Reflective Bible Study

One thing I am amazed by when I read the gospels is how Jesus loved and helped people in need regardless of what cultural or society wanted to pressure Him into doing or not doing. It would seem that in Jesus’ eyes, any interpretation of the Law that wasn’t framed in a loving way could be laid aside in favor of doing some type of loving action.

In our walk through the gospels this year, we come to a great example of Jesus doing exactly this: Jesus appeared to set the Law aside in favor of loving someone who needed help. This event can be found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 13, and we will be reading it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 10:

¹⁰ Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the day of rest—a holy day. [A quick side-note I’ll insert here is that most translations simply say Jesus was teaching on the Sabbath in this verse.] ¹¹ A woman who was possessed by a spirit was there. The spirit had disabled her for 18 years. She was hunched over and couldn’t stand up straight. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her to come to him and said, “Woman, you are free from your disability.” ¹³ He placed his hands on her, and she immediately stood up straight and praised God.

¹⁴ The synagogue leader was irritated with Jesus for healing on the day of worship. The leader told the crowd, “There are six days when work can be done. So come on one of those days to be healed. Don’t come on the day of rest—a holy day.”

¹⁵ The Lord said, “You hypocrites! Don’t each of you free your ox or donkey on the day of rest—a holy day? Don’t you then take it out of its stall to give it some water to drink? ¹⁶ Now, here is a descendant of Abraham. Satan has kept her in this condition for 18 years. Isn’t it right to free her on the day of rest—a holy day?”

¹⁷ As he said this, everyone who opposed him felt ashamed. But the entire crowd was happy about the miraculous things he was doing.

When reading this event, I am amazed at the mindset of the synagogue leader. From what happens, we can conclude the synagogue leader believed Jesus to be a doctor by trade who also happened to have a great grasp of the scriptures and public speaking. If the synagogue leader didn’t like Jesus, he would not have permitted Jesus to teach at the synagogue that day, but he also didn’t believe Jesus’ occupation to be more than a physician, because when someone appears who needs healing, he classifies this as Jesus’ “work”.

This framing is interesting, because it is about the lowest bar one could have for accepting Jesus. By this point in Jesus’ ministry, the religious leaders could not deny the fact that Jesus could heal virtually any disease. Those in the temple likely were getting tired of unclean people asking to be cleared for entrance back into society – and it probably irritated some of them knowing that Jesus was behind each healing. The religious leaders could not disprove Jesus was a miracle worker – especially with regard to healing others.

However, these religious leaders did not want to take any further steps towards Jesus. They wall themselves off from the truth by simply framing Jesus as a very skilled doctor. Doctors “work” like other professionals do, and that meant that they needed to take the Sabbath off like other professional laborers did.

But when we look at Jesus’ ministry, healing was more like a hobby than a profession. While Jesus healed countless people, and exponentially more people than the Bible had room to include, Jesus seemed to focus equally on teaching the crowds about God’s kingdom, and helping give people opportunities to praise God.

Jesus came to challenge those who thought they had their lives spirituality figured out, and to love those who needed love and help. In the case of this passage, Jesus’ response to those who were upset at His healing frames God’s love perfectly. Jesus frames this healing by saying in verses 15 and 16: “Don’t each of you free your ox or donkey on the day of rest—a holy day? Don’t you then take it out of its stall to give it some water to drink? Now, here is a descendant of Abraham. Satan has kept her in this condition for 18 years. Isn’t it right to free her on the day of rest—a holy day?”

This simple challenge elevated this formerly crippled woman’s status not just to the status of healed, but Jesus points out that she is a descendant of Abraham, just like they are, and elevates her status to one of an equal member of society. In contrast, the livestock that the Jews owned probably didn’t carry the same designation. There wouldn’t be any way to truly know or track whether that synagogue leader’s ox or donkey had descended from Abraham’s ox or donkey – and it was hypocritical for the leaders to be kind to their livestock when they were not willing to be kind to one of their own.

