“And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’” Mark 14:27 ESV
Reflection: what offends you?
Our current culture has a serious language issue. We see big words being trivialized. And in some cases, we see the complete opposite where words are used as weapons. Language is not used correctly; it is being used as a tool for someone to get their way. One such word is “offend”, or “being offended”. We hear this used all the time, “It offends me that you would make such a remark.” Since most don’t want to offend anyone, we adjust what we say. We end up being very careful with our word choices so “no one is offended”. But as a result, the message becomes watered down. Unfortunately, this is also true within the church. Preachers don’t want to offend anyone in the congregation, even visitors, so the message is like a “comfort blanket”, it’s cuddly and nice. No sharp edges. Nothing that can hurt our pride. But, what is a comfort blanket used for?
To help us fall asleep.
When we read the scripture, sermons by Jesus, Peter, Paul, and so on, we do not find any “comfort blanket” sermons. They are like alarm clocks, waking up our souls. There is nothing cuddly about them. In the focus verse today, Jesus is talking with His disciples at the last supper, right before He is betrayed. “And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’” Mark 14:27 ESV. Wow!! Talk about an alarm clock going off!! How offensive to the disciples, who have dedicated the last three years of their lives to follow Jesus. Right?? Jesus saying that they would ALL fall away from Him. ALL. He had just called out Judas, that he would betray Jesus. But hearing this, the rest of them are just offended. Let’s read their responses. “Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.”
And they all said the same.”Mark 14:29-31 ESV
They ALL said the same. They would rather die than fall away, or run away from Jesus. Clearly we know what happened. But let’s stop for a moment on this one claim Jesus made, that they all would “fall away”, according to the ESV translation. If we look at NKJV, it says “Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered.’” Mark 14:27 NKJV. “Be made to stumble”, which is a bit different. In the KJV it says “And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” Mark 14:27 KJV. There it is – “You will be offended because of me”. Wow. Now that is a powerful application of the word offended, right? They literally deserted Jesus, ran away in fear, leaving Him standing there facing the mob all by Himself. Their words “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” said only a couple hours didn’t seem to mean anything, right??
So is there hope for these 11?
You might have noticed that I skipped over a verse, in what Jesus told the disciples. After telling them that they would desert Him, run away in fear, He also said “But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.” Mark 14:28 KJV. He knew their hearts, that they would repent of being offended by the Lord. That deep inside there, they truly loved Him, even if for a moment they doubted Him and ran away. It is such a beautiful message of pre-restoration. But also of choice and free will. While Jesus knew their hearts, and ultimately their actions, He still didn’t tell them what they should or would do beyond being offended and running away. But He said that He would be going before them to Galilee, to wait for them to come to Him.
While Jesus message exposed them, woke them up, like an alarm clock at 5am. But through this, their faith in Jesus was also solidified. But they had to choose to repent and to follow Him. So what about us? Is our church, our pastor offended by anything in the gospel, avoiding to teach on certain topics? Would we run away if Jesus came to teach “alarm clock” topics in our church?
