Reflective Bible Study

As we begin another year moving through the life of Jesus, most of Jesus’ birth story will be fresh in our minds, and some people might even be sick of hearing about it. Hopefully this isn’t you, because I’ve been amazed that looking at Jesus’ birth story outside of the official Christmas season has prompted me to see amazing insights that I might not have noticed if I only paid attention to these verses one month or so out of a year.

The passage we’ll be looking closer at as we begin this year needs no real introduction as it is one of the passages that is read almost every time Jesus’ birth story is shared. This passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 1, starting in verse 26, and we’ll be reading from the New International Version of the Bible:

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

Let’s pause reading here because I wonder if you or I would have a similar response as Mary. On one hand, the angel Gabriel has just given Mary one of the highest compliments he could have given to her, but on the other hand, there’s still the looming question about why an angel is appearing to her.

Just like you or I would be a little concerned, Mary is both caught off guard and “greatly troubled” at the angel’s words.

Also worth noting is that Gabriel doesn’t start with his customary opening line of “Do not be afraid” until after this first compliment.

Let’s continue reading. Picking back up in verse 30:

³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

Let’s pause again here because it is worth noting that, at least on the surface, Mary’s question sounds a lot like Zechariah’s question. Earlier in this chapter in Luke, in verse 18, Zechariah asks the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

These two clarifying questions are similar but also very different. Zechariah is hopeful but also doubtful and I think he wants a sign, or something tangible, that he can have to remind him of this promise. Nearing the end of Zechariah’s life, he is uncertain if he and his wife are even capable of having children still, and Gabriel gives Zechariah a sign even if this sign really appears like a punishment for Zechariah’s lack of faith.

But when we shift over and look at Mary, she asks a very similar question but gets a completely different response from Gabriel. Mary asks in verse 34, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

Just like Zechariah, Mary asks a question and follows up with a statement of supposed disqualification. Zechariah believed his age was a limiting factor and Mary wonders about her virginity.

However, tucked in the details of Mary’s reply, I see her asking a logical question and I don’t see any doubt like with Zechariah. It is almost as though Mary is asking, “What is the next step? I’m engaged to Joseph. Is this birth going to come through this marriage, or should I be expecting something different?”

Mary wants more information so she can follow through with God’s plan for her life and the promise that Gabriel is sharing with her. We see this idea the most clearly when we conclude reading our passage and see how Mary responds at the end of her and Gabriel’s encounter.

Picking back up in verse 35:

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

The response Mary gives is worth repeating. She responds to the promise God gives her through the angel with the words “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”

In Mary’s response, we see an amazing level of humility and willingness to be used by God. Mary models an attitude that we all should have as we start out every day, every month, and every new year. We all should be willing to be used by God and to let Him direct our steps and our path forward.

With all this focus on Mary in this passage, it is easy to miss one verse that shares a powerful truth we should also always remember. The last message the angel Gabriel tells Mary is the statement, “For no word from God will ever fail.” This is a promise every single one of us can hold onto.

When studying the Bible, we find many places where God gives us promises. We can see places where God’s messengers give prophecy, and while we all might have different interpretations for some of God’s prophetic messages, one thing we all can agree on is Gabriel’s promise to Mary: “For no word from God will ever fail.”

As we begin a new year moving through the gospels together, let’s keep this promise in mind. As you and I move into a new year of life together, let’s remember this promise. Gabriel’s promise to Mary is just as applicable to us as it was to Mary living over 2,000 years ago.

God has promised us that He wants us to live forever with Him in heaven, and that became a possibility because of what we just read. Everything that the Old Testament pointed forward to regarding Jesus’ first coming began with Mary accepting God’s plan for her life. God invites us to be a part of His plan for the future. Will we step into His plan for our lives as willingly as Mary did?

As we finish off the first podcast of a new year, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by saying, intentionally seek God first in your life. If you have slipped away from God in the past, make today the day you will refocus on Him. Be like Mary and be willing to step into God’s plan for your life even if an angel doesn’t appear to you give you direction.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do in one way or another, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself, because within the pages of scripture, we can find God’s plan for our lives here on earth, and as we study, we will discover God’s promise of an eternal life reward in heaven. This reward comes when we place Jesus first and we intentionally make Him a priority in our lives.

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

As we get ready to begin another year of podcasting in the gospels, first off I want to wish you a happy new year. I hope that you were able to have a great time with friends and family over this past Christmas season, and that you were able to spend a little time reflecting on what Jesus’ entrance into this world really means for you.

