Reflective Bible Study

As the gospels move into the week of Jesus’ crucifixion, the week begins with a spectacular event where Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. However, before this event can happen, Jesus must acquire a donkey. To do this, He sends two of His disciples on a special mission.

The first three gospels tell us this event. Reading from Mark’s gospel, chapter 11, and using the New Century Version, let’s discover what happened. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us:

¹ As Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers ² and said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a colt tied, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here to me. ³ If anyone asks you why you are doing this, tell him its Master needs the colt, and he will send it at once.”

⁴ The followers went into the town, found a colt tied in the street near the door of a house, and untied it. ⁵ Some people were standing there and asked, “What are you doing? Why are you untying that colt?” ⁶ The followers answered the way Jesus told them to answer, and the people let them take the colt.

⁷ They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it, and Jesus sat on it.

This event is amazing in my mind. Jesus gives these two disciples a task to borrow a young donkey and had there not been anyone present, it would have looked like a theft. Even the answer Jesus tells the disciples to give if asked is a little cryptic, since the Master is very vague, though it’s possible, perhaps even probable that something is lost in translation in the way Jesus phrases this response.

Part of me wonders if this young donkey was being watched by someone while the owner was away on a long trip. This would allow for the response the disciples gave to make a little sense – since the donkey did not belong to the people who were watching it. But nothing in our English translation of this passage hints that this was the case.

From a simple reading of this event, the conclusion I have to reach is that the owner of the donkey, or at least the servants who were tasked with watching over the donkey, had the mindset that everything they had was God’s. The word used in this verse that has been translated as “Master” is in other translations of the Bible been translated as “Lord” – which in some cases could mean the rightful owner of an object, or it could mean God.

The word itself has the appearance of humility and service, because those who use it imply that they are obeying a higher authority and not just their own desires.

In order for the servants to let these two disciples take the animal, they would have needed to trust God and seen the donkey as God’s. While there is nothing in the gospels to imply this, it is also possible that they had recently dedicated the donkey to God – and now two disciples arrive saying that God has need for their animal.

If we didn’t know the story better, we might ask the question about why it was important for Jesus to have a donkey or donkey’s colt in the first place. If we read Matthew’s gospel, chapter 21, verse 5, he draws our attention onto the significance of the donkey when he quotes an Old Testament prophet who said:

⁵ “Tell the people of Jerusalem,
    ‘Your king is coming to you.
He is gentle and riding on a donkey,
    on the colt of a donkey.’”

The donkey was important because it was prophesied that Jesus would enter Jerusalem on a donkey, and specifically on the colt of a donkey. While other kings entered their capital cities on warhorses or strong animals, Jesus wrote into prophecy that He would ride into His city on the weakest of animals that could still be ridden as a symbol of His gentle leadership.

But even while the donkey’s colt is significant because of prophecy, I still am amazed at the donkey’s owners. In their actions, I see a challenge for all of us to not hold on too tightly to the things that God has entrusted us with. Even though Jesus was borrowing the colt for only a day, there is no record of the disciples paying money to lease or rent the animal for that period of time.

In our own lives, God may call us to give or loan something of ours to someone else who needs it. If, or when this happens, it is a mistake to believe the item is really ours. In reality, everything belongs to God, and that includes things, animals, and even people. By simply existing, you and I belong to God.

This means that if God asks to borrow something, or if He asks us to give something away, we can either say yes, or He can simply take it.

A simple example is with how my wife and I helped our daughter learn to throw trash away when she was very young. First, we would ask her to throw the trash away. Often this was the only prompting she needed. However, sometimes we started counting, and when we reached the number we had chosen to count to, we took the trash away from her and threw it away ourselves. If this happened, she was upset, but she had every chance of giving up the piece of trash herself.

Sometimes this is how God interacts with us. Sometimes we have a tight hold on something that God wants us to let go of. God can prompt us to let go of it, but if we choose to not let go, then life might begin to get tough until we choose to let it go, or God may simply take it away.

