![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/shocked.jpg\")
<\/a>In\u00a0Galatians 5:11, we read of “the offense of the cross.<\/em>” To some in Corinth, nothing was as distasteful as the preaching of the crucified Savior. In Athens, Paul was mocked for preaching the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 17:12). To be perfectly honest, Christ was a “rock of offense” and a “stone of stumbling” to many among His own people and in the Roman Empire (Romans 9:33). Why did Jesus offend so many? He was despised in the region of Gadarenes because people there thought more of swine than of lost souls (Mark 5).<\/p>\nThe Master Teacher offended the Pharisees because of His blunt rebuke of their customs and traditions (Matthew 15:7-12). The absolute authority of the Lord caused a sword of separation within some families (Matthew 10:34-35). When Christ comes on the stage of life, the human scene must give attention to His claims. One cannot be neutral in regard to the Man of Nazareth. Jesus plainly reminds us in\u00a0Matthew 12:30\u00a0that men are either “for or against” Him. But why was our blessed Redeemer such a controversial person?<\/p>\n
His Perfection Made Others Uncomfortable<\/h3>\n
To be in the presence of the Son of God made anyone else’s fame pale into nothingness. His speech, action, attitude, and endeavor formed a matchless framework of beauty. The scribes waned in power when Jesus unfolded the Scriptures. The righteous pretense of the Pharisees disintegrated in the marvelous purity of the Messiah. Arrogant claims of the Sadducees were easily put asunder by one clear word of logic by the Savior. Caesars and Herods were always dwarfed by the heavenly countenance of the Redeemer. Since very few people enjoy being “upstaged,” Jesus was intently hated. Pilate realized that “for envy he had been delivered up<\/em>” (Mark 15:10).<\/p>\n “Hosanna” had become a popular cry among the Jews by the time the Lord walked the Judean soil. Since the days of the Maccabees, it was a term of deliverance and meant simply, “Save us, we pray.” In Mark 11 is told the story of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. But however brilliant the palm-strewn road may have seemed that day, our Redeemer was a bitter disappointment to the Jews because He came not to save them from Rome, but to save sinners from Satan’s hold. He told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), and those coming to Him for loaves and fishes went away distraught.<\/p>\n The Savior’s propensity of eating with sinners caused a revolt within the upper echelon of society (Mark 2; Luke 19). Jesus came “to seek and to save the lost<\/em>” (Luke 19:10), but the doctors of the law were upset with the practical application of that maxim. It bothered them intensely when the large crowds came to hear him teach because Jesus had not gone to one of their schools (John 7). The piercing logic by which Christ nailed their hides to the wall was constantly embarrassing (Mark 12:14;\u00a0John 8:39-40). Jesus unveiled their evil hearts of selfishness in the person of the “older brother” (Luke 15:11-31), and their vain ritualistic piety in the story of the priests and Levites who “pass by on the other side<\/em>” (Luke 10:27-37). No wonder they were offended! Of course, they could have repented, but that would have called for more humility than they could muster. Are there any sadder words in Scripture than\u00a0John 1:11? “He came unto His own, but His own received Him not.<\/em>” Rather than being offended in Jesus, may God help us always to stand up valiantly for Him in the midst of a godless, decadent world.<\/p>\n It is hardly conceivable that anyone as wonderful as Jesus Christ would have had as many enemies as He did. As our minds retrace the beautiful life He led, the perfect pattern He set, we are amazed to recall the fact that many in His day coldly rejected Him. How could anyone spurn such an unselfish love? Even though we cannot answer these questions completely, it remains a sobering, heartbreaking fact that thousands of His day turned a deaf ear to heaven’s will, expressed so capably in Jesus, the Son of God.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Johnny Ramsey via\u00a0Gospel Minutes, Vol. 55, No. 24, June 16, 2006 In\u00a0Galatians 5:11, we read of “the offense of the cross.” To some in Corinth, nothing was as distasteful as the preaching of the crucified Savior. In Athens, Paul was mocked for preaching the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 17:12). To be perfectly honest, Christ…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[73,455],"class_list":["post-8187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-jesus","tag-offense"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8180,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-spirit-of-offense\/","url_meta":{"origin":8187,"position":0},"title":"What is the spirit of offense?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the spirit of offense? How do you know if you have it? Why do so many churches use this phrase against people to control them? Answer: The phrase \"spirit of offense\" is not found in the Bible. People can cause offenses by their behavior, but using the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46454,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/offense\/","url_meta":{"origin":8187,"position":1},"title":"Offense","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text Matthew 15:21-28 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We live in a society with a chip on its shoulder \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People are looking for reasons to complain and to blame. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Say the wrong word and you will find your job in jeopardy, close friends will split, or long standing members of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56644,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-stone-of-stumbling\/","url_meta":{"origin":8187,"position":2},"title":"Jesus, the Stone of Stumbling","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer \"But the LORD (Yahweh) of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/stumbling-stone-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-free-gift\/","url_meta":{"origin":8187,"position":3},"title":"What is the “free gift?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm having a little trouble with this passage and hope you can shed some light on it for me. Romans 5:12-21 talks about a \"free gift\". What is it? Who brought it? What does it do for us? Answer: \"But the free gift is not like the offense. For\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37273,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-we-be-given-grace-without-repentance\/","url_meta":{"origin":8187,"position":4},"title":"How can we be given grace without repentance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What does this mean? Does this mean that we are giving grace without repentance? I'm looking at a church and I looked up their beliefs, this was one of them. \"That God has given us all a measure of grace according to our gifts: Ephesians 4:7\u00a0\"But to each one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20254,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/that-preacher-offended-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":8187,"position":5},"title":"That Preacher Offended Me!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Harry Osborne What would you think of a preacher whose sermons offended people and were taken as insulting by the hearers? What if a preacher caused the audience to be filled with anger because of the hard things that he said? What if he went so far as to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/monk-146246_1280-300x256.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}His Salvation Was Spiritual, Not Temporal<\/h3>\n
He Embarrassed The Socially Elite<\/h3>\n