Scripture
And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me. John 7:23
Observation
In Luke 6, Jesus introduces us to the values of the upside-down kingdom, many of which, if we’re honest, are offensive in their own right. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the mourning, the hated, the reviled. And oh, by the way, go ahead and bless those who hate you and spitefully use you. So, it should come as no surprise that the One who called his followers to this scandalous way of living could be seen as scandalous Himself. In fact, the Greek word here for “offended”, skandalisthe, is where we get our English word for scandalized. A commentator suggests that Jesus was giving one more scandalous beatitude here to both John the Baptist and the crowd. Jesus wasn’t offended by John’s question, but John, the very one who had proclaimed Jesus as “The Lamb of God” was offended by Jesus. And really, you can’t blame him for asking the question, “Aren’t you going to do more?” You see, John the Baptist was behind bars awaiting his rescue from Roman tyranny by the prophesied Messiah who would come in with guns blazing and set him and all of Israel free! At least, that’s how they had been raised for generations to interpret the scripture. Then, here comes Jesus who, in this chapter alone, is healing a Roman soldier’s servant instead of taking that Roman soldier down. He supposed to hurt them, not help them! Jesus even declares loudly to the crowd, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Luke 7:9). No doubt, John’s disciples went back and told him of this and many other scandalous acts that didn’t fit the expected profile of the warrior Messiah. Now, John was realizing, he may never get out of that jail cell because Jesus isn’t doing what he, and most of Israel expected him to do.
Application
How many of us are asking the same question of Jesus right now? Aren’t you going to do more, Jesus? We didn’t think life was going to be easy, but we certainly didn’t expect it to be this hard. We have been praying and reading the Bible and going to church and telling others about Jesus, but life is still very, very hard. What does Jesus say to us in the middle of our struggling marriage, wayward children, economic strain, chronic pain, painful loss? “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” The Greek word for offense paints a poignant word picture for those of us, who like John the Baptist, are wrestling with our faith in Jesus. It speaks of the device for trapping birds, referring to the action that pushes the bait-stick and so triggers off the trap. Jesus is saying, don’t take the bait of Satan, don’t fall for the offense. Jesus was doing all of these miracles, but it wasn’t the miracle John was expecting. We can so easily miss what Jesus is doing right now because He’s not doing what we wanted Him to. I truly believe the Lost Beatitude will keep us from getting lost in our faith during these tumultuous times.
Prayer
I always wondered how the Pharisees, John the Baptist, the people of Israel could miss the blessing of Jesus right in front of them and this morning I realize I do the same. I get offended when God does something for someone else that I’ve been praying for years for. I get trapped when I try to trap Jesus in my “God box” of what He should and should not do for me and how His deliverance should come. I miss what Jesus is doing around me when He isn’t doing something specifically for me. Forgive me Lord for a self-centered faith. During this age of rage and the deconstruction of faith this lost beatitude couldn’t have come at a better time. I put my trust in You even when what You’re doing and how You’re doing it doesn’t make sense.
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