But challenging these religious leaders was not the reason Jesus healed this woman. When we look at the context of the story, Jesus only speaks out after they show dissatisfaction for what He did. Unlike some other times we read about in the gospels, there is nothing in this passage to indicate that this miracle was a setup.

Instead, when I read this event and this miracle, I see the reason Jesus performed it hinging on the healed woman’s response to the healing. Verses 12 and 13 frame this miracle and the woman’s response perfectly: “When Jesus saw her, he called her to come to him and said, ‘Woman, you are free from your disability.’ He placed his hands on her, and she immediately stood up straight and praised God.”

We discover that the first thing the woman does following being healed is that she praises God. What better reason for healing her could there be? Jesus healed this woman because He knew she would praise God. This woman had the right focus. Jesus didn’t heal her to get credit or to get people looking at Him; He healed her so that those who were present could praise God with her!

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

As you move through life, look for opportunities where you can praise God. While you might not witness a firsthand miracle on a Sabbath day, there are plenty of other things we can be grateful and thankful to God for. When a blessing from God comes to mind, let’s give God the credit and the glory that He deserves.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God each day. Regular prayer and Bible study are two of the best ways to grow your relationship with God on a strong foundation, and we make it a personal relationship when we personally study. Pastors or podcasters can give us things to think about, but never let me or anyone else get between you and Jesus.

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!

Immediately after the miracle where Jesus fed the crowd of over 5,000 people, we discover that He sends the disciples away. At the very end of last week’s passage, John told us that Jesus perceived that the people wanted to crown Him King and it is likely that the disciples would have not objected to this in any way. However, Jesus knew that being crowned an earthly king, while flattering, was not within God’s plan for glorifying Him before the people. Jesus also knew that being crowned King would ultimately not give honor to the Father.

This information sets the stage for our focus passage in this episode, and it leads into another miracle that is our focus for this week. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 14, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 22, Matthew tells us that:

²² Jesus quickly made his disciples get into a boat and cross to the other side ahead of him while he sent the people away. ²³ After sending the people away, he went up a mountain to pray by himself. When evening came, he was there alone.

Pausing briefly, if you remember, two episodes ago, Mark’s gospel had set the stage for the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 with Jesus wanting to go and rest with His disciples. However, because of what had happened, we see in Matthew’s gospel that that night, Jesus rested and prayed alone while the disciples were crossing the lake without Him.

However, that night without Jesus was not peaceful for the disciples. Continuing reading in verse 24, Matthew shares that:

²⁴ The boat, now hundreds of yards from shore, was being thrown around by the waves because it was going against the wind.

²⁵ Between three and six o’clock in the morning, he came to them. He was walking on the sea. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. They said, “It’s a ghost!” and began to scream because they were afraid.

²⁷ Immediately, Jesus said, “Calm down! It’s me. Don’t be afraid!”

²⁸ Peter answered, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ Jesus said, “Come!” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he noticed how strong the wind was, he became afraid and started to sink. He shouted, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately, Jesus reached out, caught hold of him, and said, “You have so little faith! Why did you doubt?”

³² When they got into the boat, the wind stopped blowing. ³³ The men in the boat bowed down in front of Jesus and said, “You are truly the Son of God.”

In this miracle, we see some amazing themes and truths we can relate to in our own lives. After a whole night of rowing without making any progress, Jesus sees that the disciples need help. While I don’t know if any of them tried to command the wind and waves to be calm like Jesus had done earlier in His time with them, the disciples are trying in vain to cross the lake when it seems as though everything is working against them.

In this detail, we can see the idea that when we are not with Jesus, everything we try to do for Jesus is in vain. Without Jesus’ help, we are at the mercy of the waves of this life and at the mercy of the winds of culture. While we might be able to make progress on our own, any progress we do make would be nowhere near the progress that could be made if we were with Jesus. Without Jesus, the boat only reached a few hundred yards from the shore, which is not much progress when you are trying to cross the lake. But after Jesus entered the boat, reaching their destination was easy.

