Taking Offense

June 11, 2021 Georgia Tanner

“In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Luke 7:21-23 ESV

We tiptoe around each other these days, careful not to offend. I have found myself stumbling into a land mine more than once over the past year or two. Those encounters have left me cautious, taking a step back from others I once held close, trying to calculate what is safe conversation and what is likely to be met with a sharp retort. “Sorry,” I think in surprise, pulled up short.

A new friend of mine prayed from across the room recently, “Lord, do not let me be easily offended!” Ah, I thought. There we have it. If we follow that God-man Jesus, we must not be easily offended. We must be filled with love and gentleness and self-control, not pride that is easily offended. Easily wounded. Fragile on our own little pedestals.

In my search of Jesus, I come across this admonition from his own lips; “…blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Who was he talking to? Why would they be offended?

Jesus had been healing up a storm. Everywhere he went, the blind regained their sight, the lame walked, lepers lost their spots, and he had recently raised a dead man from his funeral precession and given him back to his mother, heart beating strong. Everyone everywhere was talking about it. And word had gotten back to his cousin John, imprisoned by Herod Antipas for being an offensive loudmouth. Why hadn’t Jesus stormed those prison gates and freed that prisoner? Was he really the Messiah they all had been waiting for, or should they be looking for another?

Jesus was not offended by John's doubt. Not at all. Instead, he directed the messengers from John to remind him to look at what Jesus was doing and how that compared to the scriptures of the Prophets. And then he added this strange little encouragement: “And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” That is the English Standard Translation of his words. The NIV uses a different way to describe offense: “anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” Stumble. That is a word full of imagery, isn’t it?

Jesus had been referencing Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah who would open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, cause the lame to leap like a deer and the mute to shout for joy (Isaiah 35:5-6) – so perhaps he is again referencing the words of that great prophet concerning the one who would come in the name of the Lord:

The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,

he is the one you are to fear,

he is the one you are to dread.

He will be a holy place;

for both Israel and Judah he will be

a stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

a trap and a snare. Isaiah 8:13-14

A stone, a rock, a trap, a snare. An offense. Yet a holy place! Read the words of Jesus again; “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Because Jesus is offensive. If we straighten our backs and raise our chins with pride, we will stumble on the stone placed firmly on solid ground as the cornerstone. With blind eyes, we will trip and fall, offended. We didn't see, we didn't hear the words of life because we were busy justifying ourselves. Busy measuring ourselves against the others. Threatening to silence anyone who gets out of line. Anyone that offends us.

The crowds listening to the words of Jesus could easily be offended. Especially the religious leaders. Those in the know. Those who stood a little taller than everyone else. John had offended them. And now this outsider Jesus offended them.

If you want to read the whole conversation, you can find it here; Luke 7:18-35. Almost the whole story is told in the red-letter words of Jesus; the defense of John, the explanation of who he was, and therefore the breadcrumbs defining who Jesus was - which was going to be very offensive to many in the crowd.

Some would be able to see the darkness of their sin – and would marvel that God’s justice could open a door for them. Others, who only had eyes for their own righteousness would stumble, rejecting the words of Jesus, offended. They would close the door to a God who was bigger than their own ideas of who God should be.

For extra credit, I will include one last difficult thing Jesus said if you care to keep reading with me.

Jesus, looking into the offended faces in the crowd and without missing a beat compared them to the children amusing themselves in the marketplace. “March to our tune!” they call out in sing-songy voices. But Jesus says, "John was too righteous and too judgmental for you. I am too celebratory and too quick to forgive for you. You hypocrites! You want to have it neither way. You want God to march to your tune. Yet God’s wisdom is found in both John and me; our living testimony points to the justice of God.” (My interpretation.)

John would not dance for them. Jesus would not weep for them. John offered repentance. Jesus offered forgiveness - and the joy of life to the fullest. This was something very different from their idea of what God must look like. John and Jesus, both offended them. Greatly.

Are you offended?

Let Me Tell You About My Jesus Anne Wilson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWLm6z42Gk8

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels