Reflective Bible Study

Part way into Jesus’ ministry, we come to an event that many skeptics probably would eliminate from the Bible if they could. This event is one of the clearest examples in Jesus’ ministry that He was from God, but interestingly enough, Jesus asked the disciples who were present to keep the event a secret until after He was raised back to life.

As we read this event together, think about what you might have done if you were there with the disciples when it happened. Our event is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 17, and we will be reading from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1:

¹ After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John (the brother of James) and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone.

² Jesus’ appearance changed in front of them. His face became as bright as the sun and his clothes as white as light. ³ Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them and were talking with Jesus.

⁴ Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it’s good that we’re here. If you want, I’ll put up three tents here—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵ He was still speaking when a bright cloud overshadowed them. Then a voice came out of the cloud and said, “This is my Son, whom I love and with whom I am pleased. Listen to him!”

⁶ The disciples were terrified when they heard this and fell facedown on the ground. ⁷ But Jesus touched them and said, “Get up, and don’t be afraid!” ⁸ As they raised their heads, they saw no one but Jesus.

Let’s pause reading here for a moment, because what just happened is very significant when we think about it. In this event, not only does Jesus temporarily reveal His glory to the three closest disciples, we also have confirmation from God the Father and two of the most prominent Old Testament figures.

I don’t think it was an accident that Moses and Elijah were the one’s present for this event. Moses, who died and was buried on a mountain just outside the Promised Land is one of the first in history to have been physically resurrected and taken to heaven. While Enoch lived a thousand or more years before Moses, Enoch never experienced death. Moses had. When we look at Moses being included in this event, we see foreshadowing of those who will face death looking forward to the opportunity of resurrection.

Including Elijah is also significant, because in some respects, he was the most famous and Holy Spirit filled prophet in the Old Testament history. Elijah is also significant because he is the only individual in Israel’s history to have never experienced death. God took him to heaven on a fiery chariot prior to his death.

When thinking of the phrase, “law and the prophets”, we can see Moses representing the law, and Elijah representing the prophets. In this event, both of these historical figures come and validate what Jesus is doing, and what He is here to accomplish. In the same way, both the law and the prophets point forward to Jesus, His mission, and His ministry.

Looking at the timetable of history, I wonder what sort of conversations Jesus had with both these men prior to coming to earth as a baby. Both these men would have been able to spend hundreds of years with Jesus in heaven prior to this brief moment on the mountain, and we really don’t know what they shared with Jesus while on the mountain in this passage.

Which makes me wonder, what would you have done if you were on the mountain there with Jesus, Moses, Elijah, and the three disciples? Peter impulsively says the first thing that comes to his mind, which while not bad, was not all that necessary. James and John on the other hand simply don’t say anything at all. If it weren’t for them being included in the verses leading up to this event, we wouldn’t even know they were there.

I’m not sure what I would have done, but I’d like to think I would have been more like James and John, who stayed silent and observed, rather than Peter, but it would be impossible to know for sure.

Let’s continue reading and see how this event ends. Picking back up in verse 9:

⁹ On their way down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen. Wait until the Son of Man has been brought back to life.”

¹⁰ So the disciples asked him, “Why do the experts in Moses’ Teachings say that Elijah must come first?”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “Elijah is coming and will put everything in order again. ¹² Actually, I can guarantee that Elijah has already come. Yet, people treated him as they pleased because they didn’t recognize him. In the same way they’re going to make the Son of Man suffer.”

¹³ Then the disciples understood that he was talking about John the Baptizer.

One thing that amazes me about this trip down the mountain is that Jesus clearly gives an opening for these disciples to ask Him about the crucifixion-plus-resurrection weekend. Jesus asks these disciples to keep quiet about this event until after He was brought back to life, which would have been the perfect opening for one of the disciples to ask Him what He meant.

