Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving into our first chronological year moving through the gospels, we come to a powerful event that marked the official start to Jesus’ ministry on earth. While I’m sure Jesus had helped people during His time with Mary and Joseph while growing up, following Jesus’ baptism, we discover in the gospels how His ministry drew peoples’ attention like nothing He had done before.

Our passage for this episode focuses specifically on Jesus’ baptism. Baptism, as done by John the baptizer in this passage, is an interesting event. If one takes all the spiritual significance out of the picture, it would have little use. The physical act of baptism is simply submerging, or being submerged in water. Without any soap or time to get yourself clean, it is more similar to taking a swim, but only getting in the water once, and for only enough time to get your head wet.

If we bring spiritual significance back into the picture, baptism has a lot of significance. Baptism is a life metaphor, symbolizing laying to rest our past, sinful self, and lifting up a new life with Jesus moving forward. We could also use the church-speak and say that we “die to sins”, and “resurrect into the life Jesus wants for us”.

I have experienced baptism twice in my life, and at each point, there was significance attached.

The first time I was baptized, it was on my 13th birthday, and this event symbolized my wanting to dedicate my life to God from that point forward.

The second time I was baptized was in November of 2011. This time, the significance was both rededicating my life as an adult, and dedicating my life’s work and ministry to God as well. Oh, and I should add for those of you who are curious, I was 29 this second time.

But here’s where things get interesting, especially when we look at Jesus’ life and parallel it to the baptism symbolism: Jesus didn’t need to “die to a sinful nature”. Instead, in Jesus’ case, His baptism would foreshadow when He would “die for humanity’s sinful nature.”

Let’s read Matthew’s version of this event, since it has the most detail of the three gospels that include this event. We’ll be reading Matthew 3:13-17 out of the New American Standard Bible translation:

¹³ Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him. ¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

It would seem that John the baptizer also caught the seemingly backwards nature of Jesus’ request.

John baptize Jesus? No, this really should be the other way around. Jesus had no sin that needed to be repented and turned away from. John knew that he himself did have sins and that would have made more sense to have Jesus baptize him.

However, in this act we read an interesting phrase in Jesus’ response: “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

In this response, Jesus is sharing a side mission to His life. Jesus’ primary mission was to show humanity what God the Father is like. This mission culminated in Jesus’ death on a cross – for humanity, when almost all of humanity had rejected Him. This was His primary mission.

In addition to Jesus’ baptism foreshadowing His death and resurrection, it also shows us His side mission. Jesus wants to show us how to live a life that is pleasing to God. Baptism is a symbol or metaphor for us putting our selfish “self-focused” desires behind us, and placing our trust in God as our number one goal: Death to self and raised with Jesus.

But in this baptism event, another significant metaphor is at work. It is a subtle metaphor; something that rests below the surface in most people’s minds. This metaphor is humility.

In order to be baptized, one must submit their lives into the hands of someone else. While I don’t know of any pastor doing so, and I’m sure there would be plenty of consequences if this was done, one could be held under the water in baptism so long that they would literally drown. While this has never happened to my knowledge, and it is unthinkable, the very nature of this option being a slight possibility, or perhaps even a fear some people might have, emphasizes this metaphor that in order to be baptized, we must submit ourselves and our lives into the hands of someone else.

However, in the case of Jesus’ baptism, we find this metaphor amplified to a much greater degree.

As I shared before, Jesus’ primary mission was to show humanity what the Father is like. In His baptism, Jesus takes the road of humbling Himself, submitting to John, who was a sinner like all of us, and He placed His life in John’s hands. Jesus humbled Himself and He placed His life in the hands of sinners, and this is a powerful truth to keep in mind!

I suspect that this is one more way that Jesus demonstrated the Father’s character. Through Jesus in this event, we see the truth that God the Father is not a dictator-god, but a selflessly loving God. God placed us ahead of Himself.

