Offensive

In the passage that follows Jesus has a confrontation with the Pharisees and lawyers of his day. I was struck by this confrontation. Notice what he says to the lawyer.

Luke 11:37-52
37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.
42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”
45 One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” 46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

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In hearing Jesus' harsh words to the Pharisees the lawyer tells Jesus that he is also offended by those words. How does Jesus respond? Does he apologize for his offensiveness? Does he soften what he has been saying? Does he try to be politically correct? Does he become less confrontational?

No -- in fact Jesus gets more offensive with the lawyer.

I am not good at confrontation, some people are. I confess that I too often worry about being too harsh. I need to learn to follow Jesus' example more.

This must be done in the right way. Many people are offensive and harsh for the wrong reasons. They are offensive and harsh because they are mean-spirited or unrighteously angry. Jesus was not. He was kind and loving, yet spoke clearly about matters of truth.

The nature of the gospel is going to be offensive and harsh to many people. That is what we cannot shy away from. The offense of the gospel does not need to be watered down, lessened, or made politically correct. To do so is to alter the gospel. It will be a stumbling block, and a stone of offense to some.

But, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God unto salvation." (Romans 1:16)