Reflective Bible Study

During the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, we read about a point where Jesus’ three closest disciples have some questions, and they pull Jesus aside to get some answers. To set the stage for this event, and for Jesus’ response, we read about a brief prediction Jesus shares as He and the disciples were leaving the temple.

Our passage is found in several of the gospels, but for our time together in this episode, we will look at Mark’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” ² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

Pausing our reading briefly here, I wonder if the disciples, and perhaps the unnamed disciple who made the original statement, were bothered by Jesus’ prediction that the temple would be destroyed.

Because this was on their minds as the afternoon passed and evening came, we discover that some of the disciples want a little more information.

Picking back up reading in verse 3, Mark tells us that:

³ As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” ⁵ And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. ⁶ Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and will mislead many. ⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. ⁸ For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹ “But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. ¹⁰ The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. ¹¹ When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. ¹² Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. ¹³ You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

¹⁴ “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁵ The one who is on the housetop must not go down, or go in to get anything out of his house; ¹⁶ and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁷ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ¹⁸ But pray that it may not happen in the winter. ¹⁹ For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will. ²⁰ Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days. ²¹ And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe him; ²² for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. ²³ But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.

²⁴ “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.

²⁸ “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door. ³⁰ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

In this long passage, Jesus shares a broad look at the future of the world. While there are plenty of specific parts we could focus on within Jesus’ response, the part I want to focus in on for the rest of our time together is the last few verses. Jesus concludes this teaching by telling the disciples that they should pay attention to what is happening around them in the world and know that when we hear and see things happening, such as wars and rumors of wars, that we can be reminded that Jesus is coming soon.

While Jesus promises that the current generation of people would not pass away until all these things took place – which is something that is perplexing in itself and something that would take too much time than we have left to dig into – the closing words in Jesus’ message is one of the biggest promises we can find in the entire Bible. Jesus tells these disciples in verse 31 that “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

This promise is powerful, because it reminds us that with whatever happens in this life, and whatever Satan tries to throw at us to take our focus off of God, in the end, Jesus’ words and His message will survive. Jesus’ words last forever. Jesus’ words last longer than sin. Jesus’ words bring eternal life.

We are reminded and challenged with the truth that we will be hated and abused by people in this world because we follow Jesus, but those who endure to the end will be saved. We are challenged to endure to the end of our lives or until Jesus returns, and the reward for our endurance is eternity – specifically an eternity in a sinless, perfect, recreated world.

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

Be sure to always place God first and to stay loyal to Him. Choose to endure and ignore those who try to challenge our faith because we know from Jesus’ promise that those who endure to the end find salvation.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God each and every day. While pastors, podcasters, authors, or speakers can give you great ideas to think about, only through personal study can you grow a personal relationship, and a personal relationship with God is one key part of being saved!

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

If you have ever wondered what it means to be included in God’s family, our passage for this episode gives us a clue. While on the surface, how Jesus responds in this situation might have been considered offensive by some in the crowd, regardless of whether it offended someone, Jesus’ response gives us a powerful picture of what God’s family is like.

While I don’t hear many people talking about this passage today, an idea or theme hidden in this passage must have made it significant enough for three of the four gospel writers include it in their stories about Jesus. Part of me wonders if it has to do with the theme of being included in God’s family.

Let’s read this event from Mark’s gospel, chapter 3, using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 31, Mark tells us:

³¹ Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³² A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

³³ “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

³⁴ Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

In the first century culture, family was important – and especially honoring one’s parents – and in this passage, it sounds as though Jesus is blowing off or ignoring the family that has come to speak with Him. However, since the passage ends where it does, it is possible that Jesus uses His last statement as a conclusion to His message. All three of the gospels that include this event transition to something else afterwards.

However, regardless of whether Jesus stopped to go and visit with His mother and brothers, what Jesus shares about God’s family is powerful. The key point and key distinction Jesus makes which separates God’s family from everyone else is simply the test of whether someone is doing God’s will.

It sounds too simple, but Jesus rarely complicated things. In that culture, the religious leaders had complicated spirituality and religion to the point that many people simply gave up or resolved that they were already lost, so why even try. When Jesus steps onto the scene as God’s representative, He combats the complex with the incredibly, almost unbelievably, simple.

With this in mind, we turn to the question about why Jesus’ mother, brothers, and according to some gospels, sisters were there. While it is easy to speculate, included in this passage, and in their request, we can see a clue regarding why they had come.

