Reflective Bible Study

If you have ever had the picture in your mind of the disciples as being exceptionally godly people, or if you have looked up to them as being better than most people, it is likely you haven’t spent much time in the gospels. While many of the disciples end their lives as spiritual heroes, looking early on at their stories during the time they spend with Jesus, we get a completely different picture.

In our passage for this episode, we will look at a short passage where we see the disciples display a very negative character trait, and one that Jesus openly challenges them on. This character issue is jealousy.

While one or two of your friends might be surprised at this, I doubt you would be surprised to learn that jealousy was clearly visible in first century society. At the very least, when reading the gospel record, the Pharisees and other religious leaders were jealous of Jesus’ popularity. It is likely that some of those in the crowds who followed Jesus were jealous of Jesus’ disciples. Jealousy also was likely present even within the group of Jesus’ disciples, since periodically Jesus’ pulls aside Peter, James, and John to the exclusion of the other nine.

However, in our passage for this episode, we will discover a slightly different place jealousy showed up, and I am amazed at how Jesus responded to His disciples when they display jealousy towards other people who were not within their group.

Our passage for this episode is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 38, Mark tells us that:

³⁸ John said to Him [referring to Jesus], “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” ³⁹ But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. ⁴⁰ For he who is not against us is for us. ⁴¹ For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.

⁴² “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. 

While I am tempted to read further, let’s stop here so we don’t miss the significance of what Jesus has just finished saying. Usually, this teaching is overshadowed by what comes next, and because of this, I don’t you to miss what Jesus is saying to His followers here in these few verses.

At this point in His ministry, Jesus has fame and credibility, and it is clear that His followers are able to cast out demons like Jesus can. Others have picked up on this as well, and had observed that Jesus’ disciples used Jesus’ name to cast out these evil spirits. This leads to at least one of these spectators to try casting out demons like the disciples and Jesus had and it’s likely that they succeeded, since watching a person fail does not prompt jealousy.

Since the other exorcism using Jesus’ name was successful, it prompts John, the famous disciple and author of one of our gospels to be jealous of this spectator’s success. In my mind, John likely shared this event with Jesus with enthusiasm, because He was able to curb the potential chaos that could have happened if people learned that anyone could use Jesus’ name to perform miracles and cast out demons.

However, Jesus surprises John with His response. Verse 39 and verse 40 directly address John’s heart and attitude. “But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us.” Another way to state that last phrase would be to say, “Those who are not against us are on our side.”

Instead of congratulating John for maintaining order and the hierarchy of Jesus’ growing kingdom and ministry, Jesus challenges John’s motives and He addresses the pride that is present in John’s heart. An exclusive attitude is one form of pride, and Jesus wants to redirect John’s thinking on how God is inclusive not exclusive. While John wanted to exclude other people until they were directly part of their group, Jesus wanted John to learn that God is inclusive, and God is more interested in motives and hearts rather than on social or racial classes.

Jumping forward several thousand years to when we live now, if we model an exclusive attitude towards a particular faith, religion, or denomination, we are directly following John’s lead right before Jesus challenged him, and not paying attention to Jesus’ challenge of inclusivity. Jesus’ words and instructions for us are to not stop others from following Jesus, because if God is with them (which is evidenced by their performing a miracle from God), they will not be able to speak evil about Jesus.

As I say this, Jesus’ teaching here may be a clear litmus test to determine whether a miracle is from God or from Satan. It is unlikely that Satan could speak well of Jesus while at the same time performing God-like miracles. However, as I say this, I doubt Satan would ever speak well of Jesus, so any miracle or trick Satan does will almost certainly not point people to God, Jesus, or the Bible.

In this passage, Jesus’ instructions come with a promise and a warning. Jesus first promises us that those who help others simply because they follow Jesus will not lose their reward from God. The strongly implied tone in this promise is helping these other people regardless of their race, gender, orientation, hair color, attitude, political affiliation, level of wealth, lack of any wealth, or any other characteristic that groups people together. Those people Jesus promises that God will reward are people who helped others simply because they are followers of Jesus. Jesus’ promise is very inclusive, because God promises to reward not just His people, but anyone and everyone who is nice and hospitable to His people as well. Looking at the world today draws us to the clear conclusion that there are people who are nice and hospitable towards Christians and Jesus followers, while there are others who are outright opposed to anything even resembling faith or religion.

