Reflective Bible Study

After one of the most famous miracles in Jesus’ ministry, we discover a second miracle that happened that night. While the famous miracle where Jesus fed a crowd of over 5,000 people prompted the disciples to believe more fully that Jesus was the Messiah, the miracle that happened that night challenged their impression of Jesus even more.

Immediately following having the disciples collect the leftover bread from the feeding of the 5,000, we come to our passage for this episode. While this event is included in all 4 gospels, let’s read what happened from Mark’s gospel to discover some things Mark chose to focus on. With that said, our passage for this episode is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Jumping into the event in verse 45, we read that:

⁴⁵ Jesus quickly made his disciples get into a boat and cross to Bethsaida ahead of him while he sent the people away. ⁴⁶ After saying goodbye to them, he went up a mountain to pray. ⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸ Jesus saw that they were in a lot of trouble as they rowed, because they were going against the wind. Between three and six o’clock in the morning, he came to them. He was walking on the sea. He wanted to pass by them. ⁴⁹ When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought, “It’s a ghost!” and they began to scream. ⁵⁰ All of them saw him and were terrified.

Immediately, he said, “Calm down! It’s me. Don’t be afraid!” ⁵¹ He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped blowing. The disciples were astounded. ⁵² (They didn’t understand what had happened with the loaves of bread. Instead, their minds were closed.)

⁵³ They crossed the sea, came to shore at Gennesaret, and anchored there.

This miracle is amazing in my mind. We read that as soon as Jesus steps into the boat, the wind, which had been blowing against them, simply stopped. While other gospel writers include Peter’s big water walk during this event, Mark’s gospel ignores this detail while instead adding some details about what happens after they landed the following morning.

However, I paused reading our passage here because Mark’s gospel also chose to include the side-note about the disciples’ minds being closed. With the amazing miracle of the loaves of bread, and the astonishing miracle of the calm sea, we discover that the disciples’ minds were closed to understanding the significance of these miracles.

This detail challenges me to wonder if my mind is ever closed to what God wants to teach me. If those who were the closest to Jesus while He was alive on earth had their minds closed, who am I to believe that my mind could not fall into a similar trap.

While I read these two miracles, I cannot escape the detail that each miracle points to Jesus being the promised Messiah, and that Jesus is God. In the Old Testament, we find one of the prophets, Elisha, feeding 100 people in a miraculous way. For those of you who are curious, this relatively unknown event happens at the end of 2 Kings, chapter 4.

While I don’t know if the minds of the disciples were closed to seeing this connection, or if their minds were closed to seeing anything but this connection, the connections are mind-boggling. When looking at 2 Kings, chapter 4, we discover a miracle where oil is multiplied and it allows a widow to pay her debts. This miracle in some ways echoes Jesus turning water into wine, which was Jesus’ first miracle.

Also in chapter 4 of 2 Kings, we find a miracle where the prophet Elisha raises a child back to life. In Jesus’ life and ministry, there are several instances where Jesus raised a child back to life, and I imagine that many of those present saw this connection between Jesus’ ministry and Elisha’s.

Another notable miracle in Elisha’s ministry is making an axe head float. This miracle happens a couple chapters later in 2 Kings chapter 6. In Jesus’ ministry, we just read about Him making Himself “float” as He walked on the water. Peter even gets to experience this miracle when reading about this event in a different gospel.

I don’t know if what we see described in Mark’s gospel about the disciples minds being closed relates to them not seeing these connections to Elisha’s ministry, or if they could not see that Jesus came to fulfill more than what Elisha had accomplished. Whatever the case is, if those closest to Jesus fell into the trap of being closed-minded, we should be extra cautious about being closed-minded as well.

With all that said, Mark includes another set of details about what happens when Jesus and the disciples reach the shore. Picking back up in verse 54, we learn that:

⁵⁴ As soon as they stepped out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵ They ran all over the countryside and began to carry the sick on cots to any place where they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Whenever he would go into villages, cities, or farms, people would put their sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.

The last phrase in this passage jumped off the page at me when I read this. Mark tells us that those who were sick begged Jesus to “let them touch the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.”

Just a couple of weeks ago, we talked about a woman who snuck up to Jesus believing that if she just touched the edge of His clothes, she would be made well. When I read this passage in Mark’s gospel, I couldn’t help but wonder if the news about the woman’s almost secret miracle had spread like wildfire, causing people to believe that they simply needed to touch Jesus’ clothing to be healed.

