Reflective Bible Study

One thing I am amazed by when I read the gospels is how Jesus loved and helped people in need regardless of what cultural or society wanted to pressure Him into doing or not doing. It would seem that in Jesus’ eyes, any interpretation of the Law that wasn’t framed in a loving way could be laid aside in favor of doing some type of loving action.

In our walk through the gospels this year, we come to a great example of Jesus doing exactly this: Jesus appeared to set the Law aside in favor of loving someone who needed help. This event can be found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 13, and we will be reading it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 10:

¹⁰ Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the day of rest—a holy day. [A quick side-note I’ll insert here is that most translations simply say Jesus was teaching on the Sabbath in this verse.] ¹¹ A woman who was possessed by a spirit was there. The spirit had disabled her for 18 years. She was hunched over and couldn’t stand up straight. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her to come to him and said, “Woman, you are free from your disability.” ¹³ He placed his hands on her, and she immediately stood up straight and praised God.

¹⁴ The synagogue leader was irritated with Jesus for healing on the day of worship. The leader told the crowd, “There are six days when work can be done. So come on one of those days to be healed. Don’t come on the day of rest—a holy day.”

¹⁵ The Lord said, “You hypocrites! Don’t each of you free your ox or donkey on the day of rest—a holy day? Don’t you then take it out of its stall to give it some water to drink? ¹⁶ Now, here is a descendant of Abraham. Satan has kept her in this condition for 18 years. Isn’t it right to free her on the day of rest—a holy day?”

¹⁷ As he said this, everyone who opposed him felt ashamed. But the entire crowd was happy about the miraculous things he was doing.

When reading this event, I am amazed at the mindset of the synagogue leader. From what happens, we can conclude the synagogue leader believed Jesus to be a doctor by trade who also happened to have a great grasp of the scriptures and public speaking. If the synagogue leader didn’t like Jesus, he would not have permitted Jesus to teach at the synagogue that day, but he also didn’t believe Jesus’ occupation to be more than a physician, because when someone appears who needs healing, he classifies this as Jesus’ “work”.

This framing is interesting, because it is about the lowest bar one could have for accepting Jesus. By this point in Jesus’ ministry, the religious leaders could not deny the fact that Jesus could heal virtually any disease. Those in the temple likely were getting tired of unclean people asking to be cleared for entrance back into society – and it probably irritated some of them knowing that Jesus was behind each healing. The religious leaders could not disprove Jesus was a miracle worker – especially with regard to healing others.

However, these religious leaders did not want to take any further steps towards Jesus. They wall themselves off from the truth by simply framing Jesus as a very skilled doctor. Doctors “work” like other professionals do, and that meant that they needed to take the Sabbath off like other professional laborers did.

But when we look at Jesus’ ministry, healing was more like a hobby than a profession. While Jesus healed countless people, and exponentially more people than the Bible had room to include, Jesus seemed to focus equally on teaching the crowds about God’s kingdom, and helping give people opportunities to praise God.

Jesus came to challenge those who thought they had their lives spirituality figured out, and to love those who needed love and help. In the case of this passage, Jesus’ response to those who were upset at His healing frames God’s love perfectly. Jesus frames this healing by saying in verses 15 and 16: “Don’t each of you free your ox or donkey on the day of rest—a holy day? Don’t you then take it out of its stall to give it some water to drink? Now, here is a descendant of Abraham. Satan has kept her in this condition for 18 years. Isn’t it right to free her on the day of rest—a holy day?”

This simple challenge elevated this formerly crippled woman’s status not just to the status of healed, but Jesus points out that she is a descendant of Abraham, just like they are, and elevates her status to one of an equal member of society. In contrast, the livestock that the Jews owned probably didn’t carry the same designation. There wouldn’t be any way to truly know or track whether that synagogue leader’s ox or donkey had descended from Abraham’s ox or donkey – and it was hypocritical for the leaders to be kind to their livestock when they were not willing to be kind to one of their own.

But challenging these religious leaders was not the reason Jesus healed this woman. When we look at the context of the story, Jesus only speaks out after they show dissatisfaction for what He did. Unlike some other times we read about in the gospels, there is nothing in this passage to indicate that this miracle was a setup.

Instead, when I read this event and this miracle, I see the reason Jesus performed it hinging on the healed woman’s response to the healing. Verses 12 and 13 frame this miracle and the woman’s response perfectly: “When Jesus saw her, he called her to come to him and said, ‘Woman, you are free from your disability.’ He placed his hands on her, and she immediately stood up straight and praised God.”