At the end of Jesus’ teaching that we focused in on, He also shares a warning. Jesus says that whoever causes another to stumble, it would have been better for that person to be drowned. In this warning, Jesus condemns anyone putting roadblocks in another person’s relationship with God. People placing themselves between others and God is clearly something God does not want, like, or tolerate. Jesus came to remove the great divide between heaven and humanity that sin caused, and if Jesus bridged this divide, who are we to recreate it.

Jesus’ sacrifice gives us a picture of God and His love, as well as restoring our ability to have a personal relationship with Him. This is something worth enjoying and inviting others to.

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 seek God first in your life. Choose to look at the world around you and seek to build others up, seek to improve those God brings into your life, and intentionally avoid being a stumbling block for other people. Understand that God loves you personally and He sent Jesus to show you His love.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself in order to learn what Jesus really was like. While other people have ideas they want to impose on you, test everything you hear, see, and read against the truth of the Bible to know whether it is worth knowing.

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!

As I have found while reading and studying in the gospels, and as I’m sure you have noticed by now, when someone is looking for things that are special, significant, relevant, or even relatable, every one of the passages in the gospels has something that is worthy of paying attention to.

However, sometimes while reading a passage, I am inspired on a whole other level than on the surface of what the passage says. The passage and event we are focusing on in this episode is one such passage for me. Found only in Matthew’s gospel, while studying it, I came to the realization that in these four short verses, we have an almost perfect reflection of the salvation plan illustrated in a unique way.

I’m not sure why Matthew was the only one to include this event, but I am glad He did, because without this event, we would miss discovering a powerful lesson that the disciples learned. Let’s read what happened, from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 17 using the New Century Version. Starting in verse 24, Matthew tells us:

²⁴ When Jesus and his followers came to Capernaum, the men who collected the Temple tax came to Peter. They asked, “Does your teacher pay the Temple tax?”

²⁵ Peter answered, “Yes, Jesus pays the tax.”

Peter went into the house, but before he could speak, Jesus said to him, “What do you think? The kings of the earth collect different kinds of taxes. But who pays the taxes—the king’s children or others?”

²⁶ Peter answered, “Other people pay the taxes.”

Jesus said to Peter, “Then the children of the king don’t have to pay taxes. ²⁷ But we don’t want to upset these tax collectors. So go to the lake and fish. After you catch the first fish, open its mouth and you will find a coin. Take that coin and give it to the tax collectors for you and me.”

And this is how this event ends. Part of me wishes for another verse that simply said that Peter did everything that Jesus had instructed him to do and he found it exactly like Jesus had described. But Matthew doesn’t say this. In some ways, like Peter leaving the house and going down to the lake, we must believe that what Jesus described actually happened.

There are plenty of other events in the gospels where Jesus describes an upcoming event or interaction that plays out exactly as He describes. One example is with getting the donkey He rode into Jerusalem on; another is His death and resurrection.

However, even more significant in my mind than taking Jesus’ description to Peter on faith is looking exactly at what is described in this event – and exactly what takes place. But before digging into the passage again, let’s frame how we read this passage by asking ourselves the question, “Who exactly paid the temple tax?”

Some might be quick to point out that it was Peter, for Peter and Jesus, but the coin used to pay the tax didn’t come from Peter’s savings or checking wallet. Instead, it came from somewhere else. What does Jesus instruct Peter to do? Verse 27 tells us that Jesus told Peter to “go to the lake and fish. After you catch the first fish, open its mouth and you will find a coin. Take that coin and give it to the tax collectors for you and me.”

Now I am not good at calculating the odds of something, but this instruction is pretty unlikely. First, in order for a fish to get a coin stuck in its mouth, a coin would have to fall into the water somehow. Perhaps this happened days or weeks earlier. Perhaps, as a merchant or traveler was crossing the lake, a coin, or perhaps a moneybag full of coins, fell into the lake. This isn’t too unbelievable. This may have even been a moneybag lost during a flash storm as a boat was crossing the lake.

However, next, a fish would then need to find the coin or bag of money and think it was food, and try to eat it. I don’t know much about fish or fishing, but this seems unlikely to happen naturally. I would imagine that fish don’t try to bite more than they can chew, and a coin that is too big to swallow may have fit that bill. But even this is plausible in light of the next thing that would have needed to happen.