Mark shares that the message that reaches Jesus is that His mother and brothers are outside looking for Him. If they had come to listen to what He was preaching, there would be no need to send the message. Also, taking from the theme of Jesus’ key point, members of God’s family do God’s will, and at that moment, God’s will for Jesus was to share about God with the people. Whether the Holy Spirit orchestrated this event to prompt Jesus’ words about God’s family, or whether Jesus knew the words to say while not knowing exactly when the opportunity would arise, the clue in this passage comes through the implied request for Jesus to stop what He is doing to go out and see His mother and brothers.

We don’t know the reason Jesus’ family had come. It may have been to share the bad news that Joseph just died or he was very sick. While this is a possible reason, it is unlikely, since a request like that would likely have come through a messenger or servant, and it would have been included in at least one of the three gospels that record this message. But, none of the gospels give any reason for their request. We don’t know, however, what we can see taking shape is a distraction from God’s will.

God’s will at that moment was Jesus teaching, and whatever reason Jesus’ family had for coming, their request appeared to interrupt and distract from Jesus’ mission.

With how each of the gospel’s end this event, and move on to something else, I am lead to believe that Jesus used this event to tie off the topic He was preaching about, and then He went out to see what they wanted. Jesus didn’t stop what He was doing because they had arrived, but He didn’t ignore it either. Jesus used this situation to draw our attention onto a bigger truth that we are adopted into God’s family when we are doing one specific thing. According to Jesus, when we are doing God’s will, we are Jesus’ mother, brother, or sister, and logically, we could describe this as being a part of God’s family.

This simple description about doing God’s will to be adopted into His family is a challenge for all of us. While there isn’t a specific action that makes us worthy of heaven, there is a set of simple things for us to do to align ourselves with God’s will for us.

The first is prayer, and the prayer I am referring to isn’t sporadic, whenever-we-need-God-to-do-something-for-us prayer. Instead, this prayer is regular, at the same time every day, and often first thing in the morning when we wake up. And this prayer is mixed with reading our Bible and just spending time with God looking for insights, inspiration, and encouragement from His Word.

The second is by making the commitment to depend on God and Jesus with whatever life throws our way. While it is easy to say we believe in God and trust Him for big things like our eternity, often times our actions don’t match our words, and we act like we are doing it on our own. God’s will is for us to live with Him, and He is more than willing to help us with our lives here on this earth. However, His help will always be focused on the ultimate goal of seeing us, and the most people possible, in heaven when history ends.

The third is by choosing to reflect Jesus’ character and His love to everyone God brings our way. The only way we can truly accomplish this is through the first two things. In order to reflect Jesus, we must know what He was like, which is found in the four gospels of the Bible, and we must depend on God and lean on Him, because that is what Jesus did, and that is where Jesus gained His strength for each day.

Being a part of God’s family is possible, and it is not complicated. However, it takes trust, faith, belief, and commitment, and sometimes it won’t feel easy or comfortable. But the challenges are easily outweighed by the huge truth that our ultimate reward for being in God’s family is living forever with Him!

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

Choose to depend on God today, for whatever life throws at you today, and make the commitment to do this each morning for this coming week. God wants to walk with us through life, and He is willing to help us when we need Him. It may be worth taking Him up on His offer.

Also, pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn what God, Jesus, and doing God’s will is all about. The mission God has created us to live will have many similarities, but there will also be many differences. We are all uniquely created, and personal study mixed with personal prayer is the best way to begin discovering why God has placed you here on this earth at this point in history.

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!

After being challenged by the religious leaders, asking His own question to stump them, and challenging both the leaders and the crowd listening in about what they should pay attention to and focus on, it appears that before Jesus left the temple that day, He decided to take a strategic break to teach the disciples an object lesson.

Both Mark and Luke include this short event, and when we look at what happened and compare it with what Jesus taught, we discover some amazing principles. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will read it from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 41, Mark tells us that:

⁴¹ Jesus sat near the Temple money box and watched the people put in their money. Many rich people gave large sums of money. ⁴² Then a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which were only worth a few cents.

⁴³ Calling his followers to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people. ⁴⁴ They gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had; she gave all she had to live on.”

In these four short verses, Jesus attempts to shifts the disciples’ focus. When reading about this shift, I first wonder how affected the disciples were at this. Some of the disciples probably remembered this teaching later and realized it to be profound, while others, probably most notably Judas Iscariot, probably discounted it based on a greedy spirit. Looking at the time frame of events, we know that Mary had already poured the perfume on Jesus at this point, and Judas had challenged the extraordinary nature of this gift. John describes Judas Iscariot as not being truly interested in the poor, but being greedy and generous towards himself with the bag of money he was entrusted to keep.