Instead, since Elijah is fresh on their minds, and since he was one of the unexpected guests on the mountain, the disciples ask Jesus about why the religious experts say Elijah is supposed to come first. Jesus gives a great answer, and the disciples realize that John the Baptizer fulfilled this prediction, but the disciples miss asking the big question that would have made crucifixion weekend significantly different for them.

If they had simply asked Jesus to teach them about what He meant when He referenced His death and coming back to life, I doubt the disciples would have been as sorrow-filled when Jesus actually died. Instead, the disciples would have been waiting expectantly for His resurrection. They might have even been present at the tomb to witness the angel.

However, they didn’t ask the question. For all the openings Jesus gave them to ask about His death and resurrection, the disciples didn’t ask Jesus to teach them about it until it was too late. Only after the resurrection and the confusion surrounding the weekend do the disciples actually stop and pay attention to what the scriptures actually predicted would happen. Only while Jesus is walking with disciples who don’t recognize who He is, do we see the disciples being open to learning what the scriptures predicted would happen that weekend.

In our own lives, God wants to teach us and show us amazing things, but we must be willing and open to what He wants to teach us. While Jesus is in heaven now preparing a place for each of us, we can look forward expectantly for the day He will return and bring us home to Him. We can look back in scriptures and discover who Jesus is and what He is like. We can look at Jesus’ life, love, and ministry, and discover what God the Father is like as well. And we can trust, believe, and have faith that God is doing everything He can to save us for eternity!

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

Be sure to seek God first in your live and be open to letting Him teach you what He wants you to learn. Be open to being used by God in amazing ways, for His purposes, and trust that He has your best future – your eternal future – secure. While crazy things might happen while sin is present in our world today, trust, believe, and look forward to the new heaven and new earth where sin will be a distant, forgotten memory.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself so that you will learn and know what God and Jesus are like firsthand. While listening to pastors or podcasters can help you see the Bible in new ways, God wants to show you Himself through the pages of His word personally. Only through personal study can you grow a personal relationship with God, and a personal relationship with God is something you can start today. There’s no reason to wait until heaven to grow towards God.

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

In our last episode, we focused in on the miracle where a woman pushed her way through a crowd just to touch the edge of Jesus’ garment. However, that miracle is part of a much bigger miracle, because when that miracle happened, Jesus was on His way to help a local synagogue leader.

Let’s read about what happened from Mark’s gospel, chapter 5, using the New Living Translation of the Bible. Starting in verse 21, Mark tells us that:

²¹ Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. ²² Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, ²³ pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.”

²⁴ Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him.

It is at this point in the event where we find the miracle we focused on in the last episode. While Jesus was headed to help Jairus, the woman from our last episode saw an opportunity to be healed without being noticed. However, Jesus did notice and He stopped everything and everyone in order to bring this woman’s story into the spotlight.

We don’t know how long this interruption lasted, but when we come back to Jairus’ portion of this event, we discover that it may now be too late. Continuing in verse 35, Mark tells us that:

³⁵ While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”

³⁶ But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”

³⁷ Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). ³⁸ When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. ³⁹ He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”

⁴⁰ The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. ⁴¹ Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” ⁴² And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. ⁴³ Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.

In this passage and this event, several things stand out in my mind. The first one is that Jairus might not have heard or been certain if Jesus could raise someone from the dead. Prior to this, Jesus had raised a widow’s boy who was being carried out of town to be buried, but it is possible that this event had been glorified, glamorized, or simply shared so often that people weren’t fully sure what about it was truth verses exaggeration as the story spread.

We don’t know if the girl would have died before Jesus could have arrived if Jesus hadn’t stopped to draw attention onto the woman, but the implication I see when reading between the lines is that Jesus likely could have made it.

Because of this, we might end up feeling a little like Jairus did when receiving the news that his daughter was dead. At that moment, Jairus likely felt as though Jesus was too distracted to help him personally. At times in our own lives, we might feel as though God is too busy helping other people to help us personally.

