Reflective Bible Study

When reading how the gospels describe the morning Jesus rose from the dead, we discover an interesting detail: none of Jesus’ followers expected Him to rise from the dead. While Jesus’ resurrection shouldn’t have surprised any of them, we learn that it surprised every single one of them.

For our episode today, let’s look at how Luke’s gospel described what happened, and then unpack some things we can apply into our own lives. Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 24, and we will be reading from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us that:

¹ Very early on the first day of the week, at dawn, the women came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. ² They found the stone rolled away from the entrance of the tomb, ³ but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, two men in shining clothes suddenly stood beside them. ⁵ The women were very afraid and bowed their heads to the ground. The men said to them, “Why are you looking for a living person in this place for the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen from the dead. Do you remember what he told you in Galilee? ⁷ He said the Son of Man must be handed over to sinful people, be crucified, and rise from the dead on the third day.” ⁸ Then the women remembered what Jesus had said.

⁹ The women left the tomb and told all these things to the eleven apostles and the other followers. ¹⁰ It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women who told the apostles everything that had happened at the tomb. ¹¹ But they did not believe the women, because it sounded like nonsense. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Bending down and looking in, he saw only the cloth that Jesus’ body had been wrapped in. Peter went away to his home, wondering about what had happened.

In the chaos of resurrection morning, we discover that the only reason word spreads about a resurrected Jesus is because some of the women who followed Jesus didn’t believe He would return to life. These women head to the tomb with spices they had prepared for Jesus’ body, possibly because they believed that the men who had hastily put Jesus into the tomb two days earlier had not done a very good job. John’s gospel described Joseph and Nicodemus taking Jesus’ body off the cross, placing it in Joseph’s tomb, and using the spices that they had, but whatever the reason, the women also want to prepare Jesus’ body for burial with their own spices.

While probably wondering how they would actually get to Jesus’ body with a huge stone rolled in front of the tomb, the last thing the women expect to find is an empty spot where they saw Jesus’ body lay. Also, the last thing they expected to experience are two angels reminding them of Jesus’ own words, predicting His death and resurrection.

However, after the angels had restated Jesus’ earlier message to them, the women remember Jesus’ words, they believe the angels, and they go tell the remaining disciples what they had experienced.

Now it’s the disciples’ turn for disbelief. Verse 11 describes that the disciples “did not believe the women, because it sounded like nonsense”.

However, according to Luke’s gospel, one disciple pushes past his disbelief. Peter, the disciple who had utterly failed Jesus only a few nights earlier, pushes past the doubts to go check out the situation for himself.

Earlier in His ministry, Jesus had challenged Peter regarding Peter’s disbelief over Jesus’ future death – even going as far as calling Peter Satan. Part of me wonders if Peter remembered this conversation, and if Peter was thinking about it as he ran to the tomb.

Our passage ends with Peter returning home, wondering about what had happened. We don’t see Peter return to validate the women’s testimony, and we don’t see Peter have an encounter with an angel to validate what the women describe.

Instead, Peter is left to put the pieces together of an event that He isn’t sure what to make of. Peter was the most vocal disciple with regard to most things, and Peter was the most vocal about the Messiah not facing death.

In our own lives, we can learn from Peter’s experience that it is better to stop, wait, and pay attention – especially when things don’t make sense. Rushing into the chaos isn’t always the best approach. Peter blinded himself with His beliefs about the Messiah that kept Him from realizing the truth.

However, we can also learn from Peter, because when the rest of the disciples choose to remain doubtful when hearing about a possible resurrection, Peter doesn’t waste any time going to see the tomb for himself. Peter rushes to discover the truth for himself. He finds the tomb empty, which is what the women described, but he doesn’t get the same angelic visitors.

In a way, Peter’s experience models our own. When we have our eyes open to looking for evidence of God, and evidence to support our belief in Jesus, we will find reasons and evidence to support our faith. However, similar to Peter, it is unlikely that angelic visitors will appear as a piece of confirming evidence. In Peter’s experience, he finds enough evidence to support a belief in the resurrection, but not so much evidence that would eliminate the role of faith. Our experience is likely to reflect Peter’s.

