Mark 6:3 (here @ Bible Gateway) is an interesting verse. The folks in Jesus’ hometown, were offended by Him. The word can be translated “scandalized”. I like that better.
Passages like this make me ask myself. “In what ways am I offended, scandalized, by Christ?
It would be easy to dismiss that question out of hand because after all, we are really spiritual. But think about that for a while?
Paul was a persecutor of the Church. Jesus not only saved Paul but placed him as an apostle to the Gentiles. The Jerusalem church had a difficult time with that. It was a scandal.
Speaking of the Gentiles, the notion that they could become followers of Christ without becoming Jews, was a scandal. It took a council to determine that was ok.
What offends you? Is it that a mass murderer trusts Christ just before he is executed? Is it that your enemy, the one who has betrayed you and your family is prospering in business and in life?
Is it that the sovereign God allowed your loved one to contract cancer and die after a long and excruciating fight?
If I am honest. There are things that God does about which I am scandalized. Things He does that I do not understand. Things with which it takes me much time to come to grips.
Passages like this make me ask myself. “In what ways am I offended, scandalized, by Christ?
It would be easy to dismiss that question out of hand because after all, we are really spiritual. But think about that for a while?
Paul was a persecutor of the Church. Jesus not only saved Paul but placed him as an apostle to the Gentiles. The Jerusalem church had a difficult time with that. It was a scandal.
Speaking of the Gentiles, the notion that they could become followers of Christ without becoming Jews, was a scandal. It took a council to determine that was ok.
What offends you? Is it that a mass murderer trusts Christ just before he is executed? Is it that your enemy, the one who has betrayed you and your family is prospering in business and in life?
Is it that the sovereign God allowed your loved one to contract cancer and die after a long and excruciating fight?
If I am honest. There are things that God does about which I am scandalized. Things He does that I do not understand. Things with which it takes me much time to come to grips.
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