This short object lesson is powerful when we look closely at it. When we look at what this teaches about giving and generosity, I don’t believe for a moment that God is challenging His followers to give away all their money. If that were the focus of this lesson, Jesus would have told the disciples that they should give like this poor widow.

However, no such command is given.

Instead, this teaching focuses on God’s perspective regarding giving, and it shows us several interesting angles regarding giving from God’s perspective.

First, Jesus describes the widow’s gift as giving all she had to live on, in contrast to the others who “gave only what they did not need”. This first angle teaches us that when giving to God, we should give to God first. Some people describe this as returning God’s tithes as His portion of what He has blessed us with. The term tithe simply means “tenth”, and this is where we get the meaning that a tithe is ten percent of our income, but when we look at this passage, nothing here is described as tithe or offering.

Instead, this widow gave everything she had to God because she trusted that He would supply her with everything she needed. This widow’s gift demonstrates a complete dependence on God and 100% trust in Him.

Mixed within this first angle of giving, we see the widow giving her heart to God with her money and her trust. Including her heart with her gift made the widow’s gift infinitely more valuable than other givers who simply gave money from their excess, which also means that their gifts would not include their hearts. A gift that includes the giver’s heart is always more valuable than a gift without a heart included.

Another angle of giving we can see described here is a percentage based giving. It’s possible that God looks more at what percentage we give of our income or our net worth when He calculates the value of our gift. Jesus describes this widow as giving everything she had, which would be like saying she gave 100%, and this contrasts a much lower percentage in those who gave only what they did not need.

This second angle is perhaps the more popular one, however I don’t think it fits the way God values giving as well as the first angle we focused on.

A third angle of giving flips the second angle around. Instead of focusing on percentages of what is given, the third angle focuses on what we keep in contrast to what we gave. We can see this perspective in Jesus’ framing of the first group of givers. These people give what they don’t need, which means that they keep what they needed to live on first. These givers focus on what they will keep first, and then give from the rest.

To contrast this, the widow doesn’t focus on what she will keep and instead gives everything. She is commended on giving more because she has nothing left after she gave which clearly contrasts the other people who have more than enough to live on after they have finished giving.

From both the second and third angle, we discover that the widow probably would have given more than everyone else even if she had only given one coin. It’s unlikely the other givers were giving more than 50% of their earnings or wealth, and they clearly had more left over after their giving than a single copper coin.

However, if the widow had only given one copper coin, it’s likely she would have failed the first angle of giving. If the widow had kept one coin back, it’s likely that her gift would not have included her heart, and without her heart included, her gift wouldn’t have been as valuable.

From looking at these few short verses and the object lesson Jesus pulls from them, we discover the amazing truth that God doesn’t value the number of coins we give. Instead, God values the percentage of our gift, God values gifts where the giving is enough to affect our lives because we gave first and enough for our hearts to take notice, and God values gifts that are large enough that they include our hearts with them. Giving that includes our hearts makes our gifts valuable in God’s eyes!

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

Always place God first and when giving gifts to Him, be sure to give in a way that includes your heart.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself. While a pastor, podcaster, or speaker can give you ideas to think about, only through personal prayer and Bible study can you grow a personal relationship – and when giving is involved, only through personal giving can you grow the spirit of generosity that will include your heart.

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

Sometimes I wonder how Jesus would be received if He were alive today. If someone were to perform the miracles and healing that He did, would people living today (without having a historical Jesus to look back on) accept Him, or would He be rejected? Another part of me wonders if it was just the Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus, while the majority of the average people living in that culture chose to accept Him.

It is while I wonder this that I come to a challenging passage in the gospel of Matthew. As I read it, in a way it answers both of these questions I occasionally wonder about. So let’s read this challenge, from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 11, and let’s use the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 20, Matthew tells us that:

²⁰ Jesus began to speak against the towns where he had done most of his miracles. The people there had not turned away from their sins. So he said, ²¹ “How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you, Bethsaida! Suppose the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon. They would have turned away from their sins long ago. They would have put on clothes for mourning. They would have sat down in ashes. ²² But I tell you this. On judgment day it will be easier for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ²³ And what about you, Capernaum? Will you be lifted to the heavens? No! You will go down to the place of the dead. Suppose the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom. It would still be here today. ²⁴ But I tell you this. On judgment day it will be easier for Sodom than for you.”

Let’s pause reading here for a brief moment. Matthew tells us that Jesus spoke “against” the towns where He had done most of His miracles. These were the communities who would have clearly had enough evidence to tell them Jesus was significant, and the miracles would build the case that He was from God. However, apathy seemed to be alive and well in the first century. Jesus speaks out against these towns because even with plenty of evidence, the average, regular person discounted Jesus’ message and ministry and continued living as he or she had always lived.

