Reflective Bible Study

In Jesus’ ministry, we don’t have to look far to discover places where Jesus challenges the preconceived ideas of the religious teachers. As we move through Mark’s gospel, not much of the year has gone by and we already see the religious leaders shifting into opposition-mode regarding Jesus’ ministry. In the event we are focusing on in this episode, we will discover how these religious leaders orchestrate an event in an attempt to catch Jesus doing something wrong.

Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 3, and we will read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1:

¹ Then Jesus went back to the synagogue, where there was a man who had a paralyzed hand. ² Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong; so they watched him closely to see whether he would cure the man on the Sabbath. ³ Jesus said to the man, “Come up here to the front.” ⁴ Then he asked the people, “What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To help or to harm? To save someone’s life or to destroy it?”

But they did not say a thing. ⁵ Jesus was angry as he looked around at them, but at the same time he felt sorry for them, because they were so stubborn and wrong. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it became well again. ⁶ So the Pharisees left the synagogue and met at once with some members of Herod’s party, and they made plans to kill Jesus.

Pausing our passage briefly, I find it fascinating that this man with a paralyzed hand happened to be at this synagogue when Jesus was there, and also when some people who wanted to accuse Jesus were there too. This event appears to be a set up if there ever was one.

However, an amazing parallel I see in this first part of our passage is in Jesus’ question, contrasted with the Pharisees’ response. Jesus asked those present in verse 4, “What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To help or to harm? To save someone’s life or to destroy it?” Contrast this with verse 6, where Mark tells us that “the Pharisees left the synagogue and met at once with some members of Herod’s party, and they made plans to kill Jesus”.

The Pharisees leave the synagogue and immediately they meet with some people from Herod’s supporters to make plans to kill Jesus. Because this happened immediately, we can conclude that these Pharisees met to plot against Jesus on the Sabbath, and that means that the answer to Jesus’ question in the minds of these religious leaders was that their law allowed them to harm others and to destroy life on the Sabbath instead of helping or saving life. This is what the actions of these Pharisees show.

In contrast, Jesus’ question and Jesus’ actions throughout His ministry answers the question of the Sabbath saying that it is lawful to help people regardless of the day, and it is always lawful to save someone’s life regardless of the day of the week it is.

However, Jesus knew what these leaders were plotting. Continuing reading in verse 7:

⁷ Jesus and his disciples went away to Lake Galilee, and a large crowd followed him. They had come from Galilee, from Judea, ⁸ from Jerusalem, from the territory of Idumea, from the territory on the east side of the Jordan, and from the region around the cities of Tyre and Sidon. All these people came to Jesus because they had heard of the things he was doing. ⁹ The crowd was so large that Jesus told his disciples to get a boat ready for him, so that the people would not crush him. ¹⁰ He had healed many people, and all the sick kept pushing their way to him in order to touch him. ¹¹ And whenever the people who had evil spirits in them saw him, they would fall down before him and scream, “You are the Son of God!”

¹² Jesus sternly ordered the evil spirits not to tell anyone who he was.

The way this passage concludes reminds us of some things we looked at earlier. When given the opportunity to speak, Jesus quickly silenced the evil spirits claim about Jesus being the Son of God. As we have already seen, it is never wise to listen to evil spirits, even if what they are saying is truthful. An evil spirit is never a trustworthy source of information.

In both parts of this passage, we discover that Jesus is gaining popularity because of what God is doing through Him, and this popularity irritated some of the religious leaders. While some religious leaders were likely jealous of Jesus’ popularity because they would rather be popular like Jesus, I also believe some of these leaders were jealous of Jesus because they wished they could do what Jesus did.

Other religious leaders were probably hostile towards Jesus because they were more afraid of Rome noticing what was happening and misinterpreting Jesus’ ministry as being a Jewish-sponsored movement worth crushing. If Rome believe the Jews were behind Jesus’ movement, they would not only target Jesus and His followers, but also everyone else present as well. These religious leaders saw the power in Jesus’ popularity and they likely wanted to distance themselves from being targeted if this movement failed.

However, I’m sure these fearful leaders would have completely flipped and supported Jesus if Jesus had actively expelled the Romans. These leaders would have opposed Jesus publicly until a new nation was formed and then they would try to rewrite their history claiming to have secretly supported Him all along.

But the problem with all this speculation is that God isn’t interested in support only when things are going well. God is worthy of being praised and given glory even when things are not going the way we might want them to go. While huge crowds followed Jesus because He was interesting and because He healed and helped people, everyone deserted Jesus when the religious leaders get their chance to arrest Jesus under the cover of night.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we are called to follow Jesus through the good times and the challenges, through the triumphs and the trials. God is much bigger than our problems and with His help we can move through anything and everything. While God does not promise His people a life without trials, God does promise us that with His help, we are better equipped to handle whatever life throws our way.

When we side with Jesus, know that there will be people who stand up against us because of our decision, but also keep in mind that Jesus wasn’t immune to opposition either. Jesus probably faced more opposition in His life than anyone else ever in history. When we face opposition, we can know that with whatever challenges we face in this life, we will be rewarded when Jesus returns to bring us home and into His kingdom!