God has called us to have faith in Jesus, and to trust in the promises of His word. It is unlikely He will remove all reasons for doubt, but He is more than willing to give us enough evidence that we can base our faith on. Let’s keep our eyes open for the evidence He shares, and walk forward in faith.

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

Be sure to intentionally place your faith in Jesus and keep your eyes open for the evidence God shares. While a skeptical mind is capable of discounting anything and everything, don’t be a skeptic. Choose to accept the evidence God shares and intentionally walk forward in life with Him.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself because prayer and Bible study are the best ways to grow personally closer to God. An author, pastor, or even a podcaster can give you ideas to think about, but only personal study leads to a personal relationship – and God wants a personal relationship with you!

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

If I were to think about the whole story of the Bible and look closely at its plotline, I would probably conclude the climax of the entire Bible is the moment where Jesus gives His last breath. While the resurrection that happened at the end of that weekend is one of the most exciting and earth-shattering events, the whole salvation plan rests on Jesus laying down His life and dying for humanity. The sacrifice Jesus made for us is way more than we can truly comprehend, and because of this, the crucifixion marks the climax of God’s salvation plan.

Our passage for this week covers the exact moment Jesus gives His last breath. All four gospels include this moment, and each gospel has unique details about this event that the others don’t include. All four gospels also include many details that convey a lot of meaning. While I’d love to cover all the details and nuances in each of the gospels that record the final moments of Jesus’ crucifixion, we don’t have enough time, and I truly don’t believe I know or even realize all the nuances that the gospel writers bring into this part of their record.

But with that said, I will touch on some things I see from one of the gospel writers. The gospel of Mark, gives a good overall picture of the last hours and minutes of Jesus’ death. Using the God’s Word translation, let’s read Mark, chapter 15, starting in verse 33:

³³ At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴ At three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

³⁵ When some of the people standing there heard him say that, they said, “Listen! He’s calling Elijah.” ³⁶ Someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar. Then he put it on a stick and offered Jesus a drink. The man said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”

Pausing briefly while reading this, we see a picture given of the last minutes Jesus was alive. Darkness had covered the land, and it might have appeared as though darkness had won. Jesus cries out a phrase giving us a clue into what He was thinking and feeling. The darkness and the coldness of death approaching had overshadowed Jesus from feeling God’s presence with Him. This possibly was the only time Jesus ever experienced the feeling of being outside of God’s presence, and this made the final hours on the cross feel like Jesus was truly alone.

However, I am positive that Jesus was not alone, because in the moments when Jesus was hanging on the cross unable to feel God’s presence, it would not be a stretch to think Satan was there casting doubts into His mind. Satan was likely casting doubts about Jesus’ sacrifice not being enough and that it wouldn’t be accepted or appreciated by a single human being. Satan possibly even tormented Jesus into thinking that God tricked Him into dying and that God’s absence meant that God was rejecting Him.

While none of Satan’s lies were even close to being true, I’m sure that Satan used his strongest temptations during the moments when Jesus could not feel God’s presence with Him.

As Jesus was nearing death, He cried out His final prayer and question to God. Perhaps this was because He was becoming delirious because of blood loss, or maybe Satan’s temptations were getting to Him.

Whatever the reason, the Hebrew word for God used here is “Eloi” which also sounds like the name Elijah. This prompts people who were present to think Jesus was calling Elijah to come help Him when that wasn’t the message at all.

Perhaps this cry, and the one that followed it, signaled the end and it drew the crowd of onlookers to pay attention because in the next two verses, we read the climax of the salvation plan. Picking back up in verse 37, we read:

³⁷ Then Jesus cried out in a loud voice and died. ³⁸ The curtain in the temple was split in two from top to bottom.

³⁹ When the officer who stood facing Jesus saw how he gave up his spirit, he said, “Certainly, this man was the Son of God!”

In these two verses we just finished reading, Jesus cried out in a loud voice and died, and at that exact instant, the curtain in the temple that separated the holy place from the most holy place split in two from top to bottom. It was like an angel dove to earth and ripped the thick, ornate, multiple-layers-thick curtain into two sections like it was a single sheet of paper.