Next, that fish would have needed to swim over to the dock where Peter was getting ready to fish at, and be the first fish, with its mouth already full, to think about biting the hook or bait that Peter was using. Of all the fish in the lake, only one fit the description of having a specific coin stuck in its mouth.

When we look at the back-story of what would need to happen in order for Jesus’ description to come true for Peter, we cannot escape the probability that God orchestrated this entire event, and that means that essentially He (God) paid the temple tax.

Now why is this significant? Let’s look earlier at a question in the conversation Jesus has with Peter. Verse 25 describes Jesus’ question to Peter. Jesus asks Peter: “What do you think? The kings of the earth collect different kinds of taxes. But who pays the taxes—the king’s children or others?”

This question is significant because we are all adopted into God’s family, and the temple tax was a requirement to help maintain the temple in Jerusalem. We could call this temple God’s house on earth – because, at least at that time, this is what the purpose of the temple was.

Peter’s answer that other people pay the tax is correct, but this would then mean that Jesus, being part of God’s family, would be exempt from the tax — just after Peter had said that Jesus does pay the tax.

In an instant, Peter realizes that he had spoken incorrectly and had potentially incriminated Jesus. However, Jesus is quick to supply a solution. Peter doesn’t get off without having to do something, but he does get to keep his reputation and his word by delivering the money for the tax he said that Jesus supported.

In this event is a parallel of the entire gospel story. We could summarize it like this: We mess up, God provides a solution. Adam and Eve sinned and infected the entire human race with evil. Jesus came with the solution that He would take our place and our punishment onto Himself. We mess up, God provides a solution. Peter speaks without realizing the implication. Jesus steps in with a solution on how to get the coin to pay what Peter promised would be paid.

In both these cases, God provides the solution when we don’t deserve to be helped. In each case, we can see God’s love for us and how much He cares for us even though we don’t, or even can’t, thank Him enough for what He has done.

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

As I always open by challenging you to do, always place God first in your life and lean on Him to help you find solutions to the problems we face. While sometimes it may feel like He is silent, know that He has a solution to every problem, and His solutions will always conclude with you choosing a new life with Him – specifically a new life that leads into an eternal life with Him.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible to learn more about God and more about Jesus. As you pray, read, and study, look for examples of God’s love and God’s character. While God doesn’t always brush sin aside, we can find grace in every place He steps into history – but don’t take my word for it. Pray, read, and study it yourself to discover if I’m correct.

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 we continue moving through the gospels looking at events from Jesus’ life and ministry, we come to an event where Jesus challenges not just His disciples or the crowd present, but the entire generation living during the first century.

However, I suspect that the issue Jesus takes aim at that generation for is actually an issue that every generation has faced since Adam and Eve’s fall, and I doubt that any generation prior to Jesus’ return will be exempt.

The idea Jesus challenges all of us on is the presence of unbelief in our lives. Immediately following Jesus being on the mountain with His three closest disciples, we read about what was happening with the other nine disciples when Jesus, Peter, James, and John rejoin the group. Our passage for this episode is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read it using the New International Version. Starting in verse 14, Mark tells us that:

¹⁴ When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. ¹⁵ As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

¹⁶ “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Let’s stop reading here to draw our attention onto the significance of what this boy’s father exclaims. While Jesus finishes off this event by healing the boy when His disciples could not accomplish this task, too often, we jump to the end triumph and miss what we can learn during the challenging middle of this event. Also, we often jump to the end of Jesus’ wrap up discussion with His disciples that this particular evil spirit was different from most and that prayer with fasting are the keys necessary to remove it.

However, let’s focus on what the boy’s father exclaimed in verse 24. The boy’s father cries out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Our belief is powerful, and unbelief has the power to sabotage the belief we do have.

In this passage, belief is mentioned a number of times leading up to the boy’s father’s exclamation.

The first mention of belief versus unbelief in this passage is when Jesus calls out the whole generation as “unbelieving” in verse 19. It is as though when Jesus learned what happened while He was gone, His heart sank a little because the people, and specifically the disciples, seemed to miss the truth about the power of belief. It also appears as though Jesus became a little irritated at how slow or dense many of the people were.

The second mention of belief also comes from Jesus when He responds to the boy’s father by saying that “Everything is possible for one who believes” in verse 23. This is a statement that both religious people as well as non-religious have taken and held up as a banner for believing in oneself. They take the spiritual word and make it common by saying things like, “Believe in yourself and you can do anything.”