Just like our daughter, if God takes something we are holding onto away from us, we get upset. However, while we can dwell on our anger against God for taking that thing away, know that God has something in mind for that thing. The best path forward is to accept God knows something we don’t and to start fresh with what we still have.

Before closing out the episode, I want to acknowledge that sometimes bad things happen in our lives that God is not behind. Sometimes loved ones die or are taken from us and there is no way of rationalizing what happened as being part of God’s will. Sometimes natural disasters strike and thousands die for no apparent reason.

Death is not part of God’s perfect plan, but often He gets to work around the pain and death that sin has infected the world with. While God could stop sin in its tracks, in the age we are living in, He has chosen instead to walk with us through the trials and pain. Sometimes He will step in to fix things, but other times, He will simply walk alongside us and bring peace into our lives.

If you have faced loss that doesn’t make sense, or if you have experienced the pain of sin, know this truth: If you are walking with Jesus, you will outlive sin. By walking with Jesus, having placed your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him, your life will be saved for eternity – and in the age that follows the one we are in, sin will be eliminated and life will again be perfect as God had intended it to be.

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

As I always open by challenging you to do, seek God first in your life and intentionally choose to walk with God and place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus. When sin attacks your life, lean into Jesus and know the truth that with Jesus, you will outlast sin!

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn the truth that God wants to share with you personally. Studying the Bible is one of the best ways to grow your relationship with God and invite Him into your life.

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!

As Jesus was approaching Jerusalem leading up to His death, there was anticipation in the group of followers that something big would happen. While they were not wrong believing something big was coming, they were a little off with how they understood the timetable of prophecy.

To help give those listening a better perspective, Jesus decides to tell them a parable to help them reframe their expectations, and this parable is what our passage for this episode will cover. Both Matthew and Luke share similar parables, but there are enough unique differences in each that make me think that Jesus shared two similar parables on two different occasions rather than one parable that was heard in two significantly different ways.

For our episode, we will be looking at Luke’s gospel, and the parable Jesus shared with the crowd. Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 19, and we will read if from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 11, Luke tells us that:

¹¹ While the people were listening to these things, Jesus told them a story. He was near Jerusalem. The people thought that God’s kingdom was going to appear right away. ¹² Jesus said, “A man from an important family went to a country far away. He went there to be made king and then return home. ¹³ So he sent for ten of his slaves. He gave them each about three months’ pay. ‘Put this money to work until I come back,’ he said.

¹⁴ “But those he ruled over hated him. They sent some messengers after him. They were sent to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

¹⁵ “But he was made king and returned home. Then he sent for the slaves he had given the money to. He wanted to find out what they had earned with it.

¹⁶ “The first one came to him. He said, ‘Sir, your money has earned ten times as much.’

¹⁷ “ ‘You have done well, my good slave!’ his master replied. ‘You have been faithful in a very small matter. So I will put you in charge of ten towns.’

¹⁸ “The second slave came to his master. He said, ‘Sir, your money has earned five times as much.’

¹⁹ “His master answered, ‘I will put you in charge of five towns.’

²⁰ “Then another slave came. He said, ‘Sir, here is your money. I have kept it hidden in a piece of cloth. ²¹ I was afraid of you. You are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in. You harvest what you did not plant.’

²² “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you evil slave! So you knew that I am a hard man? You knew that I take out what I did not put in? You knew that I harvest what I did not plant? ²³ Then why didn’t you put my money in the bank? When I came back, I could have collected it with interest.’

²⁴ “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his money away from him. Give it to the one who has ten times as much.’

²⁵ “ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten times as much!’

²⁶ “He replied, ‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more. But here is what will happen to anyone who has nothing. Even what they have will be taken away from them. ²⁷ And what about my enemies who did not want me to be king over them? Bring them here! Kill them in front of me!’ ”

In this parable, we have a number of different things we can focus on. However, for the sake of this episode, and wanting to keep it to a manageable length, let’s focus on two of the really big picture themes that this parable teaches.

