I am intrigued. I have found myself deep –perhaps lost– in thinking of Jesus in context of scandal. Over the last few weeks, I've read books, had random conversation, and even heard songs in which Jesus is referred to as scandalous. Curious, I dive in to find out more.
My initial thought is that of offense: 'No way, the very thought of Jesus being scandalous is rude! Jesus is truth, he is perfect in every way.' True, but the concept is not meant to be offensive towards Jesus. Jesus himself never meant to be scandalous, he came to save, but what he ended up doing in and of itself was scandalous. Let's put some context around the idea of what a scandal is to help us better understand this.
Marriam-Webster's dictionary defines scandal as: "a circumstance or action that offends [conformity to what is socially acceptable in conduct or speech.1.] or established moral conceptions or disgraces those associated with it."
Perfect! What an incredible definition. When you examine this, you can begin to see Jesus in the context of scandal. A circumstance. Jesus is indeed the history shaking circumstance I am referring to, and even though he may have not intended to offend socially acceptable conduct or established moral conceptions, that's exactly what he did. There are plenty of examples in the New Testament where Jesus goes against the established religious and cultural 'norms' of society: Jesus associates with tax collectors and sinners (Mark 2:13-17). Jesus heals on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-27). Jesus dines with Pharisees and woman enters to wash his feet (Luke 7:36-50). Jesus warns against hypocrisy (Matt 23:13-39). Brennan Manning says it best in his book Ruthless Trust: "[Jesus] scandalized the religious establishment of first-century Palestine by his easy rapport with notorious sinners."
At the time, the Pharisees (the church of Palestine) were largely, in a word, legalistic. They were so wrapped up in sticking to the rules and commands of God that they missed out on being a church at all –taking on a role more closely resembling judge. Enter Jesus: this chill, humble guy who blows up the scene, who turns everything upside down. Jesus shows the church and everyone around him that love is indispensable, it is priority one. Without love, there is no point in keeping the law. Kidney shot to the Pharisees. In their minds, the law is absolute, it is paramount. Anytime Jesus did something awesome like heal someone of a debilitating disease, the Pharisees were there to say 'Hey, you can't do that on Sunday!'
What the Pharisees failed to see was that Jesus came along to show the world that the law of God –however true and absolute it may be– doesn't even come close to being as important as His infinite grace and love. God's law is black and white, but His grace isn't. This is what Jesus was trying to tell everyone… this is what he showed us by dying on the Cross.
Matthew 22:34-40 NIV – Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Galatians 5:13-14 NIV – You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
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Joel Houston describes the song Scandal of Grace (Hillsong) in "Behind the Song".2.:
Obviously that Cornerstone is Jesus. It should be no surprise to us that the hardest thing to wrap our heads around is the most powerful gift that comes from Jesus, the gift of grace. I just love the twist of "scandal of grace" as it pertains to a concept we sing about a lot, like "Amazing Grace." Many anthems have been written on the subject over the years, and this kind of turns it on its head a little bit the same way that God turned religion and culture on its head the moment Jesus came to Earth and died for the sins of all mankind.
Jesus' message was scandalous from day one, that's why He ended up on the Cross. To this day, the message of grace is scandalous because it rages against conventional wisdom. We live in a culture where you do the crime, you do the time. The message of Jesus is you do the crime, and He pays the ultimate price so that we can live a life not only set free from our sin, but enabled by His grace to play a part in His incredible plan and purpose and bring His Kingdom to earth, here and now.
The entire law is fulfilled in love. If you maintain the law without love, it is pointless. If you love others and yourself as Jesus does, then the law takes more or less of a back seat. Don't get me wrong, the law has it's place, primarily for those who are outside of faith (i.e. non-believers), but don't you now see and understand? This is what makes it all so scandalous! This is the scandal of Jesus' love through the Father. This is the Scandal of Grace. The Old Covenant of God's Law is blown away and immeasurably miniscule in the shadow of the New Covenant that is the Father's infinite love, modeled and perfectly demonstrated by Jesus' life and His dying on the Cross.
Once you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you come out from under the law to live in perfect freedom, to live in perfect harmony with the Living God.
Galatians 3:23-25 NIV – Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that [Jesus] (this faith) has come, we are no longer under [the law] (a guardian).
1. Brackets containing the definition of 'Propriety' for clarity.
2. Behind the Song by Kevin Davis. http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/article.php?article_id=1077