Also in this miracle is the powerful example we see in Peter. When all the disciples are fearful at the appearance of Jesus walking towards them on the water, only Peter has the courage to challenge Jesus on His claim, and in my imagination, before Peter even realizes it, he is jumping over the side of the boat and walking towards Jesus.

From what I’ve heard preachers and others say when describing this event is that Peter took His eyes off of Jesus, and this is what prompted him to start sinking. Some people have said that Peter’s downfall was when he looked back to see if the rest of the disciples were watching, which implies a prideful attitude that would lead to his sinking.

However, I don’t see anything in this event that hints at Peter looking back. Instead, all we see included in this event leading up to Peter’s sinking is two things. Verse 30 tells us that when Peter “noticed how strong the wind was, he became afraid and started to sink.” This statement is probably one of the most powerful statements in the entire Bible that relates to losing faith.

Note that there is nothing wrong with noticing how strong the wind was, but when we let the supposed strength of the wind exceed the faith in the power of God, we sink. In Peter’s noticing how strong the wind was, we could conclude that he took his eyes off of Jesus, but all it might have taken is a wave to break his concentration, or a splash of water.

Peter didn’t need to take his eyes off of Jesus to know that the wind and waves were strong. He had spent the entire previous part of the night rowing against the wind and waves. The critical phrase for us to pay attention to is Peter becoming afraid when walking towards Jesus. When Peter’s fear became greater than his faith, the only thing left was gravity, which pulled him down into the water. When our faith takes a second place seat to our fear, nothing we do will be successful. Faith is powerful, and faith plus Jesus is unstoppable.

As we move through the coming days, weeks, and months this year, remember to keep your faith stronger than your fear, and step forward with your faith into the life God has called you to live!

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

Always seek God and place Him first in your life. Intentionally move forward in life with a strong focus on growing your faith. Live intentionally with a faith that is stronger than your fear and when you mix this faith with Jesus, nothing Satan does can stop you from living the life God has called you to live.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and mature your faith in Him. God wants a personal relationship with you, and a personal relationship starts when you personally spend time with God praying, reading, studying, and listening to what He wants to share with you. A personal relationship with God is way more powerful than simply leaning on others for your spiritual knowledge.

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

One of the things that I am always amazed by is how Jesus explains challenging concepts in simple ways, all while challenging the incorrect beliefs of people who were present. Jesus also had a way of challenging groups of people without singling any one specific person out.

While all four gospels include great sections of Jesus teaching, preaching, and challenging the crowds, the passage we will be looking at in this episode covers quite a number of powerful concepts that we might not make it through them all in one episode.

So without further delay, let’s dive into what Jesus taught His followers. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will be reading from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1:

¹ Meanwhile, thousands of people had gathered. They were so crowded that they stepped on each other. Jesus spoke to his disciples and said, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees. I’m talking about their hypocrisy. ² Nothing has been covered that will not be exposed. Whatever is secret will be made known. ³ Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. Whatever you have whispered in private rooms will be shouted from the housetops.

Let’s pause reading here because it is worth focusing in on the idea Jesus just finished sharing. All too often, we have the idea that we can keep things in our lives a secret, but Jesus tells us that this is a lie. Regardless of whether you believe Jesus’ words to be true or not, we know that in this case, Jesus is sharing truth because of the following reasons:

First, if you look at the recent news, scandal after scandal is being revealed. These things happened because those who are found out to be guilty believed that their actions would remain hidden, however reality discovered their secrets. The first way Jesus’ words are true is when someone breaks the silence and exposes the secret to the world. This could happen while the guilty party is still alive or after they are dead.

Next, Jesus’ words are true because even if it is a secret known only to one, there are truly no secrets known only to one. God, the angels, Satan, and perhaps even those living on other worlds know what is happening here – even when we might think we are doing something that is 100% secret. The secrets we believe are safe will be revealed to everyone when Jesus returns and we get the opportunity to look at God’s record of judgment.

