Offended
You can't open a newspaper (remember those?), turn on a news broadcast or check your Facebook feed most any day without seeing someone being offended by something or someone. The smallest thing seems to set people off and send then into a rant. Sometimes those rants even send people into a lawsuit or worse. We're an angry people (as a culture) and because of that we're all too easily offended.
And it is right to be offended and upset at injustice in the world. Jesus sets an example for that when he clears the Temple. That's not an act of rage against the Temple itself. It's an act against the injustice being perpetrated by the "marketplace" being set up in the only place of prayer allotted to the Gentiles.
But so many of the things we (or "those others") find ourselves offended at these days are not injustices. They're just irritants. They're things we don't like, but they don't matter in the long run. And yet we scream and wail and post....and hurt and break relationships along the way.
And then we fail to be offended or angry or upset by the things that should offend us...or scandalize us, in the language of the Scriptures. Most of all, we fail to be offended by Jesus.
Offended by Jesus? What?
In the Scriptures, Jesus is referred to several times as a "skandalon," from which we get our word "scandal." It's often translated as "stumbling block," and the word-picture for it is of a rock sticking up out of the ground that we don't see and we trip over it. We're "offended" in the sense that we stumble and might even fall.
But what does that have to do with Jesus?
Jesus was a skandalon to many people. He didn't do what most people thought he ought to. He got upset at "the way things were" (hence, the cleansing of the Temple). He died on a cross (and, the Jews all knew that anyone hung on a tree was under God's curse). His teaching was considered foolishness to those who thought they knew the way life is supposed to be (Blessed are the meek? Really? Come on!). Jesus caused many to stumble, but when they stumbled, when they were offended, they found their way to the life that really is life.
We're busy being offended by this or that, and yet we yawn in the shadow of the cross. It's become so...well, commonplace. Does Jesus offend anyone anymore or is he just another great idea? Sure, there are a lot of people offended by people of faith today, but I have to ask: is that because of the faith or because of the people? If we're accurately representing Jesus, it shouldn't be us or our words or our actions that offend people. The cross is the scandal. Jesus is the offense. Let others see him in us rather than just seeing us. If someone is going to be offended, let it be because of Jesus and not because we're standing in the way of them seeing Jesus.
And it is right to be offended and upset at injustice in the world. Jesus sets an example for that when he clears the Temple. That's not an act of rage against the Temple itself. It's an act against the injustice being perpetrated by the "marketplace" being set up in the only place of prayer allotted to the Gentiles.
But so many of the things we (or "those others") find ourselves offended at these days are not injustices. They're just irritants. They're things we don't like, but they don't matter in the long run. And yet we scream and wail and post....and hurt and break relationships along the way.
And then we fail to be offended or angry or upset by the things that should offend us...or scandalize us, in the language of the Scriptures. Most of all, we fail to be offended by Jesus.
Offended by Jesus? What?
In the Scriptures, Jesus is referred to several times as a "skandalon," from which we get our word "scandal." It's often translated as "stumbling block," and the word-picture for it is of a rock sticking up out of the ground that we don't see and we trip over it. We're "offended" in the sense that we stumble and might even fall.
But what does that have to do with Jesus?
Jesus was a skandalon to many people. He didn't do what most people thought he ought to. He got upset at "the way things were" (hence, the cleansing of the Temple). He died on a cross (and, the Jews all knew that anyone hung on a tree was under God's curse). His teaching was considered foolishness to those who thought they knew the way life is supposed to be (Blessed are the meek? Really? Come on!). Jesus caused many to stumble, but when they stumbled, when they were offended, they found their way to the life that really is life.
We're busy being offended by this or that, and yet we yawn in the shadow of the cross. It's become so...well, commonplace. Does Jesus offend anyone anymore or is he just another great idea? Sure, there are a lot of people offended by people of faith today, but I have to ask: is that because of the faith or because of the people? If we're accurately representing Jesus, it shouldn't be us or our words or our actions that offend people. The cross is the scandal. Jesus is the offense. Let others see him in us rather than just seeing us. If someone is going to be offended, let it be because of Jesus and not because we're standing in the way of them seeing Jesus.
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).
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