Like I hinted at last week as we were finishing wrapping up last year’s focus on the cross, for this year, I thought it would be neat to focus in on the miracles that we see Jesus doing throughout the gospels. However, with this as our theme, we have a slight dilemma.

When looking at the list of miracles, most lists count 37 miracles. While this is awesome, it doesn’t work as smoothly in our 50 week long podcasting years. While we could end the year with more parts to our grand finale, I thought we could take several of the more detailed miracles, and focus on them for multiple weeks. By doing this, my hope and prayer is that we see even more than if we blazed through these passages and events using only one episode.

Also, most lists don’t include some passages that at least deserve a little recognition for being miraculous, so periodically, expect us to focus on an event where the miracle isn’t as easily seen.

Our passage to open up this Year of Miracles is one that works great as an introduction to this year of podcasts, and it includes an event that most lists of miracles don’t include, but a subtle miracle is present. Let’s read about what happened and discover some things we can learn from this event.

This event is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 4, and we will be reading from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16, Luke tells us that:

¹⁶ Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as he usually did. He stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. Jesus unrolled it and found the right place. There it is written,

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me.
    He has anointed me
    to announce the good news to poor people.
He has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners.
    He has sent me so that the blind will see again.
He wants me to set free those who are treated badly.
¹⁹     And he has sent me to announce the year when he will set his people free.”

²⁰ Then Jesus rolled up the scroll. He gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were staring at him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this passage of Scripture is coming true as you listen.”

²² Everyone said good things about him. They were amazed at the gracious words they heard from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

²³ Jesus said, “Here is a saying you will certainly apply to me. ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me this. ‘Do the things here in your hometown that we heard you did in Capernaum.’ ”

²⁴ “What I’m about to tell you is true,” he continued. “A prophet is not accepted in his hometown. ²⁵ I tell you for sure that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. And there had been no rain for three and a half years. There wasn’t enough food to eat anywhere in the land. ²⁶ But Elijah was not sent to any of those widows. Instead, he was sent to a widow in Zarephath near Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel who had skin diseases in the days of Elisha the prophet. But not one of them was healed except Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were very angry when they heard that. ²⁹ They got up and ran Jesus out of town. They took him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They planned to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

In our passage, Jesus reads His life mission prophesied in Isaiah’s scroll, and in this summary of Jesus’ mission, we discover that His to-do list includes giving sight to the blind. While this could be strictly a symbolic reference, as we will discover moving through this year that not only were Isaiah’s words symbolic, but they were also very literal. Multiple times Jesus gives the blind sight, and this is directly fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy.

However, also included in this event is Jesus pressing those present a little past what they may have wanted to hear, and we discover that those in the Nazareth synagogue ran Jesus out of town and off towards a nearby cliff. But our passage ends in verse 30 by simply telling us that “Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on his way”.

In this unattributed miracle, we see a group of angry, emotional people set on killing Jesus before He had really fully stepped into His ministry, and Jesus essentially disappears, walks through the crowd, and goes on His way. The only way this verse makes sense is if something miraculous happened. Jesus might have disappeared, or He might have briefly displayed a level of divinity which would have pushed those present away, or God may have sent angels to pull people back and keep them from touching Jesus. Any or all of these things might have happened. What happened is less relevant than the huge truth that something miraculous took place. God miraculously protected Jesus from dying before the cross.

In our own lives, we discover this same truth as well. While none of us knows exactly when we will die, we can trust that God will keep us safe through everything that comes our way as we move through fulfilling the mission He has for our lives. While God didn’t protect Jesus from the cross three years later, we see God’s divine hand protecting Jesus in this event, and we can know that while we will ultimately face death at some point, death will not come a moment sooner for us than God allows it to happen. Our lives and our deaths can bring glory to God when we let them, and the bigger thing for us to remember when living life and facing death is simply that this life is not the end.

It would be tragic for God to indefinitely allow sin to reign, and there will be a time when He steps in to end history. God’s goal for all His people is to live with Him in the recreated new heaven and new earth that will be free from sin, pain, death, and the curse that our current earth is experiencing.

As we start out in this new year, regardless of whether our lives are going well, or whether we are facing hard times, and regardless of whether things are calm or chaotic, we can trust that God is in control and that He is moving history towards the end of sin and the salvation of His people.