Jesus compares these two towns with two historical communities who were known for their sinful lifestyle. God personally destroyed Sodom because of the community’s sinful behavior, and while I don’t know if the city of Tyre was still around when Jesus was alive walking on this earth, one of the Old Testament prophets connected the king of Tyre with Lucifer, who fell from heaven. While Ezekiel’s prophecy clearly is speaking about a being who existed long before Tyre’s actual king, the fact that Ezekiel connected the leader of this city with Satan speaks to the reputation that Tyre had for its sin.

What seems to be the difference between the present communities Jesus was speaking to and their historical counterparts was simply apathy. The people in the past, even those who were actively pursuing sin, would have turned their lives around if Jesus had been present and working miracles earlier in history. This challenges me to wonder if apathy is among the worst character traits we could possess. If we ignore and discount all that is happening around us, then how will God ever wake us up to what He wants for us? Perhaps this is one reason why trials come into our lives.

However, Jesus also said some other powerful things in this discussion. Continuing in verse 25, we learn that:

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father. You are Lord of heaven and earth. You have hidden these things from wise and educated people. But you have shown them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father. This is what you wanted to do.

²⁷ “My Father has given all things to me. The Father is the only one who knows the Son. And the only ones who know the Father are the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to make him known.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are tired and are carrying heavy loads. I will give you rest. ²⁹ Become my servants and learn from me. I am gentle and free of pride. You will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ Serving me is easy, and my load is light.”

In this last part of our passage, we have three big ideas.

First, Jesus applauds God for hiding “these things” from the wise and educated people, while showing it to those who are childlike. The context for the phrase “these things” must then refer to His words against the two towns we had just talked about, and perhaps it relates specifically to our discussion on apathy. Part of me wonders if the more “educated” a person gets, the more apathy they can also display.

I really don’t think that education guarantees an equivalent or proportional level of apathy, but perhaps as we learn and grow intellectually, we learn that there is so much that we don’t know that it becomes easier to ignore the things we don’t understand in favor of the things that we do understand.

The second idea is that the Father is the only One who truly knows the Son, and while the Son is the only One who truly knows the Father, Jesus tells us that the Son reveals the Father to a certain group of people that He chooses. This means that you and I, if we have been chosen, can actually know who the Father is. However, in order to be chosen, we must be friends of Jesus, and the likelihood is high that friendship in this case also equals alignment and obedience. It’s hard to be friends with someone who is living in a way that is opposed to your character or a belief you have, and it may be this way with Jesus too. The closer we can live like Jesus and be like Jesus, the easier it will be to be friends with Him.

Concluding these three ideas is the idea of rest. Jesus invites those present to follow Him if they are tired of carrying a heavy load. While following Jesus might not remove a physically heavy load that one may have to carry, what Jesus is describing in this illustration is a load of spiritual rules and regulations that had become ever more confusing and convoluted as time had passed. What had been simple at one time was now more complicated than ever, and someone trying to live rightly according to the religious leaders of that era needed to be ever careful and cautious about breaking one of the countless laws that were present. The first century religious leaders had created laws that were designed to guard against breaking other laws, and that made the standard of right living even more confusing.

But Jesus comes with the message that His way is simple. Jesus does have a load for us to carry, but it is light. This means that it does matter what we do, what we say, and how we live, but the frame of reference Jesus uses is not one of restriction but instead it is one of freedom. Jesus wants us to avoid the lifestyles, activities, habits, and other things that will ultimately trap us in favor of the ones that give us life. By following Jesus, we can find rest for our inner selves and for our hearts and minds.

This passage, which opened with Jesus speaking out against the apathy present in the towns He did most of His miracles in, and which ends with an invitation out of the burden of trying to live up to an impossible standard, we see both apathy and self-reliance being opposite to the life God has for us. Education helps, but it is not the only key to breaking free from apathy and self-reliance. Instead, drawing close to Jesus, and learning to follow, obey, and depend on Him is the way into the life God intends for each of us to live!

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

If you feel as though you struggle with apathy, or if you are trying to live life apart from God, and in either case you feel tired, burned out, or empty, perhaps this passage and our discussion today is a challenge to seek God, follow Jesus, and commit to depend on Him for guidance, strength, and direction.

In order to learn what He wants from us, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself, reading every verse and passage in context, and intentionally mixing your study with prayer, reflection, and ample time. Rushing Bible study is rarely productive, and it doesn’t ultimately lead to rest. Instead, choose to pray and open your Bible with plenty of time available so you can rest, learn, listen, and discover what God wants to show you in 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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!