We discover that the first thing the woman does following being healed is that she praises God. What better reason for healing her could there be? Jesus healed this woman because He knew she would praise God. This woman had the right focus. Jesus didn’t heal her to get credit or to get people looking at Him; He healed her so that those who were present could praise God with her!

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

As you move through life, look for opportunities where you can praise God. While you might not witness a firsthand miracle on a Sabbath day, there are plenty of other things we can be grateful and thankful to God for. When a blessing from God comes to mind, let’s give God the credit and the glory that He deserves.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God each day. Regular prayer and Bible study are two of the best ways to grow your relationship with God on a strong foundation, and we make it a personal relationship when we personally study. Pastors or podcasters can give us things to think about, but never let me or anyone else get between you and 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!

Every so often, as I am reading a portion of the gospels, a word or phrase stands out to me because I think Jesus should have said it differently. Whenever this happens to me, I must back up and reread what I was reading to make sure I didn’t simply misread what was said. Occasionally, I’ll even read a number of different translations to see if different translators happened to see the same angle, or different angles, on the text as they were translating it.

As I was preparing for this episode, I noticed an idea that seemed a little backward when compared to what I think it should be. As I was cross-checking this idea between several of the translations we often pick from for our podcast episodes, each one of them checks out this idea – giving confirmation to this slightly backward idea Jesus shares.

As I shared in the intro for this podcast, we will be reading from the gospel of Luke, chapter 12, and the translation I settled on after reviewing all the options is the New Century Version. Starting in verse 35, Jesus taught those present, saying:

³⁵ “Be dressed, ready for service, and have your lamps shining. ³⁶ Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him. ³⁷ They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them. ³⁸ Those servants will be blessed when he comes in and finds them still waiting, even if it is midnight or later.

The idea Jesus shares in this passage is one I find incredibly profound. The typical thought most people would have is if a master is coming home from a party, and he happens to be late or delayed – or even scheduled to arrive late at night – he would be tired after the long trip. The way we might think this passage should read is that the master will reward the servants for having stayed up waiting, but he would also ask them to serve him.

But this is not how any of the translations I found share this idea. They all say that as a reward for staying up and waiting for him, he will flip roles and serve them as a way to say thanks.

This is backward, but amazing; this is unexpected, but it also tells us something incredible about God’s character.

Immediately following sharing this backward idea, Jesus hits those present with the big truth He wants them to understand. Continuing in verse 39, we read:

³⁹ “Remember this: If the owner of the house knew what time a thief was coming, he would not allow the thief to enter his house. ⁴⁰ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at a time when you don’t expect him!”

The big idea in this passage hinges on Jesus’ return, but in these key verses, Jesus uses an odd metaphor to compare the situation with: Jesus compares His return to the coming of a thief.

By themselves, these two verses make for an interesting discussion.

Should we understand Jesus to be like the owner of the house or like the thief?

Is Jesus’ return one where He comes publicly or one where He comes secretly to steal His people away?

When Jesus returns, is He returning more like a homeowner who will be welcomed by His servants, or is He returning more like a thief who will steal some of this planet’s inhabitants and return home with them?

All these questions and more enter my mind when trying to unpack the meaning of verses 39 and 40:

³⁹ “Remember this: If the owner of the house knew what time a thief was coming, he would not allow the thief to enter his house. ⁴⁰ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at a time when you don’t expect him!”

Perhaps Peter also has this question in his mind because in verse 41, there is a long enough pause that Peter can jump in with a question. Peter asks, “Lord, did you tell this story to us or to all people?”

Jesus responds by saying, “Who is the wise and trusted servant that the master trusts to give the other servants their food at the right time? ⁴³ When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed. ⁴⁴ I tell you the truth, the master will choose that servant to take care of everything he owns. ⁴⁵ But suppose the servant thinks to himself, ‘My master will not come back soon,’ and he begins to beat the other servants, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. ⁴⁶ The master will come when that servant is not ready and is not expecting him. Then the master will cut him in pieces and send him away to be with the others who don’t obey.

⁴⁷ “The servant who knows what his master wants but is not ready, or who does not do what the master wants, will be beaten with many blows! ⁴⁸ But the servant who does not know what his master wants and does things that should be punished will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. And from the one trusted with much, much more will be expected.