As we end the first podcast episode of the New Year, here are the challenges I want to leave you with:

Always seek God first and intentionally place Him first in your life. Trust that He is both willing and able to keep you safe for eternity, regardless of what this world throws our way.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God each and every day. Through a personal relationship with God, we can know Him better and can trust Him through the chaos of this world.

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!

Last week, we began our annual two-part finale by focusing on insights from the first half of our third year chronologically podcasting through events within Jesus life and ministry.

Before picking back up where we left off last week, let me give you a sneak peek at what is coming up for our podcasts in the next year or two. As you know if you have been listening for more than a few episodes, the past three years have been focused on moving chronologically through Jesus’ life, using the framework and timeline found within the Walking with Jesus Reflective Bible Study package.

However, instead of slowly moving through four years worth of material, and taking 4 long years to make it through Jesus’ life, I thought it would make sense and be more beneficial to spend four years moving through Jesus’ life with each year leading up to Jesus’ time on the cross.

Looking at our four-year plan, we have just finished our third year moving through the gospels in this way, and next year, we will wrap up this journey moving through Jesus’ life. The exciting part about next year is that the whole year will be focused on looking at events and details that these previous three years did not contain. While there are way more details for us to focus on than even four years would have time for, moving through the gospels in this way has been powerful, at least for me.

Looking past the fourth chronological year, I thought it would be neat to focus an entire year looking extra closely at Jesus’ crucifixion week. All four of the gospels devote a significant amount of space and detail to this portion of Jesus’ life, and I’m sure we would learn a lot moving through the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion together.

Thinking this far in advance is all very preliminary, and I have a whole year ahead of podcasting to think and plan for this. However, before that can happen, we need to pick back up where we left off last week and continue looking at insights from this past year of moving through the gospels together. Last week, we focused in on the first half of our episodes, and now let’s pick back up looking at insights, starting with episode 27.

In episode 27, we learned in an event focusing on Jesus visiting a Pharisee’s home that Jesus reserved His harshest words for those who kept others from seeing God’s love. Jesus’ challenge to all spiritual leaders, and really everyone who has been given a leadership role, is that they are given this role to help others. The religious leaders in the first century chose to bully and intimidate the people they were supposed to help.

Moving forward and into episode 28, when some people come to Jesus with a question about why some people died the way they did, we learned that a person’s death does not determine how good or bad their life was, but while a person is alive, repentance and turning towards God is crucial.

Jumping ahead to episode 32, where the religious leaders begin actively plotting for Jesus’ death, John taught us that regardless of whether someone, or a group of people, has aligned themselves for or against God, God is still able to use them for His purposes.

Episode 33, which looked at a parable Jesus spoke to some people who were self-righteous, taught us that while self-sufficiency might win points for us with culture, living a self-sufficient spiritual life leads to destruction, and in episode 34, we learned that focusing on someone else’s spiritual walk over our own will never lead us anywhere positive.

Jumping up to episode 37, which focused on the early part of crucifixion week and Jesus cursing a fig tree, we learned that when we live a life that is continually growing towards God, trusting Him with everything, and forgiving others without condition, we are being fruitful at the highest level possible, because these characteristics reflect God’s love towards us.

Episode 39 includes another one of those big, challenging insights as well. When looking at a question Jesus is asked about which commandment is the greatest, we learned that love is only as valuable as it is visible and helpful to others. Love that is hidden does not have any value in the big picture.

Moving ahead to episode 41, we looked at Jesus’ challenging parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids. In this parable and episode, we discovered that it is wise for us to plan for a time when we will fall asleep spiritually. Spiritually falling asleep is inevitable. But what ultimately matters is our planning on the front end, and the choices we make after we have been woken up. Never leave your post, because only when you are living for Jesus will He give you the Holy Spirit and let your life shine for others to see.

In episode 43, as we read about Jesus’ “new command to love each other”, we learned that the true test of whether we are Jesus’ disciples is if we will be loving towards others who call themselves followers of Jesus, but who look, live, believe, and/or act differently than we do. If we love like Jesus loved, we will look past our differences and towards how Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross unites us.

Episode 44 taught us in Jesus’ words to His followers on the night of His arrest that the more openly we live for Jesus, the more opposition from the world we will face – and that when opposition comes into our lives, we are not alone because God has promised to give us His Holy Spirit. Also in episode 44, Jesus taught us that if the world opposed Him for living within God’s plan for His life, it will oppose us for living God’s plan for our lives as well.