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 in Him regardless of the trials and challenges that come your way. Know that when challenges come, Jesus faced worse challenges and abuse, and even if remembering this doesn’t make our situation easier, know that Jesus understands what we are facing because He has faced similar trials. Jesus overcame the trials and challenges in His life and He opened the way for us to be saved!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Don’t take a speaker, pastor, author, or even a podcaster’s word for what the Bible teaches. Pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God each and every day.

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 let other people push you out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

While several of the other gospel writers include an event like this much later in Jesus’ ministry, John shares with us a time very early on in Jesus’ ministry when He goes to the temple and clears out the commerce. However, while John’s gospel includes this event, what fascinates me more than Jesus kicking the merchants and moneychangers out of the temple is what John tells us happened next.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 2, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 13, John sets the stage saying:

¹³ It was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast. So Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courtyard he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves. Others were sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So Jesus made a whip out of ropes. He chased all the sheep and cattle from the temple courtyard. He scattered the coins of the people exchanging money. And he turned over their tables. ¹⁶ He told those who were selling doves, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered what had been written. It says, “My great love for your house will destroy me.”

Pausing briefly, while we might think Jesus challenged those in the temple because they were cheating people and being dishonest, nothing in John’s description of this event suggests dishonesty. Instead, John frames Jesus’ actions as being against cheapening God’s house and making it like any other marketplace. This challenge is one that says God’s house should be a place where the focus is on God and not on anything else.

This challenge also strongly suggests that God’s house shouldn’t be a place where money is exchanged. Giving money as tithe or offering is different. The big issue I see in Jesus’ actions and words is against exchanging money for goods or services in God’s house because treating where we worship as a marketplace cheapens the holiness of where we come to God to worship Him.

However, Jesus’ actions don’t sit well with the Jewish leaders. Continuing in verse 18, John tells us:

¹⁸ Then the Jewish leaders asked him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do this?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “When you destroy this temple, I will raise it up again in three days.”

²⁰ They replied, “It has taken 46 years to build this temple. Are you going to raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But the temple Jesus had spoken about was his body. ²² His disciples later remembered what he had said. That was after he had been raised from the dead. Then they believed the Scripture. They also believed the words that Jesus had spoken.

Pausing again, whenever I read this brief discussion Jesus has with the Jewish leaders, I chuckle a little because I am confident Jesus answered the way He did in order to be truthful but misunderstood. Jesus intended the Jewish leaders to misunderstand Him.

I suspect that Jesus did this intentionally because if He had spoken in a way that was more clear, they probably would have tried to kill Him on that spot.

Also very interesting to me is exactly what Jesus says in His response. In verse 19, Jesus tells these religious leaders, “When you destroy this temple, I will raise it up again in three days.”

When I casually read this, and John’s explanation that Jesus was referring to His body and to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, I might be tempted to understand it instead as “When you destroy this temple, [God] will raise it up again in three days.”

However, Jesus does not tell us that the Father would resurrect Him, but that He would resurrect Himself. John, chapter 10, verses 17 and 18 also emphasizes this point when Jesus tells the religious leaders and those present that, “The reason my Father loves me is that I give up my life. But I will take it back again. No one takes it from me. I give it up myself. I have the authority to give it up. And I have the authority to take it back again.”

While I don’t believe we can understand the full nuances present in Jesus’ statements about His power to restore Himself, and while we cannot understand exactly how He was able to do this, we do know from all the gospel records that Jesus was crucified and that He returned to life on the third day!

However, our passage isn’t finished yet. John has one more thing to tell us about this event. Continuing reading in verse 23, John tells us that:

²³ Meanwhile, he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast. Many people saw the signs he was doing. And they believed in his name. ²⁴ But Jesus did not fully trust them. He knew what people are like. ²⁵ He didn’t need anyone to tell him what people are like. He already knew why people do what they do.

In this final portion of our passage, John emphasizes how Jesus gave the people signs from God and that this prompted people to believe in Him. However, John quickly follows up with an interesting framing of Jesus’ response. John tells us that Jesus did not fully trust people. Jesus did not fully trust sinners. This is significant because as followers of Jesus, we should clearly and wholeheartedly trust God, but we shouldn’t blindly trust sinners.

At the same time, we shouldn’t distance ourselves from sinners, because we would live a lonely life, and because we might even go crazy trying to get away from ourselves. Whether we like admitting it or not, we all are sinners.

Jesus came to redeem a world full of sinners living in active sin. He came to fulfill God’s plan for the redemption of His people. Jesus triumphed over sin and over Satan. Jesus succeeded God’s mission for His life because He didn’t push sinners away and because He didn’t blindly trust them either. Either option is a trap that could have derailed Jesus off of His mission, and we face the same two traps if we let people’s opinions take precedence over God’s plan for our lives.

As we move forward through life, remember to keep God’s plan first and to trust God exponentially more than sinners in every area of our lives.

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 and place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him. Choose to trust God, have faith in Jesus, and move forward leaning on the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance. Choose to protect the places where you worship God and keep them special and free from distraction.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and step into the person God has created you to be. Through prayer and Bible study, discover how much God loves you and how much He has given to show you His love. Jesus came for you, and God wants to redeem you personally out of sin.

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