In this second portion of our passage, Jesus answers, but doesn’t really answer Peter’s question. By not answering the question directly, it makes me believe that everyone who claims God as their Master would be included as a servant making this passage applicable to them.

As I read this, perhaps some of the cultural treatment of servants bothered you. In these verses, Jesus talks about the master cutting a servant into pieces for abusing other servants, and beating other servants for not doing what the master wanted – even if they didn’t know what the master wanted from them.

But while it is easy to get sidetracked on the cultural mistreatment of others, don’t miss Jesus’ key point in this illustration: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. And from the one trusted with much, much more will be expected.” (v. 48b)

Jesus tells us that the more we are given, and the more we have been blessed, the higher the standard He will expect from us. This might sound daunting, but what if we looked at it like this: God gave Jesus to be a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus went to the cross to pay the debt that we owed God. Because of this sacrifice, God offers us grace – amazing grace – when we did not deserve it. Because of this incredible gift God has given to us, He expects us to pay this grace forward by extending grace and forgiving others.

No, it’s not easy, but “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. And from the one trusted with much, much more will be expected.” (v. 48b)

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

While a passage like this might prompt someone to be afraid of God, choose instead to focus on what God did for you and me and then pay that grace, love, and forgiveness forward!

Also, as I always challenge you to do, prayerfully study the Bible for yourself to learn what God and Jesus are really like, because the Bible presents the best and most accurate picture of God throughout history that we have. While the Bible doesn’t shy away from parts of the Bible that paint God acting in challenging or difficult to understand ways, hold off judging God for actions we might not understand until we can ask Him personally. I suspect that God could explain every difficult action in a satisfying way if we wait to ask Him personally.

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!

One of the things that I am always amazed by is how Jesus explains challenging concepts in simple ways, all while challenging the incorrect beliefs of people who were present. Jesus also had a way of challenging groups of people without singling any one specific person out.

While all four gospels include great sections of Jesus teaching, preaching, and challenging the crowds, the passage we will be looking at in this episode covers quite a number of powerful concepts that we might not make it through them all in one episode.

So without further delay, let’s dive into what Jesus taught His followers. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will be reading from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1:

¹ Meanwhile, thousands of people had gathered. They were so crowded that they stepped on each other. Jesus spoke to his disciples and said, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees. I’m talking about their hypocrisy. ² Nothing has been covered that will not be exposed. Whatever is secret will be made known. ³ Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. Whatever you have whispered in private rooms will be shouted from the housetops.

Let’s pause reading here because it is worth focusing in on the idea Jesus just finished sharing. All too often, we have the idea that we can keep things in our lives a secret, but Jesus tells us that this is a lie. Regardless of whether you believe Jesus’ words to be true or not, we know that in this case, Jesus is sharing truth because of the following reasons:

First, if you look at the recent news, scandal after scandal is being revealed. These things happened because those who are found out to be guilty believed that their actions would remain hidden, however reality discovered their secrets. The first way Jesus’ words are true is when someone breaks the silence and exposes the secret to the world. This could happen while the guilty party is still alive or after they are dead.

Next, Jesus’ words are true because even if it is a secret known only to one, there are truly no secrets known only to one. God, the angels, Satan, and perhaps even those living on other worlds know what is happening here – even when we might think we are doing something that is 100% secret. The secrets we believe are safe will be revealed to everyone when Jesus returns and we get the opportunity to look at God’s record of judgment.

One of the subtle themes in the Bible is that God’s character is on trial because of Satan’s accusations, and while Jesus proved God’s love for each of us, God’s people will get the opportunity to look at history’s record and judge God for His choices throughout history. When we look at history’s record, no secret will stay hidden.

After challenging those present with this, Jesus continues by shifting gears and talking about focusing on eternity. He tells His followers in verse 4:

⁴ “My friends, I can guarantee that you don’t need to be afraid of those who kill the body. After that they can’t do anything more. ⁵ I’ll show you the one you should be afraid of. Be afraid of the one who has the power to throw you into hell after killing you. I’m warning you to be afraid of him.

Pausing again, regardless of what you believe about the nature of death and hell or how this translation words these verses, the clear message here is that God has the ability to determine your eternal destiny, and when faced with challenges in our present lives, they will only be temporary challenges if we choose to stay faithful to God. While remaining faithful to God is not popular in the world today, it is the only way to be safe to save for eternity!

