Reflective Bible Study

At the beginning of the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, one of the most famous events is Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Tradition suggests that this happened on Palm Sunday, which was one week before Jesus would step victoriously out of the tomb.

However, as I read this event, I am amazed by something that isn’t said, that isn’t even hinted at, but something that only God and the Holy Spirit could be behind.

Let’s read this event and draw out what we can learn from what happened. Our passage is found in John, chapter 12, and we will read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 12, John tells us that:

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
    see, your king is coming,
    seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

When we read this event from John’s gospel, I am amazed at the order of events. According to John, the people start shouting and proclaiming their praise for Jesus before Jesus has even sat down on the donkey. Part of me wonders if this celebrating began while two of Jesus’ disciples were away borrowing the donkey Jesus asked them to go and get. After the celebrating had begun, Jesus’ two disciples arrive with the young donkey and Jesus sits on it in order to fulfill the prophecy.

However, in this event, I am amazed because nowhere do I find Jesus requesting or asking anyone for praise or celebration. If it were not for Jesus’ words in a different gospel record when challenged to silence His followers and their praise, we might conclude that this was something that the crowd had prompted. Instead, when challenged to silence the crowd cheering for Jesus, Jesus told the religious leaders that if they were to be quiet, the rocks themselves would cry out. This celebration was entirely God inspired and God prompted.

However, while the celebrating was going on, John inserts an interesting detail into this event that seems out of place. In verse 16, John tells us that “At first his disciples did not understand all this [referring to the prophecy]. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.”

While on the surface, we might be tempted to think that this celebrating was the point in time when Jesus was glorified. However, looking at the details of this verse, I suspect that John really means after Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. In our next few episodes, we will discover how John paints Jesus being glorified as a future event, and not as this single celebration.

Because of this detail, I wonder if the crowd understood or remembered this prophecy about Israel’s King riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. This prophecy, and its fulfillment, is incredibly counter-cultural. The typical grand entrance for a king during that era, would be riding into the home city victoriously riding a mighty warhorse, riding in a chariot, or entering in an equally strong fashion. I don’t know of the Bible talking about any animal that would be considered lower than a donkey that could be ridden.

Not only were donkey’s considered among the least symbolically strong animals, John points us to the detail that this was a young donkey, and I wonder if this donkey was barely old enough to support Jesus’ weight. These details draw us to the conclusion that Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the weakest animal that could be ridden.

If the crowd remembered this prophecy, while the disciples didn’t, I wouldn’t be too surprised to then hear them proclaiming Jesus to be a King, especially after seeing Him riding on the donkey. However, John frames this event as the people proclaiming Jesus to be a King before the donkey shows up. This is powerful. The people proclaim their praise and belief in Jesus as someone sent to them from God before they witness the fulfilled prophecy!

By riding into Jerusalem on the weakest available animal, we are reminded that Jesus is not interested in proving His strength, His power, or His influence to us. That is something sinful people do. Instead, we are called to recognize that Jesus’ kingdom is one that challenges us to continue stepping down in order to help. We are called to help the lowest and least in society, regardless of what others think, regardless of whether we will be thanked or repaid, and regardless of what being associated with these other people means for our reputation.

Jesus didn’t focus on what other people thought of Him. Instead, Jesus focused on who He could help at each moment in time, Jesus focused on how He could step down in each situation, and Jesus focused on pointing all glory and praise upwards to God while He stepped down.

Interestingly enough, other people hoisted Jesus up onto the cross. Other people lifted Jesus up in order to glorify Him. In the same way, we are called to intentionally step down, pointing all glory and praise upwards, and let God, perhaps through other people, lift us up.

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, continue seeking God first in your life and choose to intentionally step down when given the opportunity to. Choose to point all the praise and glory you might receive upwards to God and intentionally seek out places where you can step down and help those who need help. Choose to help those people who cannot pay you back for your kindness.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to Jesus each and every day. A personal relationship with Jesus is best formed and built on the foundation of prayer and study, and the closer we are to Jesus, the more we will recognize the opportunities He sends into our lives to help those in need.

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!

In our last episode, we focused in on one of Jesus’ most famous illustrations about a man seeking a single lost sheep from his flock of 100. This parable is found in two of the four gospels, and it is interesting to discover that the context and focus of each of these parables is different.

Because of this, for our episode today, we’ll spend our time looking at the other similar parable and discover that not only does God seek out His lost children because He wants to keep them safe, but God also seeks out a different group of people to save. This second group is the focus of Luke’s version of this parable.