The first theme is that the important man who left on a journey came back as king. This man went to become king, and he returned as king. This detail is important for us to focus on because Jesus represents this man who left to become king. Jesus stepped down to this earth, and then down again into death, because His nature is one of stepping down. God the Father balances this characteristic out by lifting Jesus up.

It is interesting that in Luke’s version of this parable, we discover that this man has enemies and people who would prefer to not see this man become king. They send messengers and people to plead their case, desiring probably any other king in this man’s place; but regardless of what happened, this man becomes king in spite of his enemies desires.

Applying this parable to Jesus’ ministry and His role in the world, it doesn’t surprise anyone to learn that Jesus had enemies. While there wasn’t really anything to not like about Jesus, those who were interesting in building themselves up really didn’t get along with Him because Jesus pushed back against their self-serving attitudes.

Jesus had enemies because He wasn’t the sort of leader who was impressed by ambitious ladder-climbing individuals. Those who wanted to climb the latter of spiritual hierarchy did not have an ally in Jesus.

However, circling back to the big truth we learn in this parable is that regardless of what Jesus’ enemies wished to happen, Jesus is made king. This detail is not up for debate.

We then are left with a challenging conclusion: Knowing that Jesus will ultimately return as king, it would be unwise to be one of His enemies.

I don’t know if the time when Jesus returns will mark the time when it is too late to change allegiances, but what I do know is that when Jesus returns as king, the fate of those who have decided to be His enemies is not positive.

This leads us to the second big truth we can learn from this parable. While some people have openly sided against Jesus, we know from other portions of the gospels that Jesus is willing to forgive them. In other parts of the gospels, we learn that Jesus promises to forgive those who speak out against Him.

When we combine the details that Jesus has not returned yet, that He will return as King regardless of our wishes, and that He has promised to forgive those who have spoken against Him while He was away, we can conclude that now is the perfect time to ask for forgiveness and to ally with Jesus.

There is not a better time than now to side with Jesus, because we don’t know when later will be too late. We truly don’t know when the door to changing our decision will close. It might close at the end of our lives, whenever that is for each of us, or Jesus could return and close the door personally.

While we could then shift our focus onto the servants or slaves and what they accomplished, that is the perfect subject for another podcast. The big thing we can take away from the themes we focused on in this podcast is that we should be fruitful for God while we are allied with Jesus. The worst thing we can do is nothing.

So with these thoughts in mind, let’s close this podcast episode with some challenges to apply into our lives:

Whether you’ve chosen to ally with Jesus yet or not, be sure to make your choice before it is too late. Since we don’t know when that is, it would be better to choose today. While this goes without saying for most of us listening, be sure to chose to ally with Jesus, because He has already won. And with our decision for Jesus, be sure to be fruitful in your life with the blessings that God has given to us.

Also, because it is very important for every follower of Jesus to do, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself, because through prayer and Bible study, we can grow our personal relationship with God. While other believers can give you ideas to think about, don’t let a pastor, blogger, podcaster, or anyone else get between you and God. Test everything you hear with what you read in the Bible, and only if the Bible supports it should you believe it.

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 read through Jesus’ life from the gospels, frequently we find events that are both powerful and relatable. The miracle present in our passage for this week is no exception. When we look at the background details surrounding this event, I can’t help but chuckle a little at the crowd of people following Jesus.

With that said, let’s read this event from the gospels, and as we read it together, pay attention to the crowd’s actions and reactions in each of the stages of this event and miracle. Our passage is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 10, and we will read it using the Good News Translation. Also, at the end of this passage, I will pull in Luke’s closing verse for this event, since Luke includes a detail that Mark doesn’t include.

Mark, chapter 10, starting in verse 46, tells us that:

⁴⁶ They came to Jericho, and as Jesus was leaving with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting by the road. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸ Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called the blind man. “Cheer up!” they said. “Get up, he is calling you.”

⁵⁰ So he threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.

⁵¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

“Teacher,” the blind man answered, “I want to see again.”

⁵² “Go,” Jesus told him, “your faith has made you well.”

At once he was able to see and followed Jesus on the road.