In episode 45, while Jesus is praying in Gethsemane, we learn that when we face temptation, the best place for us to surrender is into doing God’s will. While this is easier to say than it is to do, our prayers should always be prefaced with God’s will being done.

Episodes 46 and 47 both drew our attention onto the shaky foundation that the religious leaders built their case against Jesus on, and on how Satan was likely behind the mock worship that the Roman soldiers gave as they were torturing Him prior to the cross. But in both these cases, we learned that Jesus chose the time He came into this world, and He chose to face the worst abuse imaginable to help us see how much He loves each of us.

This last insight is the perfect one for us to end this third chronological year of podcasting through Jesus’ life by focusing on. As we have come to the end of another episode, and the end of another year podcasting about Jesus’ life, here are some challenges for you to remember as we remember Christmas and look forward to a new year:

Seek God first and foremost as we balance the spiritual and the commercial demands of this season. Remember that without Christmas, there would be no Easter, and without Easter, Christmas would be worthless. Choose to take some time this coming year to focus on what God truly gave when giving His Son into the world, and let the amazingness of God’s love fill your heart this season as well as this coming year.

Also, be sure to always continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself, so that you are intentionally growing closer to God and strengthening your relationship with Him each and every day.

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!

Last week we began our annual two-part finale by focusing on insights from the first half of this year podcasting through Jesus’ week leading up to the cross. Last week, we moved up to and through the last supper, but we ran out of time at about the same time Judas Iscariot left to betray Jesus. For this episode, we’ll pick up at the end of this Last Supper, and move through Jesus’ final 24 hours leading to His death.

However, before we dive into this, I’ve been thinking about what we should focus on for next year. We had several years of chronologically moving through the Bible, and we just finished an amazing year focusing on the topic of Jesus’ final week. Another topic I thought of a few weeks ago while realizing we were coming up to this point was taking a year and focusing it on all the amazing miracles Jesus performed throughout the gospels.

While teaching and preaching were among the things Jesus was most well known for, Jesus’ ability to perform miracles was like God lifting Jesus above the other teachers and rabbis and prompting those in the first century to pay attention. Jesus’ miracles were one of the best, most practical ways, He helped people on a personal level, and these miracles were ways Jesus gave glory to God!

However, if I’m not careful, we’ll spend all of this episode focusing on miracles, and we won’t have any time left to go over the long list of insights I planned to share in this episode.

With that said, let’s pick back up where we left off in our last episode. Episode 25 of this year has Jesus giving His disciples a new command, and Jesus challenging Peter based on Peter’s promise to be completely loyal to Jesus. In this episode, we learned that: In the command Jesus gives to His disciples, I see Him challenging His followers to love others simply because they are part of the human family. While loving our neighbor is a part of this, this also means loving those who are clearly acting, living, and believing differently than we do. This challenge is a challenge to love others because Jesus loved us, and not because of who the other person is or who they could be. We love others because Jesus loved us, and because God lives in our heart.

In the following several episodes, we looked closely at Jesus’ last conversation with His disciples on the night of His betrayal and arrest. Episode 26 reminded us that: Jesus never lived His life to seek glory from people, but everything He did was to show people God’s love and to give them reasons to give God glory.

Episode 27 continued this theme by teaching us that: some Christians immediately think that anything that supports keeping the law is a step towards legalism and away from God’s grace. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Obeying God’s law can be done with a legalistic attitude, or it can be done with a loving attitude. Obedience comes from either legalism or from love. Too many religious leaders in the first century came to obedience through legalism, but God, through Jesus, has called us to obedience through love. Jesus promises to move into the hearts and lives of those who love and obey Him and He promises to bring the Father with Him.

Episode 28 focused on how we are connected to Jesus like a branch is connected to a vine. We learned in this episode that: Jesus shares how He is happy to answer prayers and requests of those who are joined to Him, and in this context, those who are joined to Him are those who are being fruitful.

God touching our lives is not optional. Either He will trim us to help us be more fruitful, or He will cut us off if we are not fruitful. Being fruitful brings glory to God and it shows that we are Jesus’ disciples.

Episode 29 reminded us of Jesus’ challenge to His followers that they would be hated by the world. In this episode, among the long list of things we discovered, we saw that: If we let any person, idea, tradition, or logical idea filter our idea of God and the truth the Bible teaches, these verses warn us that we might become guilty of hate while thinking we offer a service to God when we don’t really know Him. Those who don’t know Jesus and who have not placed their belief in Him are susceptible of believing anything and everything, regardless of whether it is valid. Out of context, the Bible can be twisted to appear to support anything, and this is why it is crucial that we study it for ourselves.

