to arrest Jesus on their motives, while reading this passage just now, a different verse jumped out at me than the one I had originally planned to focus on.

The verse that stood out to me while we were reading the passage was the first verse. The opening verse tells us that, “the leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards…”

This detail stands out in my mind because this means that Jesus’ arrest was at the hands of both Jews and Gentiles. The temple guards would have been Jewish for them to guard the innermost parts of the temple effectively, which was places where gentiles were not allowed to go, and Roman soldiers were not Jewish, making them gentile by definition. When we look at the details of the crucifixion, Jesus died at the hand of humanity, and not at the hand of one group of people.

While it might be easy to blame the Jews for their rejection of God’s Messiah, that is only half of the details. Rome was active and present during Jesus’ arrest, Rome was present when the Jewish leaders had finished with their condemnation because Rome stood as a gatekeeper for the death penalty, and Roman soldiers were active in the crucifixion.

Not only were the Jews and Romans to blame, but Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, was also present for Jesus’ arrest. The arrest could not have happened if it wasn’t for Judas’ betrayal, which brings a third group of people that could be blamed as well – specifically Jesus’ own disciples.

While you and I did not bring soldiers to arrest Jesus, our actions and our choices can be described by the actions or lack of actions we see among the disciples present. We could actively betray Jesus through how we act, we could lash out emotionally and/or violently against those who appear to be against us, we could be fearful and hide in the shadows, or we could run away and not stand by Jesus.

The death of Jesus was because of a disciple’s betrayal mixed with the hate and violence of sinful humanity. However, even though Jesus was crucified at the hands of Christians, Jews, and gentiles, Jesus chose to die.

Verses 4-6 describe Jesus fully having the power to avoid arrest. John tells us that:

Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.

⁵ “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) ⁶ As Jesus said “I am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground!”

This detail is something that we shouldn’t let slip by us unnoticed. When Jesus said, “I am He”, the logical response would have been to rush Him and overpower Him, but the opposite happened.

When Jesus spoke the word’s “I am He”, I wonder if a sliver of His divinity slipped out, whether it was through His appearance or simply His voice, and it knocked the soldiers back and to the ground. “I am” is one of the names given to God, and, at least in our English translations, this wordplay is clearly visible.

If three simple words could knock an angry mob of soldiers down, no one present could have even touched Jesus if He had not let them.

After Jesus had the mob’s attention, He restates the question, and then follows up with the request or command to let the disciples go. I’m not sure if the soldiers were already circling the whole group of disciples to arrest them all, or if that was on their minds, but Jesus simply short-circuits the idea of a group arrest with this direction.

Even after Peter gets violent in His defense of Jesus, we see Jesus responding in a calm way, and indicating that this entire event is a part of God’s plan. Our passage finishes off with Jesus’ rhetorical question in verse 11: “Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”

Everything in this passage draws our attention onto two huge truths. The first is that Jesus died at the hands of everyone in humanity. He was betrayed by one of His followers, and He was arrested, tried, and crucified by both Jews and gentiles working together.

The second big truth is that Jesus chose to die. While He could have avoided the cross, avoiding pain, suffering, and death was not a part of the Godhead’s plan. Jesus revealed just enough of His divinity that should have woken up everyone present to His divine nature and that they were arresting God, but they were already too set on arresting Jesus.

Jesus used this opportunity for one purpose: to follow through with the one death that leads to life. Jesus chose the cross and to die a sinner’s death so that we can accept the gift of His life and not die the death we deserve. While sinners killed Jesus, Jesus chose to die for those who God desires to save!

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

Remember and accept the gift that Jesus gave to each of us through His death. Realize that all of us are partially responsible for His crucifixion. If it weren’t for His desire to rescue us from sin, Jesus wouldn’t have faced the cross!

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself, and intentionally grow your relationship with God. Choose to take time each and every day to walk with, remember, and thank Jesus for what He has done for all of us! Without Jesus, our lives would be hopeless.

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!

As we are coming closer to the end of our year podcasting through the miracles included in the gospels, we come to a very unique miracle, probably a miracle that was more one-of-a-kind than normal, that happened during the week leading up to the crucifixion. Oddly enough, while most miracles resulted in positive results, this miracle results in negative ones, and this miracle serves as an object lesson about the power of faith.