However, while thinking this way is a temptation for us, nothing could be further from the truth. If we can push back from the situation where God appears to be silent, even if just for a moment or two, we might discover that if Jesus had arrived in time, both Jairus and everyone present would have missed experiencing another resurrection miracle. In a similar way, if God was always quick about answering some of our requests, we might never realize how much God wanted for us.

But this also leads us to an interesting detail present in this miracle, and some of the other ones where people are raised. In this miracle, Jesus refers to the child as sleeping, even if everyone present considers her dead. I cannot escape seeing the irony that if someone were to describe death as being like sleep in today’s culture, they would be laughed at by both major crowds of people. One crowd firmly believes that death is the end, while the other crowd things that death is a quick transition into eternal life in heaven or hell – though most people in this crowd focus on the heaven part.

It is likely for this reason that Jesus stopped the crowd from following Him after learning that the girl had died, and it is also the reason that He kicked everyone else out of the house when going in to see the girl. In the case of the crowd, there was likely enough faith and expectation to see a miracle that Jairus would not have needed to have faith personally. In contrast, those present at the house had lost all hope and their belief in the child being dead outweighed the faith in Jesus’ resurrecting ability.

In some ways, by describing death as a sleep, Jesus points us to the idea that it is simply a pause on consciousness. We can easily understand sleep as being a time of rest between two periods when we are awake and conscious, and understanding death as being simply a deeper sleep that only God can wake us up from is a peaceful way of describing death. By describing death as a sleep, Jesus aims to strengthen Jairus’ faith in the resurrection, and He aims to give us comfort in His resurrecting ability.

According to Jesus, when we face the sleep known as death, we will be resting until the time God wakes us up. In the case of Jairus’ daughter, Jesus wakes her up minutes after her last breath, and in our case, Jesus will wake us up when He returns with a shout.

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

Always seek God first and place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Him. If you are fearful about death, take Jesus’ advice in this passage and think of death as a deep sleep. Jesus has fully shown that He is capable of waking people from this sleep, and because of this, we can be assured that when we have fallen into the sleep called death, that Jesus is fully capable of waking us up when the time is right.

As always, and especially since this is a very controversial topic, I challenge you to pray and study the Bible for yourself to discover what it teaches. If you want a balanced view on the subject, find two or three sources from each perspective and choose for yourself which one matches the Bible the best. As always, use the Bible as your guide, and focus on accepting the Bible for what it teaches and don’t filter the Bible through any of culture’s theories or ideas.

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

While reading the gospels, I occasionally wonder about the disciples, and how it seems as though they routinely miss the message or truth that Jesus wanted to share with them. Our passage for this episode covers one such time, and the truth Jesus shares is powerful, but also completely different from the overly literal way the disciples seem to understand it.

We learn about this truth during one of the times Jesus and the disciples are crossing the lake and Jesus decides it would be a good time to emphasize a big idea while they are away from the crowds of people. For this episode, we will be reading about this event from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 16, using the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 5:

⁵ Jesus’ followers went across the lake, but they had forgotten to bring bread. ⁶ Jesus said to them, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

⁷ His followers discussed the meaning of this, saying, “He said this because we forgot to bring bread.”

⁸ Knowing what they were talking about, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about not having bread? Your faith is small. ⁹ Do you still not understand? Remember the five loaves of bread that fed the five thousand? And remember that you filled many baskets with the leftovers? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves of bread that fed the four thousand and the many baskets you filled then also? ¹¹ I was not talking to you about bread. Why don’t you understand that? I am telling you to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” ¹² Then the followers understood that Jesus was not telling them to beware of the yeast used in bread but to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Something about this event sounds funny in my mind. I don’t think the truth Jesus shares is funny, but I do chuckle a little about how the disciples completely miss the metaphor Jesus used to emphasize His warning.

