Reflective Bible Study

Tucked at the heart of Matthew’s gospel is a chapter filled with parables. Included in this set of parables is one that seemed to bother the disciples a little more than the others, and we can be thankful for this, because the disciples wanted clarification and they asked Jesus to explain this parable to them. We can also thank Matthew for including both the parable and Jesus’ explanation in his gospel.

Before beginning our discussion on this parable, and on Jesus’ explanation, let’s read the parable for ourselves and refresh our minds about the details that Jesus shares. This parable is found in Matthew’s gospel, in chapter 13, and we will be reading from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 24:

²⁴ Jesus told the crowd another story. “Here is what the kingdom of heaven is like,” he said. “A man planted good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came. The enemy planted weeds among the wheat and then went away. ²⁶ The wheat began to grow and form grain. At the same time, weeds appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s slaves came to him. They said, ‘Sir, didn’t you plant good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The slaves asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’

²⁹ “ ‘No,’ the owner answered. ‘While you are pulling up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the workers what to do. Here is what I will say to them. First collect the weeds. Tie them in bundles to be burned. Then gather the wheat. Bring it into my storeroom.’ ”

There are a number of key details that we should pay attention to in this parable. The owner of this field planted only good seed, and while we might simply blame nature for helping weeds get mixed into the gardens that we plant, the description Jesus gives of this field is that there were too many weeds to have occurred naturally. The owner attributes the weeds to one of his enemies. We’ll come back to this point in a moment.

When it has been discovered what happened, the workers ask if they are to go pull the weeds early to let the grain grow better and have better access to the soil nutrients and sunlight. But the owner responds that he is worried that they might pull or damage some of the grain in the process. This also is a key point to remember as well.

Lastly, when the harvest time is ready, the workers will first pull the weeds and bundle them before harvesting the grain and bringing it into the owner’s storeroom. This is a third key point for us to remember.

Let’s now read Jesus’ explanation of this parable a few verses later. Jumping back in at verse 36, Matthew continues by saying:

³⁶ Then Jesus left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him. They said, “Explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who planted the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world. The good seed stands for the people who belong to the kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. ³⁹ The enemy who plants them is the devil. The harvest is judgment day. And the workers are angels.

⁴⁰ “The weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire. That is how it will be on judgment day. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels. They will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin. They will also get rid of all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace. There people will weep and grind their teeth. ⁴³ Then God’s people will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Whoever has ears should listen.

Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat His description. Each detail of the original parable represents something. The enemy who planted the weeds is the devil, and specifically the field is the world. When reading this parable, we may be tempted to see the field as the Church, but this would be inaccurate – except to say that the more like the world the church becomes, the ratio between wheat and weeds in the church will more closely reflect the ratio of wheat to weeds that exists outside of the church.

The weeds are simply described as those who belong to the evil one, and this is a nice contrast with those who belong to the kingdom. Closer to the end of the parable, another description is given of the weeds. The last statement in verse 41, which describes God sending out His angels, describes their actions as weeding out “everything that causes sin” and getting “rid of all who do evil”. The actions of the weeds are evil actions. Nothing is said about the weeds intentions.

We could assume that an evil action will always have an evil intention behind it, but this is not always the case. The devil is a master of lies and it is possible that there are weeds that believe their intentions to be good while doing evil things.

However, one point in the parable that Jesus skips over explaining is the response the owner gives to the workers when they want to go clean up the field of weeds before the harvest. The response the owner gives is profound. Verse 29 and the first part of verse 30 tell us that the owner responds by saying, “No. While you are pulling up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.”

Perhaps the weeds that were planted would look similar to wheat while both were young or maybe the owner doesn’t trust that his servants would be careful, diligent, or observant enough to protect every stalk of wheat. The clear message, which is a very profound idea when we look closely at it, is that God does not want to risk harming any of His chosen people from an eternity-wide perspective. This might mean that His people will be injured or irritated by “weeds” in their own lives, but in the biggest picture that matters, we are able to see that even though we don’t have life easy now, God is more concerned with saving us for eternity. This parable tells us that the alternate, which isn’t an option, is risking losing some of His people with weeds that are pulled up early.

Applying this to the world today, those who are paying attention can see a growing divide between people who are growing, developing, and displaying a Christ-like character, and those who are developing and displaying characters that are not Christ-like. The biggest distinction between these two groups is where the role of self is placed. While this wasn’t as obvious in the past as it is now, when we look for this distinction today, it is becoming easier and easier to see, and it will get more obvious as we move towards the final judgment. Our role as wheat in God’s field is simple: reflect Jesus.

The last point for us to pay attention to is that while the weeds are described as those who do evil, the wheat are not contrasted by doing good. Instead, verse 43 describes God’s people as shining “like the sun in their Father’s kingdom”. While the spelling of sun in this passage is s-u-n, in God the Father’s kingdom, no s-u-n will shine as brightly as the S-o-n Son. God’s people are destined to let their lives reflect and display Jesus. This is the contrasting description, and it is a lot more significant than simply doing something good or avoiding doing evil.

As we conclude another podcast episode, here are the challenges that I will leave you with:

Don’t limit yourself by simply doing good while avoiding doing evil. Instead, focus your life on the destiny of God’s people, and don’t wait until eternity to begin reflecting Jesus. Begin reflecting Jesus today, regardless of what the weeds in your life might think.

The best way to learn how to reflect Jesus is by growing closer to Him and by learning what He is like. This is best done through prayer and studying the Bible for yourself. If you let all your Bible information filter to you through me or someone else, you are limiting yourself based on what others have learned. While learning from each other is nowhere near bad, choosing to depend on others for your spiritual life is one of the worst things you could do. Reflect Jesus by learning about Him directly from God’s 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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

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!