The curtain splitting is symbolic of an accepted sacrifice, and it draws our attention to Jesus’ sacrifice being enough to satisfy and fulfill the whole Jewish sacrificial system. The sacrificial system in Jewish law was set up to foreshadow Jesus’ death, and while it is possible that only Jesus had actually made the connection at the time of His death, thousands of people following the resurrection would learn the symbolism after Jesus helped the disciples understand it.

However, the detail about the curtain splitting in the temple is a side-note that is added. That happened several miles away from the cross. At the moment Jesus gave up His spirit, the reaction of a Roman officer present summed up the conclusion of everyone present. This officer said to those around him, “Certainly, this man was the Son of God!”

From one of the most secular people present at the crucifixion, and likely one of the least likely to believe in Jesus, comes what is probably the most profound statement in the entire Bible. The Roman officer states without any doubt that Jesus was God’s own Son.

This officer’s declaration incriminates all those who pushed for Jesus’ arrest, trial, and death. From Judas, to the chief priests and religious leaders, to Pilate who was responsible even if he didn’t want to take responsibility, and to the guards who were following orders, after the dust had settled from this event, there was no doubt that Jesus was innocent, and that God’s Son had just been crucified.

However, while this is the climax of the salvation plan, we are ending this podcast on a sad note. At the moment this passage ends, it seems like all hope is lost.

But we know what happens next in the story. We know that just days later, the resurrection would happen – but those alive at this point didn’t realize this.

So as we conclude our podcast episode for this week, probably the biggest key that we can all take away is this: Even when it seems like all hope is gone and that evil is winning, know that victory is just around the corner and that Jesus ultimately triumphs. Even if at times it seems like Satan has the upper hand, Satan’s achievements are short lived because Jesus’ death marked God’s ultimate victory over sin.

Instead of leaving us with the typical closing challenges, let me close by simply challenging each of us to intentionally choose Jesus when we face times of hopelessness, and know that God is with us and He loves us when we are going through dark times and dark places in our lives.

On the morning He was crucified, after all the trials and sentencing, Jesus is led away to Calvary carrying His cross. On this trip to the hill where He would die, the gospel of Luke records an interesting prediction Jesus makes to some of those who were following the procession out of the city. While most people focus in on the first verse of our passage, the verses that follow are probably more significant for us living today.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 23, and we will be reading from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 26, Luke tells us that:

²⁶ As they led Jesus away, Simon, a man from Cyrene, was coming in from the fields. They forced him to carry Jesus’ cross and to walk behind him.

Pausing briefly, this part of our passage would be very tempting to focus in on. After all, Simon was probably one of the only people who got to experience the shame of carrying a cross without the death that followed. Simon is someone who was both at the worst place at the worst time, or perhaps the best place at the worst time. If it wasn’t for his presence here, he would be an unknown person in the Biblical record.

However, what comes next in Luke’s gospel is fascinating. Continuing in verse 27, Luke tells us that:

²⁷ A large crowd of people was following Jesus, including some women who were sad and crying for him. ²⁸ But Jesus turned and said to them, “Women of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ The time is coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the women who cannot have children and who have no babies to nurse.’ ³⁰ Then people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ And they will say to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ ³¹ If they act like this now when life is good, what will happen when bad times come?”

In this passage, we see Jesus predicting worse circumstances in the future when He sees people crying for what was taking place and happening to Him. On one level, this speaks to the amazing compassion Jesus had. While facing some of the worst pain and ridicule imaginable, we see Jesus focusing on others. While what Jesus says isn’t all that comforting when we look at the message, He clearly shifts the focus away from wanting or needing pity.

However, with that said, another level we can see Jesus drawing our attention to in this passage is that excessively focusing on or dwelling on what He went through isn’t productive in the long-term – especially if our focusing on this event causes us to feel sad for Jesus. We shouldn’t be sad that Jesus faced the cross; we should be glad.

While the temptation is present to believe Jesus died too young or too soon, the truth is that Jesus’ death is the only way any of us can hope to experience a life beyond the one we are currently in. When God gave up His life for us, we are able to accept the life He offers in exchange for the one we messed up. This is what Jesus accomplished. We shouldn’t feel sad that Jesus died. Instead, we should feel eternally grateful for what His death accomplished!

