"Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me." (Matthew 11:6)
People sport crosses all the time today: they wear them around their necks, they tattoo them to their bodies, they paste them as bumper-stickers and put them on their license plates. The sign of the Cross has never been more popular. Even Vladimir Putin wears one, and that's quite a stretch for a former KGB colonel and Soviet state-sanctioned atheist. But there's something in Scripture called the "offense of the Cross" (Galatians 5:8), and almost anyone you talk to, Christian or not, has no idea what that is. Yet an understanding of this is critically important. In fact, it's essential to a right understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The word for "offense" in Scripture in the original language (transliterated from the Greek), is "scandalizo" and we get the word "scandal" from this word. Originally it meant a snare or trap to catch an animal. The animal would step into it and be snared. Scripture translates that sometimes as "stumbling-block", something men trip over. Now here's what's really odd: Jesus is referred to in just this way. For example:
"Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,' and 'a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.' They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed." (I Peter 2:8).
Christ's birth was scandal. Joseph's neighbors and relatives received the news of his wife's "virgin birth" with about the same skepticism as it would've been received today. And the idea of the promised exalted Messiah of the Jews born to "people of the soil" - a lowly carpenter, did not at all fit the rabbinic expectations of the revered teachers of Israel. Even the place of his birth: Nazareth - a town with such a bad reputation that even the disciple Nathaniel, when first introduced to Christ said "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). The idea of a prophet from Nazareth, let alone the Messiah Himself, was an absurdity to the Jews.
But there's more: the gospel of salvation itself is called "a scandal": the message and mission of Christ is presented in Scripture as something that men "trip" over, unless they're specifically called by God to believe it.
This Thursday, New Years Day, we'll discuss WHY this is so, by LIVE Internet pod-cast radio, on "Jewish Roots", 9:30 PM, EST at www.ScripturesDramatized.com. Your host: Rev. Rick Anderson. To call with a question or comment: 347-324-5759.
People sport crosses all the time today: they wear them around their necks, they tattoo them to their bodies, they paste them as bumper-stickers and put them on their license plates. The sign of the Cross has never been more popular. Even Vladimir Putin wears one, and that's quite a stretch for a former KGB colonel and Soviet state-sanctioned atheist. But there's something in Scripture called the "offense of the Cross" (Galatians 5:8), and almost anyone you talk to, Christian or not, has no idea what that is. Yet an understanding of this is critically important. In fact, it's essential to a right understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The word for "offense" in Scripture in the original language (transliterated from the Greek), is "scandalizo" and we get the word "scandal" from this word. Originally it meant a snare or trap to catch an animal. The animal would step into it and be snared. Scripture translates that sometimes as "stumbling-block", something men trip over. Now here's what's really odd: Jesus is referred to in just this way. For example:
"Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,' and 'a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.' They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed." (I Peter 2:8).
Christ's birth was scandal. Joseph's neighbors and relatives received the news of his wife's "virgin birth" with about the same skepticism as it would've been received today. And the idea of the promised exalted Messiah of the Jews born to "people of the soil" - a lowly carpenter, did not at all fit the rabbinic expectations of the revered teachers of Israel. Even the place of his birth: Nazareth - a town with such a bad reputation that even the disciple Nathaniel, when first introduced to Christ said "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). The idea of a prophet from Nazareth, let alone the Messiah Himself, was an absurdity to the Jews.
But there's more: the gospel of salvation itself is called "a scandal": the message and mission of Christ is presented in Scripture as something that men "trip" over, unless they're specifically called by God to believe it.
This Thursday, New Years Day, we'll discuss WHY this is so, by LIVE Internet pod-cast radio, on "Jewish Roots", 9:30 PM, EST at www.ScripturesDramatized.com. Your host: Rev. Rick Anderson. To call with a question or comment: 347-324-5759.