One of the subtle themes in the Bible is that God’s character is on trial because of Satan’s accusations, and while Jesus proved God’s love for each of us, God’s people will get the opportunity to look at history’s record and judge God for His choices throughout history. When we look at history’s record, no secret will stay hidden.

After challenging those present with this, Jesus continues by shifting gears and talking about focusing on eternity. He tells His followers in verse 4:

⁴ “My friends, I can guarantee that you don’t need to be afraid of those who kill the body. After that they can’t do anything more. ⁵ I’ll show you the one you should be afraid of. Be afraid of the one who has the power to throw you into hell after killing you. I’m warning you to be afraid of him.

Pausing again, regardless of what you believe about the nature of death and hell or how this translation words these verses, the clear message here is that God has the ability to determine your eternal destiny, and when faced with challenges in our present lives, they will only be temporary challenges if we choose to stay faithful to God. While remaining faithful to God is not popular in the world today, it is the only way to be safe to save for eternity!

It’s also worth noting that even if we have failed numerous times, we can choose to remain faithful from this point moving forward and God will look at our present choices over our past failures!

Jesus continues in verse 6 by shifting topics slightly again. He tells the crowd of followers:

⁶ “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two cents? God doesn’t forget any of them. ⁷ Even every hair on your head has been counted. Don’t be afraid! You are worth more than many sparrows. ⁸ I can guarantee that the Son of Man will acknowledge in front of God’s angels every person who acknowledges him in front of others. ⁹ But God’s angels will be told that I don’t know those people who tell others that they don’t know me. ¹⁰ Everyone who says something against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But the person who dishonors the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

This last verse is one of the hardest verses for me to understand in the four gospels. However, the theme Jesus shares is unmistakable: Those who publicly side with Jesus will be acknowledged by God throughout the universe, while those who keep their faith hidden or secret will lose out on this acknowledging.

While Jesus said just a few verses earlier that everything secret will be made known, the idea in these verses is that secret faith is worthless – and the implication is that those who God doesn’t acknowledge will not be saved when God’s angels gather God’s people together.

But verse 10 is perplexing: “Everyone who says something against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But the person who dishonors the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” This verse is challenging because it sounds like people are given a blank check to speak out against Jesus, because they will be forgiven, but there is a zero tolerance policy in place for those who dishonor or speak out against the Holy Spirit.

The way I understand this verse is similar to what we have hinted at a number of times in this year of podcasts already, and this idea is that we must be careful about judging things before seeing the results. If God chooses to use something that is outside of our comfort zone to bring people to Him, then chances are His Spirit is at work. If we try to discredit something God’s Spirit is trying to accomplish because we don’t believe God would do this, there is a good chance we might be guilty of dishonoring His Spirit.

It is also worth pointing out that the more we reject the Holy Spirit working in our own lives, the less clear we will be able to see the real Jesus, and the further we will drift away from Him. If dishonoring the Holy Spirit is synonymous to rejecting His Spirit in our lives, there is no way we can truly come to Jesus to be saved.

Jesus finishes the passage we are looking at by warning His followers that they will be put on trial for what they believe. He tells us in verses 11 and 12:

¹¹ “When you are put on trial in synagogues or in front of rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say. ¹² At that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say.”

As a public speaker, I know firsthand the value of preparing beforehand. I know that without preparation, my speaking will fall flat. However, I also am fully aware and embrace the fact that every single presentation I have given has gone differently than I have pictured it going in my head. The more I’ve prepared, the better the difference is, whereas the less I’ve prepared, the more I’ve felt like I flopped.

However, Jesus’ challenge is that when others accuse us or put us on trial, we should trust that the Holy Spirit will speak through us and through our defense. While I don’t believe this means we shouldn’t prepare a defense, I believe that any preparation we do should help us push aside our worry. I believe the Holy Spirit will use what we have prepared for His purposes and for His glory when we let Him. Experience has taught me to prepare and then let God speak through me and give me the exact words to say.