It is very possible I don’t have enough belief, or perhaps it is something else, but all the belief in the world is not going to make me a NFL football player. To most of the hulk-like guys on football fields, I look more like a malnourished toothpick than a candidate for any season game. The sarcastic part of my brain wants me to conclude that this probably is entirely a case where I have unbelief which is sabotaging me. Or, more likely, I have concluded that I have better things to do with my body type and skill-set than play professional football.

The third mention of belief in this passage is hinted at instead of being directly stated. However, Jesus doesn’t miss this hint, and He draws it out for us to focus on. Jesus knows how the words we use reveal our thoughts, and Jesus challenges the father’s lack of belief by quoting the father’s opening to his request. In Jesus’ response, He calls out the father’s lack of belief by quoting the boy’s father’s words “If you can”.

The word “if” is a word that allows for exception, and it is a word that changes a certain statement into one where certainty is the exception. By using this word, the boy’s father revealed that he didn’t have confidence in Jesus’ ability to help in this situation. When we use the word if, we reveal that we don’t have total confidence in the subject we are talking about.

For example, by starting a statement with the words “Because God is God, He will . . .” I am getting ready to proclaim a promise that I believe God will do. However, starting a statement with the words “If God is God, He will . . .” I have effectively changed the direction of the statement into a challenge, and the only reason it is a challenge is because under the surface, the implication is that I don’t believe He could or would do the next part of the phrase.

Jesus calls the boy’s father out on the language He is using. He calls each one of us out regarding the words we use. Words are powerful, and Jesus wants to keep us from letting the words we use erode our belief.

After being challenged by Jesus, the boy’s father restates his wish, and he states that he does believe, but he acknowledges that he needs help with his “unbelief”.

In the context of this passage, unbelief is not the presence of doubt. Instead, unbelief is the presence of skepticism. Unbelief is when our hearts are hardened and we simply choose to challenge an idea like a skeptic would instead of believing. Doubt is the uncertainty that is present with faith in something that is unseen. While faith and doubt are almost always mixed, it is within our power what the ratio is.

Belief is similar to but distinctly different from faith. Belief is spiritual certainty and knowing something to be true in one’s mind. Faith is trust and/or devotion to something or someone. Often both words are used interchangeably, and in the church world, we should have both mixed into our lives.

Belief, faith, and acknowledging some doubt that is present in a situation is good. Unbelief, or skepticism about something, is bad. I suspect this is one big reason why Jesus called out the boy’s father when he made his request.

As I shared earlier, this event concludes with Jesus healing the boy, and the disciples later asking Jesus why they could not cast this evil spirit out. Jesus’ response is that prayer is the key. While Jesus’ words are directly tied to this situation, I also believe that they are tied to the subject of belief: Belief without prayer is weak. Prayer without belief is futile. However, belief when combined with prayer is limitless.

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 and prayerfully seek God first in your life. When tempted or challenged to give up on your faith or your belief, lean into God and trust that His plan and perspective are bigger than we can imagine. When something doesn’t make sense, seek God first and ask Him to give you understanding to what you are struggling to understand.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself in order to grow your personal relationship with Him. When questioning ideas, beliefs, or concepts, always test them against what the Bible teaches and prayerfully seek God’s guidance and help leading you into His truth.

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 moving towards the second half of His ministry leading up to the cross, I am always a little surprised as I read the gospels to see how Jesus tried to warn and wake the disciples up to what would happen on crucifixion weekend. In one such warning, we can see that Jesus wanted to not simply warn them about the death side of the weekend, but to also point them towards the resurrection side of this weekend as well.

Our passage for this episode is one place where Jesus shares these truths with the disciples and it is amazing to read how the disciples react to hearing the news. We will be reading Matthew’s version of this event, which can be found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, and we will be reading out of the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 21, Matthew tells us:

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, “I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life.”

²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “God forbid it, Lord!” he said. “That must never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned around and said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don’t come from God, but from human nature.”

Let’s pause reading for a moment because I want to point out something I wonder about. I’m not sure whether Peter said these things because Satan truly prompted him to say them, or because Peter, like the rest of the disciples and people living in that generation, believed that the Messiah God would send would never face death. It was this misunderstood angle of prophecy that made many people during Jesus’ life miss out on truly understanding the sacrifice Jesus had come to make.

