The Scandal
Did they really do that? Well I never!
There are plenty of scandals to raise our eyebrows or make us gasp in mock horror.
So how about another?
God came to us as one of us
The Bible states it like this: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
God came to us as one of us.
It's an idea central to what we believe as Christians.
Theologians call this 'the scandal of particularity.'
A scandal?
God became human.
A particular, specific human.
God became this and not that.
God became a Jew and not a Gentile.
God became an Israelite and not a European.
God became a poor person and not a rich person.
God became a first-century person and not a twenty-first century person.
As we read more about this particular Jesus we discover not only how he came to earth - but why.
Jesus would one day die so our sins could be forgiven.
And then on the third day - Jesus would come back to life.
Jesus was both God's messenger and God's message.
The message of Jesus can apply to any person of any time and any place.
But the Gospel message is rooted in a specific person, at a specific time in a specific place.
There is no Gospel without this historical Jesus.
The Jesus who was born, lived and died in a particular place at a particular time.
The same Jesus who was resurrected and will one day return.
We might still find it scandalous that God chose to send Jesus the way He did.
But there's a bigger scandal - the scandal of forgiveness. Thanks to Jesus the guilty get to go free.
And there's - gasp with horror - an even bigger scandal than that!
Jesus came to offer that forgiveness to particular people.
Who live in a particular place. At a particular time.
That's you and me. And to us today Jesus says simply: Come, follow me.
Keith Wilson, 29/09/2019