Episode 30 gave us Jesus’ promise to share the Holy Spirit with us and three powerful roles the Holy Spirit has in addition to being our helper. The first is that the Holy Spirit will prove to the people of this world that sin is not believing in Jesus, the second is that being right with God comes from Jesus’ return to Heaven and not being seen any more, and the third is that judgment happened when the ruler of this world was judged. I could share more, but it would take too much time from this episode, and we are quickly running out of time.

Episode 31 wraps up this late night conversation with Jesus telling His followers that: Regardless of what our circumstances look like, how we feel, or what Satan tries to tell us to discourage us, when we believe in Jesus, we are never alone. God the Father, and His Holy Spirit are always with us. Even if everyone else has abandoned us, God is still faithful, and His presence matters more than the presence of anyone else.

Jumping forward to Episode 33, in Jesus’ famous prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, we learned that: While the cross was Jesus’ decision to make, Jesus’ prayer tells us that He doesn’t make the decision alone. In this prayer, and how Jesus ends it, we discover a powerful truth about God the Father. If God the Father did not love the human race, Jesus would not have faced the cross. Jesus asks the Father to take the cup of suffering away from Him, but He leaves it up to God.

Before skipping forward to the time Jesus spent on the cross, Episode 34, which featured Jesus’ betrayal and arrest, included a fascinating idea within Jesus’ words. In this episode, we discovered: From the perspective of eternity, evil has only a moment of time in the spotlight. The only moment that sin has is the time it takes to show the universe how destructive it is, and then it is done away with. We live in an interesting point in history where sin and evil have already been judged, but God is holding off on executing this judgment because He knows there are still more people who will enter this world who He can save for eternity. God doesn’t want to end earth’s history before every person who is willing to place Jesus first has done so. God has not forgotten this planet or its inhabitants – He wants as many people as possible saved for eternity!

There are a ton of insights we learned between Jesus’ arrest and His walk to Calvary, however we don’t have time to focus on them all. Instead, let’s spend the last few minutes looking at the time Jesus spent on the cross.

Episode 44 begins several episodes detailing Jesus’ time on the cross, and this one focused us on a temptation Jesus received that was different from the others. Leading up to the cross, Jesus was tempted to avoid or abandon it, but while on the cross, the temptation was to come down from the cross and save Himself. In this episode, we learned that: The only way this temptation makes sense is if it was within Jesus’ power to do. The fact that Jesus received hostility and insults from all angles suggests that this was prompted by Satan because Jesus could come off of the cross if He wanted to. Jesus overcame this big temptation because His mission was to redeem humanity. Jesus triumphed over every temptation Satan threw at Him from the temptations at the start of His ministry after His baptism, to this last temptation Satan was saving for Jesus’ time on the cross. Jesus overcame temptation and sin to make it possible for us to accept the gift He offers to each of us.

Episode 45 detailed Jesus’ promise to one criminal on the cross, and we looked at how this criminal’s decision might not have been as last-minute as many people believe it to be.

We will end this second part of our finale focusing on what we learned in Episode 47. In this episode, Jesus takes His last breath and some amazing things happen. With what happened at the moment Jesus took His last breath, we discovered that: Jesus’ death brings life. Jesus’ death on the cross opens the way for all those who have died believing in and trusting Jesus to be raised to life when He returns. An earthquake split open graves and Jesus’ death brought literal life to many who had died trusting in the Messiah prior to His death for sin!

Also, at Jesus’ final breath, we discover that: At the darkest part in history, while Jesus is dead, the curtain that split in two marks an accepted sacrifice and an accepted sacrifice is a hope and promise we can hold on to when we face dark places in our lives. Even if our faith is weak and people want to discount Jesus’ life, His death, and His resurrection, remember that God validated it all by ripping the temple curtain into two pieces, from top to bottom, which is something no human could do.

In our year of podcasting Jesus’ road to the cross, while we finished with His resurrection, the biggest focus for all of us is on the fact that Jesus’ sacrifice was accepted, and that opens the way for all of God’s people to be redeemed and saved for eternity.

As we move through each day, each month, and each year, let’s remember what Jesus accomplished for us. Jesus came to this earth as one of us, and He lived the life we couldn’t live, so He could give us the life that we don’t deserve – and that life lasts forever with God.