However, this misunderstanding also appears to blind and deafen Peter to the latter portion of what Jesus had said. While Jesus had described death, He had also predicted resurrection as well, and exactly when that would happen. It is in this description that we can see Jesus being fully aware of the path for His life – and Peter’s reaction is a challenge to this on multiple levels.

It is strange to think that one of Jesus closest disciples would have been easily prompted by Satan to say something that went counter to Jesus’ mission, but this appears to be the case. Satan was present enough that one of Jesus’ closest twelve disciples, Judas Iscariot, was willing to betray Jesus to death. In my mind, it isn’t a far stretch to believe that Peter’s statement was Satan inspired.

Peter’s remark that He hoped what Jesus had just predicted would never happen challenges Jesus on at least three levels. The first is simple. If Jesus was from God, the words He would say would also be prophetic. Wishing that His words would not come true is a challenge against Jesus as God’s messenger.

The next challenge is that if Jesus were to avoid death, then all of sinful humanity would have no hope of life. Peter would not have realized this at the time He said this, but this was exactly what Satan wished would happen – or perhaps, not happen, depending on the perspective one takes this idea.

The third challenge is that the resurrection would not happen. If Jesus never faced the cross and died, that would be one thing, but even worse for Satan would be trying to explain or rationalize away the resurrected Jesus. If Satan couldn’t stop Jesus from dying for humanity, the next best thing would be to stop the resurrection from happening. While Peter would have had no idea that his words implied this, Satan would have, and it was the next best option if the cross was destined to happen.

But Jesus, sensing a teaching moment, pulls the disciples together. Picking back up in verse 24:

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it. ²⁶ Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! There is nothing you can give to regain your life. ²⁷ For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds. ²⁸ I assure you that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Son of Man come as King.”

While the focus of this passage up to this point had been on challenging Peter’s statement from Satan, Jesus doesn’t want the focus to remain there. To this end, Jesus quickly shifts the focus of the conversation onto the commitment that is required for His disciples, and the reward that will be theirs for choosing to follow Jesus.

What Jesus says in this passage is one of the biggest paradoxes in the entire Bible. In verse 25, Jesus tells those present: “if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it.” The paradox is that there is no way for us to save ourselves. The only way we can live past our limited time on earth is by choosing to give up our lives here on this earth – and this is done by committing our lives on this earth to Jesus.

When we have committed our lives to Jesus, He will begin leading us, guiding us, teaching us, and showing us how He wants us to live. The truth that many Christians living today miss is that obedience to Jesus today increases the quality of life we have today, and life with God can begin today and not wait until the next age. Jesus actually invites us to begin our lives with God today, and this is accomplished by giving up what we think is important and instead leaning on God to show us what He feels is important.

I say this not just as a challenge for you, but primarily a challenge for me. My personality is one that feeds on achievement and I like the feeling of accomplishment after successfully finishing a goal or task. Left unchecked, I could be caught achieving many worthwhile things that are unimportant to God. The challenge to myself is to place my life and goals before God and then only pick up the things He tells me are truly important.

Jesus also makes the statement that some of those present would not experience death before seeing Jesus come in God’s glory. There is debate whether this promise had to do with an event known as the transfiguration, whether this promise had to do with seeing Jesus following the resurrection, or whether Jesus is making a statement about true followers of Jesus never facing death on this earth.

While I would love to dive into the implications of this verse, it would take too much time for our podcast format, and it would actually distract us from the big promise Jesus wants us to pay attention to. This promise is that when Jesus returns, He will be bringing rewards for those who gave their lives to Him, and this is based on what we made of our lives.

Actually, I should probably say instead that this is based on what He made of our lives, because the only way for us to make it through this glorious return is to have given our lives to Jesus beforehand, and let Him use our lives for His purposes.

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

If you haven’t done so already, dedicate your life to God. Choose to give your life to Him each day and let Him guide and direct your decisions. He knows what the most important goal for your life is, and we can trust that He will only lead us to focus on the tasks that He knows are the eternally important ones.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn from God and the Holy Spirit firsthand. While listening to a pastor or a podcast is nice, if you base your spiritual life on what someone else has learned, you shortchange yourself out of what God might want to teach you personally through 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!