Looking at what Jesus describes in His message, we see a prediction of a time when people will look to those who cannot give birth and consider them blessed. I don’t know if a time like this has happened yet, or if Jesus’ prediction is still to be fulfilled, however, what He describes next makes me think Jesus is describing something that will happen immediately prior to His second coming.

When people call out for the mountains to fall on them and the hills to cover them, this sounds like the wicked people of the world realizing they picked the wrong side when Jesus returns as King. Part of me wonders if leading up to this point in history will be a point where humanity loses the ability to reproduce.

I will be the first to say that this is pure speculation. I have no idea what the final months, weeks, or days will be like leading up to Jesus’ return. However, what I do know is that Jesus’ return will catch the wicked people off guard, while being a welcome relief for God’s people.

Jesus closes with an interesting statement. In verse 31, He says, “If they act like this now when life is good, what will happen when bad times come?” Many translations describe this as a green tree verses a dry tree. The New International Version of the Bible describes Jesus’ words as, “For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

The big challenge I see in Jesus’ closing words is that when times are good and people are ridiculing, abusing, and rejecting Jesus and His followers, how much worse it will be when times in the world are not good. Hinted at here is that prior to Jesus’ return, there will be a time when the world rapidly declines – and when this decline happens, God’s people will be blamed for it.

While I don’t know what will happen, how bad things will get, or how severe the hostility towards God’s people will ultimately be, we can be certain that how they rejected Jesus when times were going good will be nothing when compared to how they will treat His followers when things are bad.

However, as a follower of Jesus, I know that regardless of what happens immediately before His return and how rejected I may be among others, my reward is in heaven and I’d rather focus on the life that is to come without sin than trying to salvage a life that has been messed up by sin.

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

Be sure to always seek God first in your life. Regardless of what happens in this life, remember that Jesus will return triumphant, and His return will signal the end of sin. Remember that Heaven is the reward for God’s people, and that nothing in this life is worth risking our future life and our future reward.

Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself because these are the two best ways to grow your relationship with God while also keeping your focus on heaven.

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

While reading Matthew’s gospel not too long ago, I ran across a powerful metaphor that I had never seen before. Thinking this metaphor may have been a typo in the translation I was reading, I cross-checked the verses in question with some other Bible translations. About half or a little over half included the idea that stood out to me, while the others simplified their translations by leaving out one key word.

I don’t fault the translators who dropped this word from their versions, mainly because it makes reading the passage a little smoother and it makes Matthew’s gospel match the other gospels. However, I am really glad for the translators who chose to include this unique detail Matthew included because it sets the stage for a powerful contrast and a powerful metaphor for everyone living throughout history.

To set up the event in our passage and our place in the gospel story, we have arrived at crucifixion morning, and the Jewish leaders have brought Jesus to Pilate to be sentenced to death. All the disciples, except for maybe John, have deserted Jesus and gone off into hiding. At this point in the weekend, Peter had already denied Jesus and all that is left is handing Jesus over to be crucified.

While all four gospels include unique versions of what happened, like I alluded to at the start of this episode, our passage for this episode comes from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 27, and we will read it using the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 15, Matthew tells us that:

¹⁵ It was the governor’s practice at the Passover Feast to let one prisoner go free. The people could choose the one they wanted. ¹⁶ At that time they had a well-known prisoner named Jesus Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when the crowd gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to set free? Jesus Barabbas? Or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸ Pilate knew that the leaders wanted to get their own way. He knew this was why they had handed Jesus over to him.

I want to pause reading here to draw our attention onto this powerful metaphor. Most every time I have read or heard the crucifixion story, the subtle detail that Barabbas was also known as a “Jesus” gets left out.

But when we read the crucifixion event with this detail included, it makes for a powerful metaphor in what Pilate challenged the people present with. In essence, Pilate says, “Choose your Jesus. Do you want Jesus Barabbas, the self-proclaimed messiah who is the military leader you believe the messiah to be, or do you want Jesus, who others call the Messiah or Christ, the one many believe has been sent from God?”

Pilate is no pushover, and he is entirely aware of why the religious leaders handed Jesus Christ over to him for crucifixion.