The way Mark’s passage concludes, we learn that even though the disciples struggled with closed minds regarding who Jesus was, those who were sick didn’t let doubt about Jesus get in the way of their faith that He could heal them. Jesus honored the faith of those present by letting them be healed simply by touching His clothing, because Jesus knew that this faith would grow into a life-saving belief in Him.

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

Be sure to place your faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus does not worry about how or why we place our faith in Him, but simply that we place our faith in Him. While we might be tempted to over-think what it means to place our belief in Jesus, in the context of how our passage concludes, faith in Jesus simply means trusting that He will help us and/or heal us in the ways we need help and healing.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself because through it, the Holy Spirit will teach you way more than any author, pastor, or podcaster ever could.

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 doubt your way out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

While the gospel record focuses on Jesus’ life and the lives of those He helped and taught, periodically, a gospel writer will insert a side-note about something else that happened during Jesus’ life that wasn’t entirely connected to Jesus. Our passage for this podcast episode includes one such side-note – or in this case we could call it a “side-story”.

In a number of our episodes during this year of podcasting, we have focused in on the ministry of John the Baptist, and on how his ministry paved the way for Jesus’ ministry. However, John’s ministry was different from Jesus’ ministry, and perhaps because the gospel writers’ knew John’s ministry and Jesus’ ministries were connected, a few of them deviate from Jesus’ story to tell us what ultimately happened to John the Baptist.

Let’s read the passage and find out what happened to John the Baptist. Our passage is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 9, and we will read it from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 14, Mark tells us that:

¹⁴ King Herod heard about Jesus, because he was now well known. Some people said, “He is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead. That is why he can work these miracles.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”

Other people said, “Jesus is a prophet, like the prophets who lived long ago.”

¹⁶ When Herod heard this, he said, “I killed John by cutting off his head. Now he has risen from the dead!”

¹⁷ Herod himself had ordered his soldiers to arrest John and put him in prison in order to please his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother, but then Herod had married her. ¹⁸ John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to be married to your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ So Herodias hated John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn’t, ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew John was a good and holy man. Also, though John’s preaching always bothered him, he enjoyed listening to John.

Let’s pause reading the passage because I want to point out two things I find interesting so far.

The first thing I find interesting about this passage is how Mark weaves John’s story into Jesus’ story through Herod’s statement when He hears about Jesus. Mark doesn’t break from Jesus’ story without giving us a transition to let us know a brief summary of what had prompted John the Baptist to end up in prison, and, as we will soon read, what eventually lead to John’s head being detached from his body.

The other statement that stood out to me in this section of the passage is the last portion of verse 20, where Mark tells us, “. . . though John’s preaching always bothered him [and this is king Herod], he enjoyed listening to John.”

This statement probably stands out for similar reasons as the other one, because it tells me that John’s preaching was intriguing enough to be interesting and enjoyable, but truthful enough to make the region’s leadership uncomfortable. From how Mark frames John the Baptist’s preaching, we can conclude that John was an excellent communicator who knew how to share a message in a way that taught truth while also being engaging to those who were listening.

Let’s continue reading from verse 21 and learn what happened to John the Baptist:

²¹ Then the perfect time came for Herodias to cause John’s death. On Herod’s birthday, he gave a dinner party for the most important government leaders, the commanders of his army, and the most important people in Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and the people eating with him.

So King Herod said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³ He promised her, “Anything you ask for I will give to you—up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴ The girl went to her mother and asked, “What should I ask for?”

Her mother answered, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵ At once the girl went back to the king and said to him, “I want the head of John the Baptist right now on a platter.”

²⁶ Although the king was very sad, he had made a promise, and his dinner guests had heard it. So he did not want to refuse what she asked. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent a soldier to bring John’s head. The soldier went and cut off John’s head in the prison ²⁸ and brought it back on a platter. He gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When John’s followers heard this, they came and got John’s body and put it in a tomb.

While King Herod disliked John, he knew that killing John was not wise politically, because John had a decent level of support still among the Jews living in his region, but Herod’s wife hated John because of John’s stance that their marriage was not acceptable or as the passage puts it in verse 18: “lawful”.

