Jesus Has Something to Offend Everyone

 One of the things I love about Bible study is the good discussion that a difficult passage produces.

A couple of weeks ago in our YMCA Thursday morning group we were discussing one of the most troubling passages in the Gospels when Jesus calls a lady a dog. Jesus said WHAT? Yep, that's exactly what he called her (Mark 7:27) and to be honest, if I had been the Gospel writer, I think I would have let it slide. Surely, he didn't mean it. It's one thing to have a bad day, but this poor lady came to Jesus pleading for him to heal her daughter and before anyone could say, "Would you please pass the jelly?" Jesus called the poor woman with the sick daughter a dog.

Dr. Clifton Black, one of today's premier New Testament theologians who grew up in nearby Thomasville, says that we spend an awful lot of time trying to get Jesus off the hook on this one. But the truth is, he said what he said and try as we may, we can't erase it.

One insightful member of our study group asked the question, "If Jesus came to one of our churches today, would we be offended? Or would he even want to stay?" Jesus might well be bored to death in some of our churches, but my hunch is he would be kicked out before he got fed up and walked out on his own. You see, Jesus has something to offend everyone.

Liberal churches would be offended because Jesus is a conservative. He spends a lot of time quoting scripture and talking about repentance and the straight and narrow path to salvation. He commissions evangelists to go and preach the gospel and baptize the saved. He talks about being born again and even lectures on the final judgment and insists that those who don't pass the test will be cast into the eternal lake of fire. He blasts those who abuse children, saying it would be better that they be drowned with a millstone around their neck.

Conservative churches would be offended because Jesus is a liberal. His chief cause is the poor, and he believes in taxing the wealthy. He wants everyone to be helped, even those who don't deserve it. He would not exclude anyone, but all would be welcome in Jesus' church: sinners, drug users, prostitutes and illegal immigrants. He certainly wouldn't exclude someone because they are gay or because they were the wrong color. And don't expect Jesus to support the Second Amendment. When the disciples showed up at the Garden of Gethsemane with concealed weapons, he was not very happy with them. And if you try to explain to Jesus that if he won't protect himself he just might get himself killed, I think he would say: "Well?"

And for those of us who like to use the word "moderate," I don't think Jesus was moderate about anything — he might not even give us the time of day.

The thing that we must always remember when we study the Gospels is that the "bad guys" represent exactly who we are today — the religious establishment. We are the Pharisees, the scribes and the religious authorities. We must decide what is more important, keeping the establishment in business or following Jesus — even when he offends us.

Black, in commenting on Jesus' offensive words to the woman, said, "The deeper question with which Mark's readers must come to terms is whether she or he can follow a Christ so offensive as to die by crucifixion."

During this season of Lent, it would do us well to reconsider the true message of the cross in all of its dimensions: offensive, scandalous and penetrating. And then if we are not also abashed, in Black's words, "it is a safe bet that Jesus has been domesticated and his gospel has been neutered."

Whatever Jesus meant when he called the lady a dog can be discussed for a long time, but one thing is crystal clear — when they nailed him to the cross there was no mistaking its meaning. And if we are not offended to the point of falling on our knees and surrendering our lives to him, then we are nothing more than dogs.