While there have been plenty of cases in history that those on trial for belief in Jesus have faced death, their lives and witness has carried the movement forward and their lives demonstrate what faith in God truly looks like. I have no doubt that these people will be with us in Heaven, and that their lives helped lead others to a saving relationship with God!

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

Choose to place God first in your life. Be confident about acknowledging your faith in God and in Jesus, and be proud of your belief in what Jesus has done for you. Never let someone intimidate you into being quiet about what God has done for you, because when we declare publically that we are on God’s side, God will tell His angels that we are safe to save for eternity.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow a personal relationship with God. It is through a personal relationship with God that we learn and know what He is like, and included in every strong foundation for this faith is a confidence in the promises of His word.

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!

In our last episode, we looked at how Mark described the events leading up to Jesus feeding the crowd of over 5,000 people. However, in our last episode, we ran out of time before we could cover the miracle itself. While in other episodes, we focused in on the same gospel for multiple episodes, since this miracle is in all four gospels, I thought we could look at a different gospel this week. As I’m sure you noticed in the intro, the gospel we’ll be using this week is the gospel of John.

Let’s read how John describes this miracle, and then talk for a few minutes about some things we can learn from this miracle. This event is found in John, chapter 6, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). ² A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. ⁵ Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” ⁶ This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. ⁷ Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” ⁸ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ⁹ “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. ¹⁴ Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵ So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

In this miracle, we see an amazing theme that God is able to supply all of our needs, and in many cases, God is willing to bless us with more than just the bare minimum of our needs. While the disciples calculate among themselves that 200 days wages would be enough for a light snack for everyone present, Jesus fully knows there is a boy in the crowd who had the foresight to bring a lunch with him, and that this boy is generous enough to give his lunch to Jesus.

While the disciples and the crowd had an amazing story to tell, nothing would match the excitement we could imagine the boy telling his parents his side of this story, if they weren’t already present, and specifically about how Jesus took the lunch they packed for him and used it to feed over 5,000 people.

From the boy’s perspective, we can see another huge theme within this miracle. From this perspective, we learn that Jesus is able to multiply the little we give to Him into a lot of blessing. When we give to God, we don’t have to worry about whether it is too little to be considered significant because God will multiply it to be more than enough. Generosity is one key we can use to see and experience God’s blessings.

However, while we talk about the boy’s gift and his generosity, it’s worth pointing out that nothing in this entire event hints at the boy only partially giving a gift. John doesn’t describe the boy having a basket with six loaves and taking one before giving the remaining five, with the two fish, to Jesus. While the boy could have had eight loaves and three fish when he left home that morning, whatever he had eaten prior to his gift isn’t relevant because his gift contained all that he had left.

Up until his gift, the boy was simply carrying food for himself to enjoy, but when he learned that Jesus might need something to eat, he is more than willing to give all he can to help Jesus. This boy sacrificially gave, because, like the disciples, this boy had no idea that he would be able to eat much more than his original gift supplied. When we sacrificially give, God is able to bless in extraordinary ways.

The last theme I want to draw our attention to as we begin wrapping this episode up is that we should bring people to Jesus regardless of whether we believe the gifts they have to offer are significant or not. While Andrew was doubtful what this small gift could become, he had enough faith to bring the information, and the boy with his gift, to Jesus. Like Andrew, we are called to bring people to Jesus, and we are to bring people to Him regardless of what we think their potential, or lack thereof, is in God’s kingdom.

We might say that we should bring people to Jesus simply because we know that God loves them and that Jesus died for their sins. There’s no better reason to invite someone to God than because of what Jesus has already done for us.

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

Always seek God first in your life and intentionally invite others to experience Him for themselves. While this can be done in a church setting, serving others is also a great way to invite people to experience God for themselves. Never discount your invitation based on what the person you are inviting appears to offer. Instead, freely extend your inviting because you know that God loves them and because Jesus died for them.

Also, as always, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow your faith. While it is easy to simply take someone else’s word for it, God wants a personal relationship with you and that means learning directly from His Word, with no-one else in the middle. While many people are happy to share their opinions with you, filter everything you learn through the truth contained in the Bible.

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