However, the queen found her opening through a somewhat blind, open-ended, blank check that Herod gave to her daughter following a dance. Before continuing further, I won’t claim to know what sort of dance this would have been to have pleased Herod so much that he would be willing to part with half his kingdom, but chances are high that he was drunk and this significantly limited his ability to reason that a promise of this nature was a bad idea.

However, Herodias and her daughter were not drunk, and the queen was very quick and calculated in her response through her girl. As I say this, I can’t help but notice that this passage makes a clear distinction that the girl who danced before Herod was Herodias’ daughter, which probably meant that this was a product of Herodias’ marriage to Herod’s brother Philip. This would make the girl who is not named in this passage Herod’s niece. This detail in part explains her loyalty to her mother that was greater than her loyalty to the king.

However, even with all the nuances within the details of this passage, we cannot help but stumble upon some big truths worth paying attention to in this passage. Through the details we know about the end of John’s life, we can discover and learn both a warning and a promise.

The warning comes from Herod’s perspective. This warning is a warning to be cautious about the words that we speak and the promises we make. We may back ourselves into a corner if we are not careful, which results in us pushing ourselves to do something we really didn’t want to do.

However, the promise we can learn in this passage comes from John’s perspective. The promise we discover is that regardless of what happens to my body in this life, God has promised full protection for my future life with Him. While nothing can happen in my present life that He has not allowed, I can understand that whatever happens to me in the present life is insignificant when compared to the future life He has promised me.

With this warning and promise stated, and as we have 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 seek God first in your life. Remember the warning and the promise that we can learn from Herod and from John. Purposefully be cautious of the words you say and the promises you make, and remember that with whatever happens to you in this life, God has promised protection in your future life as a follower of Jesus.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do in one way or another, make prayer and personal Bible study a regular habit. Always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn what being a follower of Jesus really means. Through studying the Bible, discover who Jesus is and why following Him is important! You won’t get a better answer or reason to follow Jesus than what is found when looking at His life within the Bible and the four gospels.

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!

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, we learn that He sends His disciples out in pairs to tell others about what God was doing in their midst. While we don’t know any specific events that happened during the disciples’ mission trips, we do know that their outreach was a success – but more important than the success of their trips are things we can learn when we look closely at what Jesus tells them as He sends them out to witness for Him.

Our passage for this event is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 6, and we will be reading it from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 7:

⁷ [Jesus] called the 12 disciples to him. Then he began to send them out two by two. He gave them authority to drive out evil spirits.

⁸ Here is what he told them to do. “Take only a walking stick for your trip. Do not take bread or a bag. Take no money in your belts. ⁹ Wear sandals. But do not take extra clothes. ¹⁰ When you are invited into a house, stay there until you leave town. ¹¹ Some places may not welcome you or listen to you. If they don’t, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet. That will be a witness against the people living there.”

¹² They went out. And they preached that people should turn away from their sins. ¹³ They drove out many demons. They poured olive oil on many sick people and healed them.

From these few verses, we can learn quite a bit. First, it is interesting that Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs. This is significant because it is easy for one person to feel fear and chicken out of a task when they are alone. However, even if both people are scared and would chicken out if solo, when paired up with someone else, they both are more likely to follow through because they are not alone.

We can learn that if you have been living a spiritual live outside of a community and isolated from others, or if your only spiritual connections are online, you are limiting your growth potential. We are created to live in community with others and while I don’t know your exact circumstances or situation, finding at least one person you can spiritually grow with is important.

While common logic would suggest that each of the 12 disciples could have covered more area if they traveled solo, I remember reading that research has shown that their outreach wouldn’t have been nearly as successful or as effective.

Perhaps Jesus knew this characteristic of humanity, but it is also possible that Jesus wanted to emphasize another subtle truth we learn elsewhere in the gospels. This other truth Jesus promises the disciples is that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there with them. By sending the disciples out in pairs, Jesus knows that the Holy Spirit will travel with each team of evangelist-disciples.

The next thing we learn in this passage is that Jesus gave the disciples the authority to drive out evil spirits. This is interesting to me because when we compare this authority to what the disciples come back and share, they not only drove out demons, but they also anointed people and healed them of a variety of diseases.

From this contrast, I see God being willing to bless those who represent Him with more than they realize and when we let God use us for His purposes, we will be amazed at what God wants to do through us!