While the disciples rightly connect yeast with bread, and forgetting bread was fresh on their minds, Jesus never once hints at His statement being about bread. Perhaps Jesus planned this metaphor just for this purpose. I wonder if Jesus used this angle not only to share the truth about being wary of the Pharisee and Sadducee teachings, but also to reemphasize the importance of trusting God.

In the simple statement about yeast, we get two truths out of this event. Jesus could have simply said to beware of the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees, but then there would be no visual element to it. By paralleling this truth with the visual of yeast, we can see a picture of how just a little bit of error can slowly affect an entire movement.

It doesn’t take much yeast to cause dough to rise, and with the negative spin Jesus places on this yeast, we can rightfully conclude that it doesn’t take much error or deception to wreck the truth.

Interestingly enough, we could also apply this truth in our own lives. We could say that one sin, regardless of how insignificant it is or was in our past, is enough to separate us forever from God. Even though the sin in question might have lasted only a split second of time, it results in us being condemned. Because of this, the Bible rightfully concludes that everyone who has ever lived has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, or God’s ideal for each of us.

In the case of our own lives, Jesus came to make a way for us to be reconnected to God even after we have sinned. Jesus accomplished this by living a perfect life within God’s will, and living a life without sin, before ultimately dying on a cross when He didn’t deserve death. Jesus took our punishment so that we can accept His reward.

This leads us back to looking at the other truth that we are reminded of in this passage: the truth about bread.

While Jesus challenges the disciples for understanding His statement to be about faith and bread, He reminds the disciples that a lack of food is nothing to be concerned about. While it might weigh on our minds and our empty stomachs, when you are with Someone who could multiply a crumb in the back of the boat into a three-course meal, a lack of food is not that big of a concern.

The truth for each of us in this case is to be intentional about trusting God to supply our needs. When we are living with and for God, He will supply our needs and He knows we need food, clothing, and shelter. While His idea of what each might look like is probably different from our thoughts, He knows what is best in the big picture and long-term view. God’s focus is on saving us for eternity, and that perspective will filter everything He brings into our lives.

God is not going to bless us in such a way that we would lose our salvation, but He also will not curse us when we could have been saved under different circumstances. While I don’t claim to know why certain bad things happen, or why tragedy seems to strike people indiscriminately, I know that I can trust God with my own future and that eternity lasts longer than today’s trials.

God is in the business of saving people forever, and saving the greatest number of people forever that He can!

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

Be sure to seek God first and trust Him with your future. While we don’t always know why things happen the way they do in our lives today, we can trust God is working through the ups and the downs for our ultimate salvation. I firmly believe that God wants each of us in heaven more than each of us wants to be in heaven!

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself. I don’t want you to take my word, or any pastor or podcaster’s word for this. Instead, I want you to study God’s love out for yourself, because only you can grow your personal relationship with God into a saving relationship with Him.

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!

As we continue forward through the gospels looking at the miracles Jesus did to help people, we come to a set of miracles that are both completely unrelated, but also connected. During this episode and the next one, we will look at these two miracles. About the only reason these two miracles are connected is because of their proximity to one another. Other than this, these miracles are about as opposite of each other as we could find. About the only thing that connects these two miracles is the simple detail that Jesus does one miracle while on the way to do the other.

For this reason, I debated which miracle to focus on first. While the event and verses surrounding the miracle that happened second begin first, I ultimately decided to focus on the miracle that happened first. The first miracle to happen would otherwise be unknown if it weren’t for Jesus treating this miracle as a necessary interruption while on His way to help with the other situation in need.

Let’s read what happened. Our passage is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 5, and we will be reading from the New Century Version. Jumping into this event in the second part of verse 24, Mark tells us that:

^24b A large crowd followed Jesus and pushed very close around him. ²⁵ Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had, but instead of improving, she was getting worse. ²⁷ When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his coat. ²⁸ She thought, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Instantly her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her disease.