That is how Mark concludes this miracle. Luke’s gospel ends this event with a little more detail. Luke chapter 18, verse 43 concludes this event by saying, “At once he was able to see, and he followed Jesus, giving thanks to God. When the crowd saw it, they all praised God.”

With Mark and Luke’s gospels painting a picture of this miracle for us, did you notice how the crowd’s reaction changed and progressed?

At the start of our passage, as Bartimaeus is sitting along the side of the road, some of those passing by inform him that Jesus is on His way by. Bartimaeus knows this probably is his only chance to be healed, so he begins shouting to get Jesus’ attention.

The first reaction the crowd gives is unsympathetic rejection. They completely miss the possibility that Jesus could perform a miracle in their midst, and they would prefer if this blind person would be quiet rather than shouting over Jesus who may have been sharing one of His fascinating parables.

Too often, we are like the crowd. When we are with friends or focused on a task, unless the culture of our friends or the nature of our task is to help people, we are quick to discount, dismiss, and ultimately miss the opportunity to change a life. Had the crowd got its way, everyone present would have missed a miracle.

The second reaction the crowd gives is acceptance. This comes when they realize that Jesus has heard the shouts of the blind man. The crowd accepts the man only after Jesus stopped and gave focus to the situation at hand.

Again, we are like the crowd in this phase of our event. Too often, we only decide to pay attention to something or someone after a friend brings it up in conversation. Instead of actively looking for opportunities to include others, we wait for someone else to take the lead with inviting. Perhaps this is based on growing up in a society of peer pressure, but whatever the cause is, the result is that we become people who are more focused on simply being liked by others rather than people who are known.

The sad part of many people’s lives in this culture is that they don’t know who they are because they have lived to please others for so long.

The third reaction the crowd gives following the miracle is praise. This is why I brought Luke’s conclusion in, because after Bartimaeus was healed, he praised God, and the crowd praised God with him. At the conclusion of this event, the crowd realizes they were blessed by what happened and they ultimately realize that they were able be a small part of a life being changed.

We are like the crowd at the conclusion of this event because too often, we will drag our feet when trying something new only to learn that we actually enjoy it. Whether it is trying a new restaurant, playing a new game, or even finding someone to be a friend, the fear of the unknown can stop us in our tracks if we let it. Almost always, if we let the fear of the unknown stop us, we later realize this was a mistake and we ultimately miss out.

While the crowd was a crowd full of followers, Bartimaeus was a natural leader. Bartimaeus ignores the crowd when they tell Him to be quiet. The crowd’s scolding is seen in Bartimaeus’ mind as a challenge. When Jesus calls for Bartimaeus to come, Bartimaeus jumps up and runs to Jesus without any hesitation. In response to Jesus asking Bartimaeus what He can do for him, Bartimaeus replies instantly that he wants to see again. And at the conclusion of this event, after being healed, Bartimaeus leads the crowd in giving praise to God.

We can learn from both the crowd in this event as well as from Bartimaeus, the formerly blind man. Too often, it is the challenges that come into our lives that help refine us into being leaders instead of being followers. By overcoming trials, we learn that what culture says is normal is most likely bad for us in the long term. Our culture today lives for the moment, and very few people think about the long term results. This event helps remind us – or at least it reminds me – that trials can been seen as blessings, and that we won’t ever know what we are capable of unless we step out and push past our fear.

Bartimaeus pushed past his fear of rejection and he was healed because of it. I suspect that if a group of people did this in a real way, today, living over 2,000 years after this miracle, we might witness a revival that would transform the world through the power of the Holy Spirit in a similar way that the original 12 disciples did when they worked with the Holy Spirit to transform their world. At the very least, stepping out in faith to confront our fears with the Holy Spirit’s help and eternity as our goal is definitely worth a try!

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

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally put God first in your life and purposefully choose to push past your fear of the unknown. Never let fear of the unknown stop you from stepping out in faith. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan, but it does mean that you don’t over plan or overanalyze your way out of a decision. With God, we are called to plan what we can and then step forward in faith.