So without delaying any further, let’s look at our parable and passage for this episode and discover what God wants to teach us through Jesus’ words.

Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 15, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us that:

¹ Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. ² Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

³ So He told them this parable, saying, ⁴ “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵ When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

In this parable, the sheep that God seeks are sinners who are willing to repent. While on the surface, this sounds similar to the “little ones” in our last episode, the context this passage suggests is actually about the opposite. The little ones in Matthew’s version of this parable could mean those who society has rejected, it could mean children in a literal sense, or it could mean followers of God, who are people we sometimes refer to as God’s children. Matthew’s version of this parable focuses on God seeking and protecting His children if they get lost or wander away.

Luke’s version of this parable contrasts this by showing how there is celebration when God finds someone who was not His child who is willing to repent and be adopted into His family. The focus on redeeming sinners is similar but distinctly different in this similar, but also distinctly different parable.

When I read this parable, I am wowed by the fact that God is willing to leave those who are living righteously in order to search out someone who is lost. Through the details in this parable, we discover God is in the business of seeking sinners and bringing them to Him. When God finds a sinner who is willing to repent, it is as though He finds one of His lost children and is excited to bring them home.

However, as I read this parable, I am amazed at something else. Both Matthew and Luke’s parables include a detail like this, but each detail is different. In our parable, we discover that when the man realizes that one of his sheep are missing, he leaves the ninety-nine “in the open pasture” to go after the one who was lost. Matthew’s gospel describes the location as in the mountains, which sounds more dangerous, but it also implies that there is some natural protection from predators from the landscape.

When in the open pasture, there isn’t much protection from predators, and it is amazing to think in my mind that God was willing to do this for us. While my mind might be quick to conclude that this decision is reckless on the man’s part, when we look at the big picture of what God did for humanity, we discover an amazing truth: Those who need no repentance are not in danger. While there may be a group of people who live perfectly righteous, with no need for repentance, and while I know this is one goal Jesus has for His people, I wonder if we are forgetting God’s unfallen worlds in our first thoughts.

God is a God who creates, and it is illogical to think that God created the universe, the angels, then humanity, before then stopping. It is much more logical to picture God as a God who has created and who keeps creating. It would be an understatement to limit God’s creation to simply 100 worlds in a universe larger than we can comprehend, but this is one way of understanding God’s perspective in Luke’s version of the Parable of the Lost Sheep.

In this parable, we discover how God, through Jesus, leaves heaven, which includes all the righteous created beings, and He comes to earth to rescue and redeem the one world that was tricked by Satan and fell into sin. Those left in the open pasture had everything they needed. Looking from the big picture, those left in the open pasture had food, water, and a safe place to rest. The only place where there is real danger in the universe is the places that have been infected with sin. Places in the universe that are still sinless are safe places for God’s unfallen creation.

Zooming back into the smaller picture, the same is true for our individual lives. When a sinner turns away from their sins, when they repent, and when they let God into their lives and hearts, there is more joy in heaven because the number of redeemed people has just increased. While those who need no repentance don’t get a party in heaven like those who had just repented do, it is worth remembering that we all have sinned. This means that we all need repentance at some level and at some point in our past, and when we repented from our sin, there was a celebration in heaven at that point in our lives. When we turned away from sin, there was a celebration in heaven!

This passage also points us to another amazing realization. If we want to bring joy to heaven, all we need to do is partner with Jesus in helping bring sinners to Him. It is also worth noting that this is something that is only possible for God’s people to do in this life and in this world. When we reach the new heaven and the new earth, there will be no need to bring sinners to God because the only “sinners” present are those who Christ has redeemed and recreated!

Because of this, we have a reminder in this parable that we can partner with God and bring joy to those in heaven when we bring people who need a Savior to Jesus. This is one of our highest callings in the world today, and this calling helps God with His goal of redeeming and saving the greatest number of people possible for eternity!

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

As always, keep seeking God first in your life and keep trusting, believing, and sharing Him. If you haven’t been intentional about doing so, choose to live your life in a way that leads others to Jesus, and in a way that prompts people to give their hearts to God.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God. Through prayer and Bible study, you can develop a personal relationship with God and with a personal relationship with God, you can better understand His will, plan, and purpose for your life. Don’t take my word, or anyone else’s word, for it. Discover God’s truth for yourself by reading and studying the Bible for yourself.

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