If we doubt this truth is present here at Jesus’ baptism, we can easily see this at Jesus’ crucifixion. When Jesus died for us, it was at the hands of sinners. Here at the start of Jesus’ ministry, we discover a powerful foreshadowing of this humility and God the Father’s character, through the very act of being baptized.

Jesus loves each and every one of us because the Father loves each and every one of us. Jesus’ baptism, which probably seemed very awkward to John at the time, becomes one of the most significant demonstrations of God the Father’s character at the start of Jesus’ ministry, and it frames Jesus’ entire ministry as one that places humanity ahead of Himself.

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, intentionally seek God first in your life. Remember to thank God and Jesus for putting you and I ahead of Himself. If you haven’t already done so today, decide today that you will recommit your heart and your life to Him.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue growing your relationship with God intentionally studying the Bible for yourself, and by keeping your eyes open to how He demonstrates His love for us both in your life each day and through the pages 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 walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving forward in this first year chronologically moving through the gospels, I am amazed by something that jumped out at me while preparing for this episode that I’d never noticed before. While I probably have read these words before, the way I saw this passage while prepping for this episode is amazing and I have not seen this event in this way before.

Our passage for this episode covers Jesus’ dedication in the temple, and Simeon, who was an elderly man who God had promised would not die until seeing the Messiah. This event can be found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 2, and we will read it from the Good News translation. Starting in verse 21, Luke tells us that:

²¹ A week later, when the time came for the baby to be circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name which the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

²² The time came for Joseph and Mary to perform the ceremony of purification, as the Law of Moses commanded. So they took the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, ²³ as it is written in the law of the Lord: “Every first-born male is to be dedicated to the Lord.” ²⁴ They also went to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the law of the Lord.

²⁵ At that time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. He was a good, God-fearing man and was waiting for Israel to be saved. The Holy Spirit was with him ²⁶ and had assured him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s promised Messiah. ²⁷ Led by the Spirit, Simeon went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus into the Temple to do for him what the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took the child in his arms and gave thanks to God:

²⁹ “Now, Lord, you have kept your promise,
    and you may let your servant go in peace.
³⁰ With my own eyes I have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples:
³² A light to reveal your will to the Gentiles
    and bring glory to your people Israel.”

³³ The child’s father and mother were amazed at the things Simeon said about him. ³⁴ Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, “This child is chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God which many people will speak against ³⁵ and so reveal their secret thoughts. And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.”

Let’s stop reading here.

While preparing for this episode, I don’t believe I had ever noticed that Simeon was just a regular guy, a “good, God-fearing man”. I don’t know why, but I envisioned him to have been the priest who dedicated Jesus, but there is nothing in this passage to support this thought. Instead, he was a regular guy who “the Spirit led” to the temple to see Jesus at the perfect time. A priest would have already been at the temple, and therefore would not have needed to be “led” there.

The passage says that the Holy Spirit was with Simeon, and if Simeon was the regular “God-fearing” guy that this passage says, it tells me that you and I, when we are God-fearing and following God’s will, can have the Holy Spirit be with us as well. God may not promise you the same thing He promised Simeon, but He can assure you of salvation and a new life with Him – which is a much better promise when we look logically at it.

Simeon was old at Jesus’ birth and dedication, and he had likely passed away long before we find Jesus hanging out with the religious leaders in the temple at 12 year of age. Being promised eternal life – something we can have when we put our trust and faith in Jesus, is a much better promise than physically seeing a baby, even if it is “The Baby” everyone has been waiting for – for four thousand or so years.

Another new thing I saw in this passage as I read it in preparation for this episode is that Simeon accurately points Jesus as coming for “all people”, for both the people in Israel and the “Gentiles”. Simeon specifically calls the Gentiles by name in verse 32 when he says, “A light to reveal your will to the Gentiles and bring glory to your people Israel.”

This is very significant because the broad thinking of the time was that the Jewish Messiah would come for the Jews only, to overthrow the Romans, and to reestablish Israel back to what it was in its prime.

