The Holy One of God
The Scandal of Jesus’ Life and Teachings

“Scandal Unfolds!” blares the newspaper headline. Whether it’s a story about a celebrity couple, a politician, or even a church figure, our eyes seem naturally drawn toward it. Even if it’s a shocking revelation filled with unsavory details, it somehow seems to find us.
We see a different kind of scandal unfold in the Gospels: the scandal surrounding Jesus of Nazareth. The biblical word for scandal (skandalon in Greek) means something that trips a person up, an obstacle or stumbling block that gets in their way. Jesus knew that many of his listeners would indeed be scandalized by him and would reject him because of the scandal. He knew that even his own apostles would stumble over his words at times. And so he told them, “Blessed is the one who takes no offense (literally, is not scandalized) at me” (Matthew 11:6). He promised that if they stayed close to him and listened carefully, they would be able to say yes to him and his call.
This month we are going to ask, “What was it about Jesus that caused so many people to stumble?” We’re also going to look at how Jesus can “scandalize” us today. And finally, we’ll look at the “scandalous” life of discipleship that he has called each of us to live.
A Scandalous Beginning. What was so scandalous about Jesus? Plenty! In fact, his life on earth began under a cloud of scandal: his mother, Mary, was found to be pregnant before she and Joseph, her betrothed husband, came together (Matthew 1:18-19). Of course, we know that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, but some of the people in her hometown of Nazareth could have concluded that Mary had broken the commandments. Imagine how news like that would have spread throughout their small village!
But beyond this scandal, the larger one—the real stumbling block—came thirty years later, when Jesus claimed that he was the Son of God. For centuries, the Jews had proclaimed, “The Lord is God and there is no other” (1 Kings 8:60). How could Jesus dare to say, “Before Abraham came to be, I AM” (John 8:58)? The claim was so shocking, in fact, that there were some who “tried all the more to kill him because he . . . called God his own father, making himself equal to God” (5:18).
Then there were the details of Jesus’ life. He didn’t come to us as a powerful or victorious leader the way the Messiah was expected to come. He came in poverty and lowliness. He didn’t come to an influential family in the holy city of Jerusalem. Instead, he came to an ordinary carpenter in a small town in Galilee. The God who created the universe came to us as a poor and humble man! How could anyone accept that this man was God’s own Son?
Lord of the Sabbath? As Jesus traveled throughout Israel performing all sorts of miracles, he continued to shock and scandalize people. It usually wasn’t the miracles themselves; it was the fact that he performed many of them on the Sabbath, the day of rest. Some Jews felt that no one should do work of any sort on the Sabbath, not even miraculously restore someone to health. And so, after Jesus had healed a woman on one Sabbath—in the synagogue, no less—the leader rebuked him and the woman: “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured” (Luke 13:14).
When he heard words like these, Jesus often responded in an even more stunning way: he referred to himself as “lord . . . of the sabbath” (Mark 2:28). How could a mere man call himself that? God himself had instituted the sabbath day of rest through Moses. Was Jesus attributing to himself the authority that belongs to God? What’s more, as the “lord of the Sabbath,” Jesus showed that mercy was at the heart of God’s command to rest on the Sabbath. That’s how he explained his healing of a woman who had been bent over for years: “This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?” (Luke 13:16).
Jesus also scandalized some people by sharing meals with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other “sinners” (Matthew 9:10). Many thought that sharing table fellowship with someone implied that you approved of everything about them. For others, it also entailed a degree of risk: to eat with a sinner was to become ritually unclean yourself. So how could Jesus, a faithful, observant rabbi, justify such “sinful” activities? Wasn’t he leading others astray? How could he, at the same time, claim to be speaking for God?
In perhaps the most scandalous act of all, Jesus actually told a man, “Your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5). People were astounded—especially the scribes who heard it! These scholars of the Jewish law knew that only God can forgive sins, yet here was Jesus openly and freely proclaiming forgiveness. Jesus had blasphemed by offering only what God could offer!
Deepening Scandal. As Jesus continued to preach and to teach, he had increasingly tense run-ins with some of the Jewish leaders. They were aware of what he was implying (and sometimes forthrightly claiming). Scandalized by it all, they began to push back. Rather than listening more carefully or humbly asking Jesus to explain, they challenged him. It was as if they didn’t even want to believe in him. But Jesus answered each challenge with words that only scandalized them further.
- After he multiplied the loaves and fish—and after a number of Jews challenged him to give them more food—Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35).
- After he healed a paralyzed man—again on a Sabbath—some of the people “began to persecute” him for breaking the sabbath restrictions (John 5:16). But Jesus responded by telling them, “Whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life” (5:24).
- When some of the leaders kept pressing him to prove himself yet again, Jesus replied, “You do not believe, because you are not among my sheep” (John 10:26). Then, to drive home the point that he was the “good shepherd” sent by God, he declared, “The Father and I are one” (10:11, 30).
- Finally, when faced with the death of his dear friend Lazarus, Jesus challenged everyone by making this ultimate claim about himself: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). And to prove it, he raised Lazarus—who had been dead for days—with a simple command: “Come out!” (11:43). It’s this claim and this miracle that finally tipped the scales for the chief priests and the scribes: “From that day on they planned to kill him” (11:53).
Where Can We Go? It’s not surprising that many people walked away from Jesus. It’s not surprising that the chief priests plotted to kill him. His claims were too scandalous, and his call was too costly. But not everyone turned away from him. At one point, Jesus asked his closest disciples, “Do you also want to leave?” “Master,” Simon Peter replied, “to whom shall we go? . . . We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:67-69). Peter and the others decided to stay—even “to die with him” if necessary (11:16).
Peter is our model. In the midst of all the scandals, he offered the best response of all: faith. Not only an intellectual acceptance of a set of doctrines, but a personal, vibrant faith that moved him to throw in his lot with the Lord.
This is the kind of faith that Jesus invites all of us to have. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this is the kind of faith in which “with his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer” (143). This is the kind of faith that looks beyond the scandals and the rumors and the hypocrisy—even in our own hearts—and sees Jesus as someone worth believing in and following.
Lord, I Believe! Jesus was such a scandalous figure when he walked the earth! But even today, he continues to scandalize. His claims about himself, the humble and simple way he lived, and the radical nature of his teachings can seem so different from the way the world functions. He can even scandalize us who believe in him. But it’s okay to be scandalized. It’s okay to feel confronted by the challenge of the Christian life—as long as we stay close to the Lord and ask him to help us remain faithful to him.
So look to Jesus today. Tell him about where you are struggling with his call. Then say with Peter, “Lord, where else can I go? I believe you are my Savior, so I will trust you and try my best to follow you. I trust that you will help me when I find it hard to believe in you. I believe you will help me when I stumble over your words and am tempted to walk away. Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
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