It’s also worth noting that even if we have failed numerous times, we can choose to remain faithful from this point moving forward and God will look at our present choices over our past failures!

Jesus continues in verse 6 by shifting topics slightly again. He tells the crowd of followers:

⁶ “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two cents? God doesn’t forget any of them. ⁷ Even every hair on your head has been counted. Don’t be afraid! You are worth more than many sparrows. ⁸ I can guarantee that the Son of Man will acknowledge in front of God’s angels every person who acknowledges him in front of others. ⁹ But God’s angels will be told that I don’t know those people who tell others that they don’t know me. ¹⁰ Everyone who says something against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But the person who dishonors the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

This last verse is one of the hardest verses for me to understand in the four gospels. However, the theme Jesus shares is unmistakable: Those who publicly side with Jesus will be acknowledged by God throughout the universe, while those who keep their faith hidden or secret will lose out on this acknowledging.

While Jesus said just a few verses earlier that everything secret will be made known, the idea in these verses is that secret faith is worthless – and the implication is that those who God doesn’t acknowledge will not be saved when God’s angels gather God’s people together.

But verse 10 is perplexing: “Everyone who says something against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But the person who dishonors the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” This verse is challenging because it sounds like people are given a blank check to speak out against Jesus, because they will be forgiven, but there is a zero tolerance policy in place for those who dishonor or speak out against the Holy Spirit.

The way I understand this verse is similar to what we have hinted at a number of times in this year of podcasts already, and this idea is that we must be careful about judging things before seeing the results. If God chooses to use something that is outside of our comfort zone to bring people to Him, then chances are His Spirit is at work. If we try to discredit something God’s Spirit is trying to accomplish because we don’t believe God would do this, there is a good chance we might be guilty of dishonoring His Spirit.

It is also worth pointing out that the more we reject the Holy Spirit working in our own lives, the less clear we will be able to see the real Jesus, and the further we will drift away from Him. If dishonoring the Holy Spirit is synonymous to rejecting His Spirit in our lives, there is no way we can truly come to Jesus to be saved.

Jesus finishes the passage we are looking at by warning His followers that they will be put on trial for what they believe. He tells us in verses 11 and 12:

¹¹ “When you are put on trial in synagogues or in front of rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say. ¹² At that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say.”

As a public speaker, I know firsthand the value of preparing beforehand. I know that without preparation, my speaking will fall flat. However, I also am fully aware and embrace the fact that every single presentation I have given has gone differently than I have pictured it going in my head. The more I’ve prepared, the better the difference is, whereas the less I’ve prepared, the more I’ve felt like I flopped.

However, Jesus’ challenge is that when others accuse us or put us on trial, we should trust that the Holy Spirit will speak through us and through our defense. While I don’t believe this means we shouldn’t prepare a defense, I believe that any preparation we do should help us push aside our worry. I believe the Holy Spirit will use what we have prepared for His purposes and for His glory when we let Him. Experience has taught me to prepare and then let God speak through me and give me the exact words to say.

While there have been plenty of cases in history that those on trial for belief in Jesus have faced death, their lives and witness has carried the movement forward and their lives demonstrate what faith in God truly looks like. I have no doubt that these people will be with us in Heaven, and that their lives helped lead others to a saving relationship with God!

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

Choose to place God first in your life. Be confident about acknowledging your faith in God and in Jesus, and be proud of your belief in what Jesus has done for you. Never let someone intimidate you into being quiet about what God has done for you, because when we declare publically that we are on God’s side, God will tell His angels that we are safe to save for eternity.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow a personal relationship with God. It is through a personal relationship with God that we learn and know what He is like, and included in every strong foundation for this faith is a confidence in the promises of 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 abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

If you ever wondered if Jesus had a favorite one of the five senses, then our passage for this episode makes the case for one specific sense. I know this sounds like a random question, but it is one I recently had while studying in the gospels. All throughout the gospels, Jesus heals people who cannot see, cannot hear, cannot talk, those who have leprosy, which is a sensory disease, and if someone were to have come to Him with no sense of smell or taste, chances are Jesus would have healed them too. Jesus loved making all of our senses whole.

However, unless you are more like me than I would have thought or guessed, I suspect you never thought of asking whether Jesus had a favorite sense, and there is probably no way of really knowing for sure. But with that said, in our passage for this episode, Jesus uses one of the senses as a metaphor for describing the significance of our perspective, and with how Jesus frames this sense, a case could be made that it was His favorite, if Jesus had a favorite.