Most Jews did not consider that their Messiah had a bigger role than the political aspirations of their nation. According to traditional Jewish framing of prophecy at that time, Jesus completely missed the mark. His purpose was bigger than just one nation. As Simeon accurately says, Jesus will be for “all people” and “a light” for the Gentiles. Simeon gets it – when most others (including Jesus’ own disciples) missed this truth.

In addition to what we’ve already talked about, while preparing for this episode, Simeon’s message to Mary is like a mini-prophecy for Mary. After speaking about Jesus, Simeon turns to Mary, and in his message to Jesus’ mother, he includes the phrase in verse 34 that Jesus is “chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel.”

This is huge too because Simeon rightfully understands that ethnicity is not an identifying mark of future salvation. Up until that point in history, the Jews believed that their biological ethnicity meant their salvation. They believed they were chosen because of their ancestors, and that the bloodline was what made the difference.

But Simeon points out that Jesus will come more like a sword that divides people rather than a table that brings people together. Biology had (and still has) little to do with the true people of God. Led by the Spirit, Simeon gets this too.

Jesus came to polarize people. He gathered those who were looking for a Savior, and He challenged those who believed they were their own savior. When the religious leaders spoke against Him, they were revealing their true motives.

Jesus still polarizes people today. If you bring up Jesus in conversation, you will find that there are those who embrace talking about Him, and those who marginalize Him as “some guy who lived a long time ago who had a few good things to say.”

What is sad is that too often, those who marginalize Jesus have successfully silenced those who have put their hope, faith, and trust in Him as their personal Savior.

I can relate. I’ve been intimidated into avoiding talking about Jesus. It’s not a pleasant thing to admit, but it’s the truth.

However, Simeon challenges me in this passage. Simeon spoke, and he prophesied, about Jesus in a way that was counter-cultural at the time. He said things that were radical and unpopular about Jesus – but they were 100% the truth!

God has called us as His people to share the counter-cultural message about Jesus being the Messiah God sent into the world. While there are those who don’t want this message spread, this message is the biggest truth that will survive for eternity!

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 place Jesus first in your life. Never let anyone intimidate you into staying silent when you are inspired to speak about your faith and your Savior.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow a personal relationship with God. A personal relationship can start today, and when we have a personal relationship with God, our story with God will extend into eternity.

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

As we move further into our first year chronologically moving through the gospels, we come to a powerful event that contrasts a huge truth that we all face at one point or another. Similar to our last episode, this truth has a lot to do with faith and doubt.

It might be because of my personality, or an unhealthy level of skepticism, but I find myself often doubting the truth of something I read or hear more than simply accepting it. The broad context of our passage for this episode centers around Mary learning about Elizabeth’s pregnancy, and traveling to see her.

Leading up to this point, Luke has described how Zechariah doubted the angel and was struck mute for his lack of belief, and shortly afterwards, Mary is visited by the same angel and believes the angel’s promise to her.

Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 1, and we will read it using the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 39, Luke tells us that:

³⁹ Soon afterward, Mary hurried to a city in the mountain region of Judah. ⁴⁰ She entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.

⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard the greeting, she felt the baby kick. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² She said in a loud voice, “You are the most blessed of all women, and blessed is the child that you will have. ⁴³ I feel blessed that the mother of my Lord is visiting me. ⁴⁴ As soon as I heard your greeting, I felt the baby jump for joy. ⁴⁵ You are blessed for believing that the Lord would keep his promise to you.”

Let’s stop reading here. While we could continue reading and focus on things we can discover in Mary’s song of praise, what Elizabeth just finished saying is too important to skip over. In this passage, Elizabeth finishes in verse 45 by telling Mary: “You are blessed for believing that the Lord would keep his promise to you.”

These are Elizabeth’s words to Mary.

In this short phrase, we see a glimpse into the contrast between these two women and their respective husbands (in Mary’s case, husband-to-be).

With how Elizabeth phrases this statement, she is both commending Mary for her faith, and admitting the doubt that Zechariah (and she) had when being given the message. She was currently living with a mute husband because of his doubt, and had it not been for the significant shift in his speech ability, she probably would have doubted too.

