Does This Offend You?

Jesus' followers said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? " (John 6:60b-61)

“Does this offend you?” It is a line that snags me precisely because it runs against the dominant image of Jesus I’ve grown accustomed to… The one that is soft and fuzzy, with warm colors and a golden glow. Smiling Jesus... Gentle Jesus... Surrounded by children and lambs perhaps.

As we saw in early March and the story of Jesus chasing out the money changers in John, Chapter 2, this is a different depiction of Jesus than the one I’m comfortable with. This is a Jesus who provokes, who prods, who challenges… Someone who asks his closest followers point blank, “Do you also wish to go away?”

The question “Does this offend you?” grabs my attention because it offends my sensitivities and sensibilities, the way I think things should be, and that, I'd like to suggest, is something worth tending to...

As a pastor/preacher/teacher/coach, I love a good question. Whether it is leading a bible study, starting a meeting, or helping travel delegations process their visits with their companions in places like Iringa, I certainly have my own list of go-to’s that includes 'gems' like these:

+ “Where have you seen God at work in your life, community, or world?" 

+ “How have you encountered Jesus in the last week, month, or year?” 

+ “When have you tasted the fruits of the Spirit?”

To that list, I now want to add this: “When, where, and how has Jesus offended you?”

We dodge questions of anger and angst at our own peril. There’s truth in our guts that goes unexplored and unrevealed if we are content to grumble along at the surface or skitter away at the slightest ripple of discord. 

Provocative, yes... If Jesus’ question “Does this offend you?” opens a door to greater knowing, it’s follow-up in verse 67 (“Do you wish to go away?”) lands with a forceful punch. Simon Peter hangs with it and his response comes from his gut, “Lord, to whom can we go?” Bypassing questions of propriety and the calculus about whether a teaching is too difficult to be accepted, his confession and statement of belief are embodied. “You have the words of eternal life… You are the Holy One of God.”

As part of my call in Tanzania and Saint Paul, I’ve been doing some work in the area of Intercultural Development – helping people to more faithfully and more deeply accompany their neighbors at home and abroad. As part of that work, I’ve begun to learn just how much of our lives are shaped by many layers of culture and just how much of that exists outside our primary awareness. Each of us floats through life like little icebergs unto ourselves, largely unaware of the mass of feelings, beliefs, and attitudes that we carry along with us well below the surface…

Largely unaware, that is, until collisions occur… until the assumptions that buoy us along run smack into an alternate set from somebody else. Largely, that is, until there is conflict or offense.

It is in those moments of impact that unchecked assumptions are brought to the surface… that embodied and enculturated beliefs, attitudes, and practices that order your life -that you didn’t even know about- are made plain. Once made plain, you can explore where they come from, how they shape you, and what you might do with them in the future…

And so, again, I ask you, “When, where, and how has Jesus offended you?” 

+ Does sharing Christ’s love become offensive when you realize it includes someone whose politics run counter to yours?

+ Does tending to the vulnerable or bringing healing to the sick become offensive when it asks you to curtail some of your own individual liberties?

+ Do calls for God’s justice become offensive when they shift from words on lips to feet on the streets?

If you’ve eve been offended, take heart. Congratulations… You are human! Saint and Sinner, one and the same. 

The bigger challenge is in what comes next… Do you run with that surface level response and mutter about this offense or the other -or- do you stand strong and dig deep… wondering what that response in yourself means mean and why?

Whenever and wherever you find offense, take a breath and stand strong. Lean into it. Note where it lands in your body. Look for the assumptions it surfaces. Why are you reacting the way that you are? What is informing your response and what can you do about it?

As they were for Simon Peter, those points of impact and moments of offense -legitimately painful, though they may be- can be revelatory IF you dare to accept the invitation to explore what’s below the surface… what you really believe with the deepest, sometimes darkest, most often unknown fibers of your very being. 

Make no bones about it, this is soul work and it is no easy task and not for the faint of heart. The arc of John, Chapter 6 makes this clear as the physically satiated and contented crowd turns away. The Good News here is that even as he provokes and prods and offends, Jesus does not turn his back on anyone. 

He is there and He is here -God’s WORD, Spirit, and Life- even as we grumble and fumble about. 

All thanks be to God. Amen.

Originally delivered as part of a Message at Saint Paul Lutheran, Wyoming, MN on 22 August 2021.