Our passage for this episode is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 11, and we will read it using the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting with verse 33, Jesus taught those present, saying:

³³ “No one lights a lamp and hides it. No one puts it under a bowl. Instead, they put a lamp on its stand. Then those who come in can see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is like a lamp for your body. Suppose your eyes are healthy. Then your whole body also is full of light. But suppose your eyes can’t see well. Then your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ So make sure that the light inside you is not darkness. ³⁶ Suppose your whole body is full of light. And suppose no part of it is dark. Then your body will be full of light. It will be just as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

I am always amazed when reading passages like this one how Jesus is able to speak on multiple levels simultaneously. Not only are His words literally true, they are symbolically true as well.

The key phrase that unlocks the symbolism in this passage is the metaphor at the beginning of verse 34. Jesus says, “Your eye is like a lamp for your body.” This connects the idea of lighting a lamp and not hiding it with the idea about how healthy eyes help light our whole body.

In a literal sense, when we cannot see well, everything is blurry and if our eyesight is really bad, often called blindness, things would be dark. Perhaps this teaching came following Jesus healing some physically blind people, or maybe Jesus could tell there were some spiritually blind people in the crowd that needed direction.

However, when talking about blindness, it is easy to understand physical blindness, but what about spiritual blindness? How should we define or explain spiritual blindness?

In a symbolic sense, our eyesight can also mean what we choose to focus on. Our eyes are like a lamp for our body and mind because they allow us to see the things we are paying attention to. When our focus and perspective is healthy, our bodies and minds will be full of light and we will have spiritual health. But on the flipside, when our focus and perspective is unhealthy, our bodies and minds will be full of darkness and we will be spiritually sick. This is one simple way to describe spiritual blindness verses spiritual sight.

After sharing this description, Jesus says something that always jumps out at me when I read His words in this passage. In verse 35, He says, “So make sure that the light inside you is not darkness.”

Don’t miss the implications Jesus is saying here. In a literal sense, darkness is simply the absence of light, and when I turn a lamp on in my home, the darkness is reduced. In the literal sense, darkness is weaker than light simply because when the light comes on, it wins and there is less darkness.

In a spiritual sense, darkness seems to have more power than it does literally in the physical world. In our own lives, and in the things we focus on, we are able to focus on something that we really want, or something that we really need, but ultimately learn later that it was not or would not have been a blessing in the end.

In our spiritual lives, it is incredibly important for us to discern light from darkness, though really we could simply say it is important for us to discerning truth from error, because in our lives, we will begin to see more of the things we focus on.

Jesus tells us to “make sure that the light inside you is not darkness.” If left unchecked, we might believe the dimness or darkness inside of us is really light, and seek to spread it. I am probably as guilty as anyone else for wanting to spread what I have learned and discovered, but if I do so without checking these discoveries next to what I see written in the Bible, I could end up spreading darkness.

Darkness, which we could parallel with lies, is in many ways easier to spread than the truth. Darkness and lies are sometimes easier to believe than the truth as well. However, in every single case, the truth will come out. Lies trap those who started the lie because they must remember both the truth and the lie. Lies ultimately kill the reputation of anyone who started or spread the lie when the truth is finally found out. Lies trap us under the weight of the lie itself.

In contrast, the truth sets us free.

Lying delays the results of our poor actions – and this delay adds interest to the results. The truth can be risky to tell and it may cause pain in the moment, but following the pain, those involved are able to move on. Lying adds interest to the pain the truth will cause while delaying the inevitable outcome.

“Make sure that the light inside you is not darkness.”

Jesus’ words here are significant because when we believe and spread lies, we are spreading darkness, and while we might think this darkness is light, it can only be true light if it is leading people into a deeper relationship with God.

The spark of light that God has placed in each of our hearts is important for us to pay attention to. This spark says that we have been created for a purpose, we are special to God, and that we cannot do it on our own. Some people run from their spark, but in my own life, I want to fan the flame and let it grow.

With that said, here are the challenges I will leave you with at the end of this podcast episode:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and pay attention to how you see Him. Choose to move towards Him and seek to discover the light that He has revealed to you when you study His Word and grow closer to Him.

Also, as I challenge you in one way or another every episode, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to help you discern God’s light from the world’s darkness. Don’t run from the spark God has placed in your heart. Instead, choose to fan the flame God has placed in your heart and let it grow.

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 walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!