Mary, on the other hand is commended for her faith. Looking back at the angel’s visit, Mary does ask a question, but it seems to be a clarifying one rather than one of doubt. Mary asked, “How will this happen since I am a virgin?” This question does not speak to doubt, but to what her next steps should be.

Elizabeth is living with a mute husband because of doubt, and Mary experiences something impossible to believe and/or describe because of her faith. Elizabeth tells Mary, “You are blessed for believing that the Lord would keep his promise to you.”

In that same regard, you and I are blessed when we believe that God keeps His promises to each of us.

For some, it may feel as though God has long since forgotten you, much less remembered about a single or specific promise that you see given in the Bible. If this is you, I hope you remember that when God is silent, this does not mean that He is absent. It might mean that the timing is not right, that you are not ready to receive the promise, or maybe something else.

I won’t claim to speak for God, but I know without any doubt that He knows who you are, and that He loves you.

For others, it may feel as though God might hate you, because a prayer you prayed did not come back the way you asked. I don’t know why God answers some prayers and not others, but I do know that His perspective is different from ours, and that sometimes He wants to walk with us through the pain rather than take the pain away.

It is my belief that God sees every possible future available that could result from every decision that is made, and He knows the path that leads to the best outcome in the end. This is the best outcome from His perspective, the perspective that looks at life from the framework of eternity, and the perspective that does not want even one person to be lost. Sometimes this means pain and/or seemingly unanswered prayers, but even when God appears to be silent or ignorant of your request, He still is there, and He wants to walk beside you through life rather than fix every problem or smooth every bump in the road.

For others, it might feel that God is close and that He is your best friend. If so, cherish the moments you spend with God and feel His presence. The caution I have is to not let your focus shift to being about “feeling” His presence. God is present whether or not we “feel” His Spirit near us. The temptation for those who emphasize the times when they feel God with them is to doubt God when they don’t feel His presence.

Don’t let that be you. God is present whether we feel Him and/or His Spirit or whether we don’t.

In every case, renew your trust and your confidence in God’s promises, remember that His Word never fails, and never forget that He cares about the wellbeing of all His creation. God looks at life from a different perspective than we do, and this perspective says, “I want to spend eternity with you.”

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. Even when it feels like God is silent, remember that does not mean that He is absent. Remember that God has given us promises for a reason, and that reason is to help build our faith in Him.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to discover who God is and what His promises are. While some people rely on other people to give them knowledge of the Bible, choose instead to study the Bible for yourself and grow personally closer to God each and every day. God wants a personal relationship with you, and a personal relationship is best built on the foundation of regular prayer and Bible study.

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 have ever wondered whether the gospel accounts are accurate or if the story of Jesus has been exaggerated as time progressed, then you might be fascinated to discover how Luke opens his gospel.

While many of us might face questions or doubts about Jesus at some point in our lives, how we wrestle through our doubts ultimately decides the direction we will conclude regarding the events shared in the gospels.

One possible conclusion we can reach is to scrap the whole idea of Jesus, or perhaps to heavily discount it into being more legend than reality.

Another conclusion we could reach is to dismiss our doubts and our questions as irrelevant, and simply blaze forward with blind faith. Some people understand faith and doubt to be connected, and that means that faith requires the option, or presence, of doubt. If there is no option or presence of doubt, it must be fact, and facts don’t require faith.

A third conclusion we could arrive at is actually wrestling through the questions and the doubts. Most questions do have answers, and instead of ignoring or dismissing our doubts, we face them head on and use them as opportunities to grow our faith. Many people who walk down this path see doubts as opportunities for growth, and not as things we should be worried by or concerned with.

At some point, everyone who has been presented with Jesus and the gospels has had to face the question: “What do I do with what the biblical gospels say about Jesus?” And many people have set up camps among these three very different conclusions.

