Mark 6:1-6 - Christianity's Greatest Scandal - July 18, 2021
/If you saw the headline “Christianity’s Greatest Scandal,” what would you assume the story would be about? Sexual abuse? Embezzlement? Manipulation? Something worse? Our text makes it very clear that Christianity is scandalous. The phrase they took offense at him in verse 3 is literally “they were scandalized” (skandalizo) – but the source may not be what you think.
Most people would probably assume that Christianity’s greatest scandal are the sins Christians commit. The sins of Christians, especially those of famous ones, are often heavily publicized. When Jim Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison for fleecing millions of dollars from his flock; when Jimmy Swaggert was exposed for spending his free time with prostitutes; when Ted Haggard was accused of homosexuality and using illicit drugs [1]; or more recently, when Hillsong megachurch pastor Carl Lentz was fired for cheating on his wife [2] – these scandals spread like wildfire through the media. Hollywood made movies about the epidemic of priestly abuse in the Catholic church. And even though these things had nothing to do with us, all of Christianity got a black eye when these scandals were exposed. This is not to say that the Lutheran Church is immune from scandal. While they usually don’t generate national headlines like the scandals of megachurch pastors or the Catholic church, Lutheran – and WELS – pastors and leaders have been accused and convicted of cheating on their marriages, child abuse, and even possession of child pornography. The unbelieving world loves to point to these scandals to justify their unbelief, to defend their scorn for the church, to gloat over Christians – “Look at your leaders, you’re no better than the rest of us.” And to that, I, and every pastor I know would honestly admit: “No, we’re not.”
And yet, without minimizing what Christian leaders and pastors have done to scandalize Christianity, could the same thing be said of regular Christians? Could it be said of you and your sins? Could your sins scandalize Christianity just as much as those of any megachurch or local pastor? Think about those secret sins of your youth. Couldn’t people from your past criticize Christianity because of the things you did years or decades ago? And what about the sins of your heart? Can even you believe how foul, how lewd, how disgusting some of your thoughts are? Good thing no one else knows about the filth that lurks within your heart. If they did, don’t you think that would create quite a scandal?
The sins of Christians are truly wicked, dark and serious – but they’re not Christianity’s greatest scandal. Because while such sins may be shocking to the media, to unbelievers, and even to other Christians – there’s one person who is not scandalized by them: God. While no one else knows the filth that lurks within our hearts, God does (Psalm 94:11). God knows our every thought before we think it; every word before we say it; every action before we do it (Psalm 139:4). God is not surprised when Christians sin. After all, God is the one who declared that people are sinful from the moment they are conceived (Psalm 51:5). He is the one who looked at the world of Noah’s time – and likely our time – and said that all the thoughts and plans they formed in their hearts were only evil every day (Genesis 6:5). God is the one who said that [we] were dead in [our] trespasses and sins and by nature objects of Gods’ wrath (Ephesians 2:1,3). Jesus himself described our hearts as cesspools of murder, adultery, sexual sins, thefts, false testimonies, and blasphemies (Matthew 15:19).
God is not scandalized by sin. God was not shocked when King David committed adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11). God was not scandalized when Peter denied his Son (Matthew 26:69-75) or when Judas betrayed him (Matthew 26:48-50). He didn’t “cancel” Paul because he spent his early years persecuting Christians (1 Corinthians 15:9). You can be sure that he is not shocked that we sin every day in thought, word and deed. In fact, sin is whole reason God sent his Son into this world. He sent his Son into the world to soak up the real, disgusting, repulsive, filthy sins that nothing else could clean up. Jesus didn’t come into the world to make good people better but to save rotten sinners (Romans 5:8). He didn’t come to teach us how to dig ourselves out of the pit we’ve fallen into, he came to jump down into the sewer and take our place. Jesus is not scandalized by the sin, the failing, the wickedness, the evil that he finds in the pit of my heart or yours or anyone’s – just as people who work in sewers aren’t surprised by what they find there.
The sins of Christians are certainly scandalous, but they aren’t Christianity’s greatest scandal. What turns people off to Christianity is not really the adultery, murder, or lying done by pastors – but the holy, innocent Lord Jesus Christ they preach. What scandalizes your neighbors, coworkers, and friends isn’t really your foul language or short temper, but the meek and mild Jesus you follow.
It’s ironic, isn’t it – that even though every year the whole world celebrates Christmas and enjoys Christian Christmas carols – many, if not most, people are offended by the central truth of Christmas: the incarnation? The world is offended that the Bible would dare teach that a young, unwed peasant girl actually gave birth to the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. They’re offended that God would come to us – rather than we having to go to him. They don’t like to think of God taking on human flesh and blood and dwelling here on this earth. They can’t imagine how all the fullness of the Godhead can dwell bodily in Jesus (Colossians 1:19). They’ll perhaps confess that Jesus is like God – but they choke on the core truth that Jesus IS God.