Next, Jesus tells the disciples what He wants them to do and not do. In verses 8 and 9, Jesus told them, “Take only a walking stick for your trip. Do not take bread or a bag. Take no money in your belts. Wear sandals. But do not take extra clothes.” I find this first set of instructions interesting because we also don’t know how long the disciples would be away. Was Jesus sending the disciples out for a one week trip, or for a trip that would last a month or even longer?

While Jesus’ instructions themselves are powerful, because they challenge each of His followers to be 100% trusting in God, I wonder if the culture of that day was different enough from today that the literal advice is not as applicable as the theme of the challenge. The theme in these first two verses of instruction pushes us to live lives of ministry in a way where we are dependent on God. I wonder if we lived more dependent on God, if we would see more miracles in our lives. Applying this challenge in my own life is difficult, but the difficulty emphasizes this challenge’s importance. In everything I do, I am challenged to 100% trust God regarding the outcome, and with everything that happens in my life, I must also trust that God has a plan or purpose for it – even if I don’t understand what God’s plan or purpose is in the moment.

The last thing we read in Jesus’ instruction is in verses 10 and 11. Jesus continues by instructing His followers, “When you are invited into a house, stay there until you leave town. Some places may not welcome you or listen to you. If they don’t, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet. That will be a witness against the people living there.”

In the first century nation of Israel, while Jesus was walking and talking with people, we discover that there were people and towns that were not open to hearing Him or His message. While we don’t know of any examples of towns by name, I don’t think Jesus would have shared this last portion of His instructions if there wasn’t going to be some opposition to the disciples.

However, regardless of whether the disciples faced rejection while Jesus was alive on earth, I imagine most of us can relate to the idea that not everyone in our lives is pleased with our relationship with God. Even in my own situation, where I am surrounded by people who share my faith, not everyone believes everything identically, and when spiritual topics come up, it is very easy to be defensive.

This context is important because nowhere in Jesus’ instructions does He tell us to debate with others or with those who don’t welcome us. Instead, we are called to challenge people to do what the disciples did, and in verse 12, we read that the disciples challenged those they met to “turn away from their sins”.

While we all might not have the Holy Spirit’s power to heal others or to cast out demons, we all can challenge others that sin is not beneficial to their lives. When we live for God and focus on Jesus first, we will naturally move away from sin. However, some sins are tricky, so we must also be willing to let God lead us towards His truth for our lives. Only with God do our lives have purpose and only because of what Jesus did for each of us do our lives have meaning.

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

Always seek God first and place your faith, hope, belief, and trust in Him regardless of what happens. While we live in a sinful world and not everything goes our way, we can know that in the end, Jesus will stand up victorious and we will be with Him because we placed our faith and trust in Him.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself and let the Holy Spirit lead you into the truth that God wants to share with you. While a pastor or podcaster can point you to some passages or promises they have found in the scripture, only God can lead you directly to the truth for your life within the pages of His Word. In my own experience, while I have learned from others, I have learned so much more from my personal study – and I believe God will do the same for you when you seek Him in His Word!

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

Part of me wonders about the faith component that many of the gospel writers attach to the healing miracles Jesus performed. Some miracles seem to place faith needing to be present from those Jesus healed. Other miracles happen seemingly from the faith of some friends of the person needing healing. Still other miracles seem to avoid listing anything about faith, but they simply happen because Jesus wants them to happen.

Looking at all the gospels, and all the different times Jesus healed people, we get a very broad picture of the ways that Jesus healed and the circumstances surrounding the healing. About the only common denominator is Jesus, but even He isn’t the common denominator because we read about Him sending His followers out in pairs and they are able to perform miracles and healing too.

However, in our passage for this episode, there is a subtle clue about what the common denominator is in all these Biblical miracles, and when we understand this common denominator, it will help us understand God’s character better.

Let’s read the passage and uncover it. Our passage is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 9, and we will it read from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 27, Matthew tells us:

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” ²⁸ When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!” ³¹ But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.

³² As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. ³³ After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

While this passage contained two very different miracles, several things we just read caught my attention.

First off, when looking at these two miracles we see almost two completely different sets of ingredients. The first miracle, which was the healing of the two blind men, Jesus ties the miracle to the blind men’s faith in Him. The blind men had followed Jesus requesting healing, and we don’t know how far they traveled with Him crying out for Jesus to heal them. These blind men seeking healing demonstrate a significant amount of faith in Jesus because their persistence was evidence of their faith, and it directly lead to their eyesight being restored.