This question about what to do with what the Bible tells us about Jesus is not a new question. This question has challenged people for over two thousand years. From the moment Jesus was in the temple asking questions, I suspect He was feeling out the state of the Jewish religion and the first century culture about their receptivity towards the Messiah.

As we move through the gospels over the next few years, discover how this question is present in almost every encounter Jesus has with someone, and it is a question that all four gospel writers face head on.

What do we do with Jesus?

If you are wondering about who Jesus is and/or what He did while on earth, then you may want to pay attention to how Luke, one of the members of the early church, introduces us to his account of Jesus’ life. In this introduction, we find many things that we can learn about both the early church, and about what people thought about Jesus shortly after He returned to heaven.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 1, and we will read it using the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Luke opens his gospel by saying:

¹ Many have tried to report on the things that happened among us. ² They have written the same things that we learned from others—the people who saw those things from the beginning and served God by telling people his message. ³ Since I myself have studied everything carefully from the beginning, most excellent Theophilus, it seemed good for me to write it out for you. I arranged it in order, ⁴ to help you know that what you have been taught is true.

The first thing that really stands out to me as I read this introduction, is that it is written with more of an editorial, researcher focus, rather than from a “theological” angle.

This is important, because as someone reads through Luke’s account of Jesus’ life, Luke is not interested in creating any theology. Instead, he is more interested in simply clearing up confusion over who Jesus was and what He did.

Why might there be confusion?

If you read any of the gospel writers, or even look at your circle of friends and/or colleagues, you can see that it is very easy for rumors to start, and then grow. Like the childhood game of “telephone” where a line of children whisper a message into the next child’s ear only to realize that the message has been horribly distorted at the end of the line, this same thing was happening following Jesus’ return to heaven – rumors were circulating and growing, and it was beginning to be hard to tell the fact from the fiction.

Note that this was happening not hundreds of years later, but just decades – while eyewitnesses were still alive.

It would appear that the recipient of Luke’s narrative, Theophilus, may have commissioned Luke to sort out the details, or he may have known about Luke’s project, and simply requested a letter summarizing his findings.

Either way, we can see in these short four verses that Luke’s focus is to clear out the clutter, and to write an accurate, historical version of Jesus’ life – using eyewitness accounts as his source.

This is very important to us today because when we read the rest of Luke’s account of Jesus’ life, he is not trying to make theology – instead he is trying to support it by researching the truth about Jesus.

If we look a little closer at verse four, we see Luke’s number one goal, which is: “to help you know that what you have been taught is true”

Luke wants to support the truth that has been taught about Jesus, and clear up the confusion regarding His life, His focus, and His mission.

So where does that leave us today?

What else can we learn from Luke’s method of writing out his gospel?

Verses 1-3 tells us that even though other people had written about Jesus prior to this point, Luke still made it a priority to study Jesus’ life and to write out his findings. Just like many of the other previous writers, Luke heads to the eyewitnesses who were still alive and pieces all the details together.

While it is good to learn from what someone else has studied and discovered, it is also vital that we learn as much as we can from as close to the source as possible. In the case of Jesus’ life and His ministry, the closest source we have is reading the gospels. When reading the gospels, in order to gain the greatest benefit, we should humble ourselves and prayerfully ask God for the Holy Spirit to help guide our study towards His truth.

While it is easy for us to drift towards reading spiritual things other than the Bible, such as devotionals or commentaries, let’s not let our connection to the Source be pushed aside. Devotionals, commentaries, verses of the day, or other things like this are useful for helping to reinforce Bible truths, but in order to stay strongly grounded on God’s truth in the Bible, never let these non-biblical writings, no matter how spiritual they may be, take the place of prayerfully studying the Bible for yourself.

God wants a personal relationship with you, and this relationship comes from leaning into God and His Word, trusting in His promises, and looking to Jesus for our salvation!

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 and choose to trust that He has protected His word throughout His Story of history.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow your personal relationship with God. Through a personal relationship with God that is built on prayer and Bible study, you can know God and He will confirm the truth of His word in your life.

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