Also, as I always challenge you by saying in one way or another, always pray and study the Bible for yourself, never taking my word or anyone else’s word at face value for what the Bible teaches. With eternity at stake, the Bible is worth looking into personally rather than accepting or rejecting it based upon someone else’s opinion.

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 approach the big event that all the gospels focus in on, otherwise known as the crucifixion, some people believe that the events of crucifixion weekend came as a surprise to both Jesus and His disciples. However, people who believe Jesus was surprised about his upcoming death are not very familiar with the gospel record.

Numerous times, Jesus tried to prepare the disciples for what was coming, and it would appear as though Jesus’ words fell on deaf ears. The passage we are focusing in on in this episode is one such time where we find Jesus trying to warn His disciples about His crucifixion and what would happen soon.

Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will be reading it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 31:

³¹ Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. ³² He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; ³³ they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

³⁴ The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

In this short, four-verse passage, we find Jesus clearly telling His followers about His upcoming arrest, His death, and His resurrection; and we see that the disciples didn’t understand any of what He was saying.

Luke’s gospel shares an interesting detail, and this is that the meaning of what Jesus was sharing was “hidden from them”.

The implication of this idea is that God hid the meaning of Jesus’ words from them. While I don’t know why He might have done this, I wonder if it had to do with God wanting the disciples to ask the challenging questions about what would happen.

In the first century, the whole Jewish culture was eagerly looking forward for a messiah to lead them out from being under Roman rule. The messiah they saw the scriptures predicting was one who would lead them to victory and who would last forever. Whether the prophecies about a suffering messiah were misunderstood, or whether they discounted their significance, the last thing on anyone’s mind was that the Messiah God would send would be jointly killed by both Jews and Gentiles.

But Jesus came and He was teaching this alternate view of prophecy. It took Jesus’ death and resurrection to break the preconceived ideas about the Messiah from the disciples’ minds. I don’t believe that God desired the message Jesus was sharing with His followers to be ignored or discounted; I believe God wanted Jesus’ disciples to ask for more information, and to learn from Jesus about what the scriptures said was to take place.

Jesus hints at this when He says in verse 31, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.” While Jesus then describes what will happen, we know that more things happened than Jesus decided to share here. I wonder if Jesus touched on the big points, but really wanted the disciples to ask for more details. It would have been amazing if one of the disciples had been brave enough to push past the confusion to ask Jesus what all was written by the prophets about Him. If one of the disciples had asked Jesus some further clarifying questions, I believe the crucifixion weekend wouldn’t have found the disciples hiding in the upper room for fear of being killed next.

Instead, if one of the disciples had given Jesus an opening, I believe He would have shared with them similar to how He shared with the two disciples walking to Emmaus following Jesus’ resurrection.

It is also interesting in my mind to hear people talk about how Jesus’ death was a surprise to Him. It is as though Judas Iscariot was able to pull off the greatest betrayal in history without Jesus being aware He was being duped.

However, what we find here in this passage is that Jesus knows Jerusalem is where He will face His death before Judas Iscariot even knows He will be the betrayer. Jesus knows exactly what will happen, including His resurrection just days later. Nothing about that trip startled Him, surprised Him, or caused Him to back away from the entire reason He came.

Jesus came to this earth to give His life for us, and He came to help us see how much the Father loves each of us!

In our own lives, with all the challenges, struggles, and problems we face, we can look to this passage and know that even if we don’t understand what is going to happen, God knows, and He is more than happy to walk with us through the struggles we face in this life. God has a bigger perspective and His perspective is saving us for eternity!

Also, we can know from this passage that God doesn’t want us to be surprised by the future. He wants us to know that He knows what will happen, and regardless of the state of the world, He is in control and leading history towards the end of sin and eternity for His people!

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

As we move through life, be sure to seek God first and to trust Him, believe His promises, and to depend on Him for help facing the struggles of this life. Ask Him to help us see His perspective, and to see things with an eternity focus.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself in order to grow your personal relationship with Jesus.

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!