Let’s read what happened and discover some things we can learn about faith from this very unique miracle. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 21, and we will read it from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 18, Matthew tells us that:

¹⁸ Early the next morning, as Jesus was going back to the city, he became hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree beside the road, Jesus went to it, but there were no figs on the tree, only leaves. So Jesus said to the tree, “You will never again have fruit.” The tree immediately dried up.

²⁰ When his followers saw this, they were amazed. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?”

²¹ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to this tree and even more. You will be able to say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have faith, it will happen. ²² If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”

Not only is the miracle in this passage amazing, so is the promise Jesus shares in this last verse. Jesus directly tells His followers that with faith and no doubt, we will be able to command trees, mountains, and nature itself to do our bidding.

While I don’t know the extent of Jesus’ promise here, it does seem to extend much further than most of His followers living today think. On the surface, it seems that faith without doubt leads to miracles. Also closely related to this idea is the truth that belief in Jesus leads to answered prayers.

In this miracle, we discover a truth that we don’t often like thinking about. Faith and belief is a two-edged sword. While it is great to think of the positive side of faith, and how God can work miracles for the good of humanity through us when we have faith in Him, there is a negative side to faith as well. One might call doubt itself a negative faith.

When we truly know in our hearts that God will do what He has promised to do, we are freed to move forward and we ultimately discover what He promised. Rarely does the path to the finish line lead us through the scenery and experiences we think it will, but when we have faith in Jesus, God will direct our path towards His promises.

However, doubt is like a negative faith. Doubt is a faith that says whatever we hope will happen won’t happen. This negative faith sabotages our walk with God because it causes us to question God’s goodness, God’s love, and God’s protection in our lives. When bad things happen, it is easy to blame God, it is easy to doubt God, and it is easy to discredit God because of what happened. I, like many of us, have experienced situations where I am left to wonder if God was really behind what happened.

When bad things happen, some people are quick to blame God, while others are quick to blame Satan. Those who blame God say that He should have prevented what happened, while those who blame Satan do so because they want to defend God and His loving character. However, while it doesn’t appear as though these two positions are compatible, I believe they are both mostly correct. Yes, Satan caused the destruction, and yes, God allowed it to happen. Both sources are to blame.

However, each source has wildly different motives. In Satan’s case, he simply wants to turn people away from God and to cause people to doubt God’s love. However, in God’s case, He wants those who face difficult times to lean into their faith and into their belief. There are many reasons bad things happen, and a surprising number of the reasons can be viewed in a positive way.

If something bad happens in our life, we can choose to hate God, or hate the sin-corrupted world that we live in. If we choose to hate God, then doubt gains a foothold in our hearts. However, if we choose to hate the sin-corrupted world, we naturally lean into God and more eagerly look forward to the day when Jesus returns and puts an end to sin.

In our passage, Jesus challenges His disciples to have faith and not doubt. This promise states that belief, faith, and prayer with no doubt results in miracles. I firmly believe this is simply because when we have belief, faith, and prayer that is all focused entirely on God without any doubt that would cheapen His promises in our minds or hearts, we will have the Holy Spirit and be moving forward along the path God has for us to walk. In this situation, our prayers will not only be what we want, they will also be what God wants, and when we want what God wants, we shouldn’t be surprised when what God wants shows up in our lives and our situations.

Before closing off on this episode, we should also check our beliefs and our faith. Spreading throughout Christianity are some subtle, and other not so subtle, beliefs that cheapen God’s love and drag down His character. While I could list a few, I won’t here, simply because I would rather challenge you to look at your own life and your own beliefs and ask yourself if any of your beliefs cheapen God. When we find a belief that cheapens God, we should study the Bible to discover God’s truth, and reject the counterfeit belief for God’s treasure.

While I don’t know if having beliefs that cheapen our faith will result in a lack of miraculously answered prayer, I do know that cheap beliefs and cheap faith hurt our spiritual growth. Let’s intentionally push back doubt, lean into faith when bad things happen, and look forward to Jesus’ return when He puts an end to sin.

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

As always, be sure to intentionally seek God first and place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Him. Push back at the temptation to doubt because doubt is negative faith and it leads to nowhere positive. Instead, accept Jesus’ promise in this passage that faith, belief, and prayer without doubt is the path into a miraculous life with God.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn what God wants to teach you firsthand. While other people can have good ideas, always filter what you learn through the pages and truth contained in the Bible to discover if what you are being taught aligns with God’s truth. God won’t share truth that contradicts with His Word, and you can trust that anything from God will support what He has revealed to us through the pages of the Bible.

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