If we only look at this first miracle, we might conclude that the people being healed must have faith in Jesus – but when we look at the second miracle, we know almost nothing about the man being healed. However, there are some clues to indicate what ingredients were present.

In the second miracle, if we look closely, we read that the mute, demon-possessed man “was brought to [Jesus]” (v. 32) The man could see just fine, and He probably could have navigated his way to find Jesus on His own, but perhaps the demon-possession would not allow him to move that way. Maybe the man wanted healing, maybe the man had faith in Jesus, maybe the man asked some friends to take him to see Jesus, but with all these “maybe” statements, we are assuming more than the passage directly tells us.

Assuming from the opposite direction, perhaps the man was skeptical, perhaps he didn’t have any faith, perhaps the demon-possession was so strong that the friends had to restrain and drag the man to Jesus. None of this set of statements are included in the passage either, so thinking them would also be assuming something is present in this event that the passage does not directly tell us.

In this second miracle, our passage shares three facts about this man being healed: the man’s disability, which was muteness; the root cause of this muteness, which was demon-possession; and that the man “was brought” to Jesus, which meant that he did not come on his own. We know nothing else from this passage about the setup for this miracle. However, even with the seemingly lack of details, we still have a clue regarding faith: Someone had to have faith in Jesus to have brought the man to see Him. Whether the demon-possessed man had faith but needed help traveling, or the individuals who brought the man to Jesus had faith, faith was demonstrated by at least one person in the act of this man being brought to Jesus for healing.

The blind men demonstrate they had faith because they searched for and found Jesus and then they wouldn’t leave Him alone until they were healed. On the other hand, the mute man may have had faith that lead Him to seek help finding Jesus, or perhaps it was the faith of his friends, family, or neighbors that prompted His encounter with Jesus.

Faith is an ingredient in these two miracles, with it being clearly visible in the first miracle, and hinted at in the second miracle.

Secondly, it would be bad to skip over another obvious similarity between these two miracles – which is simply that both miracles were connected to Jesus’ ministry. Jesus was there for both of these miracles and He is connected to all of God’s miracles – whether He was present in person, or whether He was asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit to help in a specific situation.

I should emphasize that I said God’s miracles in the previous statement. God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are not the only spiritual force behind miracles. Following the second miracle, we see a clear dividing line present in the reaction to what Jesus was doing.

The passage concludes in verses 33 and 34 by saying, “the crowds were amazed, and were saying, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.’ ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, ‘He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.’”

This brings us to the clear test we can use to determine the source of the miracle: If the miracle leads us to strengthen our faith in God, Jesus, and/or the work of the Holy Spirit, then the miracle was from God. If the miracle leads us to place our faith in anything else, then there is a different spiritual force working behind the miracle.

With how this passage concludes, I can see why Jesus never performed miracles specifically for the Pharisees or Jewish leaders. The religious leaders openly stated their belief that the source of Jesus’ miracles was from the ruler of demons.

I suppose in looking at Jesus’ ministry, and at His miracles, one could choose to conclude either way. It is technically possible that Jesus could have used either spiritual force for many, but not all, of His healing miracles. However, to understand which force Jesus actually did use, each of us must personally read the gospel record to see Jesus’ character revealed – and then following this, we must make up our mind regarding who Jesus is for us.

If Jesus actively pointed people towards God in His ministry, then God is behind His ministry. However, if Jesus drew people away from God, as the Pharisees claimed, then God would not be supportive of Jesus’ ministry, leaving Jesus to be dependent on the other source. Only by reading the gospels for yourself can you know, for yourself, how to answer this dilemma.

The Pharisees saw Jesus as an impostor, while the crowd believed Him to be someone sent by God into the world.

With this said, as we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by telling you, intentionally seek God first in your life. If you have not studied Jesus’ life or decided for yourself who He really is, choose to do so this coming week! Reading the gospels from beginning to end doesn’t take much time, and reading them like four letters from start to finish helps you see a clearer picture of what He was really like. Almost no one reads the gospels as one long letter or message, but those who do will second my claim that reading a whole gospel letter in one sitting paints a powerful picture of Jesus.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue to pray and to read the gospels for yourself instead of taking my word or someone else’s word for it. When eternity is at stake, what are a few hours of reading to discover for yourself the truth about the Jewish Carpenter named Jesus who ultimately divided history and humanity.

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!