While this was all happening, Matthew tells us another interesting detail. Continuing in verse 19, we read,

¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him a message. It said, “Don’t have anything to do with that man. He is not guilty. I have suffered a great deal in a dream today because of him.”

²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders talked the crowd into asking for Barabbas and having Jesus put to death.

Pausing again in our reading, we see two events happening simultaneously. First Pilate gives the challenge, before taking a brief break to look at the message from his wife. While Pilate is reading the message, the chief priests and elders spread the message through their crowd of supporters to ask for Barabbas, the self-proclaimed, human, military “messiah”.

Continuing in verse 21, Pilate returns to his seat and restates the question:

²¹ “Which of the two do you want me to set free?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

²² “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

²³ “Why? What wrong has he done?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴ Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere. Instead, the crowd was starting to get angry. So he took water and washed his hands in front of them. “I am not guilty of this man’s death,” he said. “You are accountable for that!”

²⁵ All the people answered, “Put the blame for his death on us and our children!”

²⁶ Pilate let Barabbas go free. But he had Jesus whipped. Then he handed him over to be nailed to a cross.

In this passage, the religious leaders chose their Jesus, and they chose the Jesus who didn’t present a challenge to their way of life. These leaders and elders walked a thin line of support, choosing to support the government to keep the peace, but secretly supporting military initiatives that might allow for them to break free from Roman occupation.

Jesus, who was called the Christ, clearly was not Someone who fit into the first-century religious leaders’ mold for a military leader to overthrow the Romans, but Jesus-Barabbas appeared to fit their mold.

While Pilate claims innocence over Jesus’ death, what the people answer is just as powerful as our metaphor about picking between two Jesus’. The crowd answers in unison: “Put the blame for his death on us and our children!”

The people shouting were Jewish leaders of all ranks and backgrounds. However, they represent all Jews and Gentiles when they say these words. Their words represent everyone in history who has ever sinned. For everyone who has sinned since the beginning of time, we all have the blame for Jesus’ death on our hands. While the leaders appear to speak for themselves and their families taking on the blame, we all are responsible as well.

But an interesting double meaning is present in the more literal translation of the crowd’s words. In this verse of Matthew, but instead reading from the New American Standard Bible translation, the crowd responds by saying, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!”

Within the Bible, the concept of blood is not only literal, but also metaphorical. In the Bible, blood is a metaphor for life, and when the crowd said this, while they were taking the blame for Jesus’ death, they were also, unknowingly, requesting Jesus’ life to cover theirs. It is only through the metaphor of Jesus’ blood and sacrifice covering our sins that we can ever hope to achieve salvation.

We cannot save ourselves. But Jesus’ perfect life, sacrifice, and blood make it possible for us to experience salvation when we put on His life instead of ours. In a subtle way, the crowd demanding for Jesus’ crucifixion shares one of the most powerful metaphors in the whole Bible regarding how humanity can experience salvation.

So from this passage, we discover that we must choose the right Jesus. Will we choose a Jesus who is self-made, focused on self-exaltation, and who tries to push his own way? Or will we choose a Jesus who is selfless, who focused on building others up, and who died even though He was not guilty to open up the way for us to be saved? Just like the Jewish leaders faced the question, we also face the question as well.

We all share the blame for Jesus’ death because we have all sinned. But even with that stated, Jesus is willing to cover us with His blood – which is a symbol of His perfect life – when we place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him.

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

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally place Jesus Christ first in your life. While I’m sure most of us listening to this podcast have chosen Jesus Christ over Jesus Barabbas, the challenge I want to begin with is to look at your motivation for this choice. Are you motivated by what you can get, build, do, or achieve? Another way of asking this is if your decisions are based on building yourself up? If so, you may be subtly choosing Jesus Barabbas over Jesus Christ. If this is the case, let the challenge for this episode be to shift your motivation over to being more Christ-like – which is selfless and based on helping build others up. Jesus gave up everything for you and I – and He has called us to focus on being like Him.

Also, as I always challenge you in one way or another, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, and work on building up that personal relationship with God. While group relationships with God are important, so are personal relationships. If you have let either your personal relationship with God get crowded out through busyness, or if you have neglected joining with others in a bigger group relationship with God, let this episode also be a challenge to focus more intentionally on the area that is struggling the most.

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!