Perhaps people would be more accepting of that truth if Jesus looked more like the gods of mythology – which have, in many ways, been reincarnated in today’s superhero movies. If Jesus was handsome, musclebound, charismatic, powerful, superhuman – maybe then they’d pay attention. But the Bible says that Jesus didn’t fit the superhero paradigm; it says that had no attractiveness and no majesty. When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him (Isaiah 53:2) and that he was like someone whom people cannot bear to look at (Isaiah 53:3).
“But didn’t Jesus teach out-of-this-world things and do miraculous, superhuman deeds?” He sure did. Even the people of Nazareth testified to his wisdom, power and miracles right here – but all the miracles in the world can’t convince someone who rejects who Jesus is. It always comes down to the question Jesus asked his disciples: who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20). If you reject who Jesus is; you cannot accept what he does. The people of Jesus’ hometown rejected who he was. He was just a carpenter. He was Mary’s illegitimate son. They knew his brothers and sisters – and they knew that they were just ordinary people. How could Jesus be any different? He can’t be the Messiah. He can’t be the Savior. He certainly can’t be God!
And remember, all of this took place before Good Friday. Those who view Jesus from this side of Calvary have even more reason to be offended. There he’s not only offensive because of who he is but because of what he did there. There we don’t just see God as man; we see a God who suffers and dies as a convicted criminal. There we see a God who is beaten and tortured and nailed to a tree. God is supposed to be all-powerful; on Calvary he hangs powerless on a cross. God is supposed to be a winner; on Calvary he is a loser. God is supposed to be in charge; on Calvary Pilate and his soldiers are in charge. God is supposed to punish his enemies; on Calvary God is punished by his enemies. Scandalous, isn’t it?
And the scandal wasn’t removed when Jesus’ feet lifted from the earth and he ascended into heaven. Many are still scandalized by the ways, the means in which Jesus chooses to come to people today. It’s scandalous to many – even many who claim to be Bible-believing Christians – that Jesus would use ordinary tap water to actually adopt children and adults into God’s family; to forgive sins, deliver from the devil and give eternal life. It’s scandalous to many that Jesus would use ordinary bread and wine to deliver to us the very body and blood that was born of the virgin Mary and crucified under Pontius Pilate – and that through this humble meal we receive the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Perhaps the most scandalous thing of all to many people that Jesus has given sinful men the authority to absolve sins – and that this absolution is valid before God in heaven (Matthew 16:19; John 20:22-23). Everything that we do here, week after week – it’s all pretty scandalous, isn’t it?
Why does Jesus choose to use such ordinary, weak, scandalous things to bring us the wonderful gifts of forgiveness and salvation? Doesn’t he know that if he only came with power and glory – with all the prestige of a Presidential entourage and the glamour of a Hollywood star – then he would actually gain some honor and acclaim – not to mention, disciples – from this world? Why does Jesus purposely come to us in ways that are so offensive?
Because the very things that scandalize human sensibilities and human reason are the same things that form the object of faith. In other words, if salvation came in ways that made sense to us, then salvation could no longer be by grace alone (Romans 11:6). In the end, it’s not only Jesus who is offensive to human reason, it’s what he stands for; what he represents – namely, God’s grace. It doesn’t make sense that a holy God should love his worthless, rebellious creatures enough to become one of them and take their place on the cross. Nor does it make sense for God to use ordinary things to deliver that salvation to sinners. Here’s the thing: no one believes in Jesus because it makes sense. No one can accept that a virgin conceived, that God became man, that God died on the cross and rose again because it agrees with human understanding; it doesn’t. No one believes that Baptism is a divine adoption, that a pastor’s absolution is God’s absolution, that Jesus’ body and blood are really present in this bread and wine because it makes sense.
That’s because saving faith isn’t something human beings can create. It isn’t something you decide. We can’t reason our way into it. We can’t be persuaded into having it. We can’t drum it up in ourselves. The only way we can have saving faith is if God gives it to us (1 Corinthians 12:3; Ephesians 2:8-9). If you believe that God became man to pay for your sins so that you will go to heaven – and if you believe that God chooses to deliver this salvation through the words of a man, water, bread and wine – then you are the beneficiary of a miracle, then God has given it to you purely by his grace. Salvation that comes by grace through faith in Jesus – that ordinary looking man who died on a cross as a criminal, but is really the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world – that’s the greatest scandal in Christianity.
Christianity is scandalous. It always has been and always will be. But not in the way that many think. The real scandal isn’t my sins or your sins or the sins of any priest or megachurch pastor – because God has taken away the scandalous sins of Christians by forgiving them for Jesus’ sake. But, thank God, he hasn’t removed the greatest scandal of Christianity. For if he had, then there would be no Christianity. Christianity is the religion of miracles that can only be received by faith: God becomes man, God suffers and dies for man, God forgives sins for Jesus’ sake, God works heavenly things by water, words, bread and wine. It’s all very scandalous. Thank God that he has included us in this scandal. Amen.
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2012/06/11/us/gallery/pastor-scandals/index.html
[2] https://nypost.com/2021/05/05/fired-hillsong-pastor-carl-lentzs-wife-breaks-silence/