³⁰ At once Jesus felt power go out from him. So he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ His followers said, “Look at how many people are pushing against you! And you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³² But Jesus continued looking around to see who had touched him. ³³ The woman, knowing that she was healed, came and fell at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear, she told him the whole truth. ³⁴ Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace; be healed of your disease.”

In this miracle, we discover something amazing as we see what Jesus does here. While almost everyone present in this event is clueless to the thought that a miracle has actually occurred, and while this woman would rather remain anonymous, Jesus insists on shining the spotlight on this situation. If Jesus had ignored the sense that power had gone from Him, or if He had simply honored the woman’s desire to remain secret, we would never have this amazing example of faith.

When reading this passage, we discover that Jesus knew very well what was happening around Him, and we discover through the story of this woman that she had tried everything else she could think of before placing her hope, faith, and belief in Jesus. When the medicine of that era had failed her, this woman knew that Jesus could help.

In an interesting way, this woman’s desire to remain anonymous actually puts more emphasis on this miracle than if she had looked for a more normal opportunity to ask for healing. If this woman had come for help along with a crowd of others during one of the events when Jesus was teaching, preaching, and healing, we might also never know her story. If this woman had looked for a miracle in any other way, we might never know she was healed.

Through this woman’s healing, we discover that faith in Jesus doesn’t need to be extraordinary for it to result in a miracle. Instead, this woman’s faith in Jesus could be described as a persistent, determined faith. Granted, maybe in today’s culture and world, a persistent, determined faith actually is extraordinary when we look out at the culture of the Christian church. Unfortunately, we don’t see extraordinary levels of faith from people sitting in pews, or even from most of those standing up front, like we might have in previous years. When the church faced struggles and trials, faith was clearly present, but when the church gains status and comfort, the faith of Christian believers suffers.

This woman’s faith was so persistent and determined that she pushed through the crowd of people who were pushing to be near Jesus while Jesus was hurrying as best He could to help someone else who needed help. She had determined that all she needed to do to know whether Jesus could help her is for her to simply touch the edge of His robe. At this point in Jesus’ ministry, the crowds likely were well aware that any illness, defect, deformity, or even death could not diminish Jesus’ power from God for healing and helping others. The woman, knowing all of this, knew Jesus was well able to heal people of significantly worse diseases than she faced, and because of this, she knew that simply touching Jesus in the least significant way would be just enough to significantly improve her situation.

It is this faith that Jesus wanted to showcase, and the only way He can do this is if He stops everything and everyone to bring this miracle into the open. While the clock is ticking and the situation Jesus was on His way to help was growing more bleak by the minute, Jesus is more interested in focusing on the example that this woman can give all of us regarding faith in Jesus.

When seeing how persistent Jesus was on bringing this woman’s story to the spotlight, we discover that Jesus was just as persistent as this woman was at pushing her way through the crowd. Jesus focused on bringing this woman’s story to the spotlight because in this story, we discover a faith that God wants us to model in our own lives. While it is easy for us to live as lukewarm Christians with little to no faith in today’s world, God warns us that living without faith is significantly worse than we might realize.

Like the first disciples and the early church learned through this miracle, God is looking for a people who are determined, persistent, and won’t back down when their faith is challenged. God is looking for His people, living today, to be persistent, passionate, and determined to live our lives with a faith that will not be shaken by anything that comes our way. We are called to live with a faith that leads us into eternity.

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

Always seek God first and intentionally place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him. Choose to follow and obey God regardless of what the world, or even tradition, teaches. Choose to place your faith in Jesus and in what the Bible has revealed to us from His word.

To learn and know what this is, always pray and study the Bible for yourself and filter everything you learn through the truth the Bible teaches. While a speaker, pastor, author, blogger, or podcaster can give you ideas you can think about, only trust it if it aligns with the truth the Bible teaches. God plans to keep us safe through eternity, and this means that He is more than capable of keeping His truth alive in the Bible through a few thousand years.

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!