An Offense to His Own Mother

1987

Thoughts or comments?

When he was a scandal to Peter...Peter enjoyed it when Jesus was a scandal to everybody else. Peter thought that was fun. But He became a scandal to Peter, a stumbling stone to Peter when He failed. Because Peter was willing to pay any price as long as Jesus was successful. He’s willing to die for Him under the guise of success, under the Kingdom of God coming through this carpenter. That’s a heavy thought, that the Kingdom of God was coming through a carpenter. Not everybody believed that, and Peter took a lot of credit for himself in actually seeing that. Jesus complimented him for it too. But what he didn’t see was that Jesus was even going to be a scandal to him.

“Simon Peter, satan has desired to have you that he might sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. And when you are converted, Peter...”

“I’ll die for you, Jesus.”

“When you’re converted, Peter, you’re not converted yet. You’ve not faced the scandal of this thing.”

And if you haven’t faced the scandal, the offense of the Cross, you’re not converted, no matter what you think, no matter how committed you are. If you haven’t been scandalized, you’re not converted. Same with Jesus’ mother, Mary. We read another time in Mark where Jesus’ mother and His brothers thought Jesus was out of His mind and went to take possession of Him. And I thought, “Wow, how could that be?” Jesus’ own mother birthed him into the world...

Mark 3:20-21, “Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘Jesus is out of his mind.’”

Mark 3:31, “Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived.”

It says Jesus’ family left “to take charge of him,” and then it says, “Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.”

When I first saw that it just really flipped me out. I knew his brothers thought He was insane. But then it says His family thought He was insane in verse 21. And then it says they went to take charge of Him. And then when they arrived Mary was with them. Mary and His brothers and sisters were with them.

“They went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’”

Jesus’ classic response to, “Your mother and brothers are outside” is, “‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’”

Now that’s the context of that, is His mother and brothers showed up to put Him out of action, to put a straitjacket on Him basically. And I thought about that. How in the world did a woman who birthed a child, saw an angel, the child was borne out of her virginity. How in the world did she miss this point, to the extent that she thought He was out of His mind? How could she possibly have missed that? And then I remembered what Simeon told her when Jesus was eight days old. “This baby is destined to cause the falling and rising again of many.” And then he looked at Mary and said, “And this baby will be an offense to your heart too. A sword will pierce you own soul too” (Luke 2:34-35).

And that’s exactly what happened, is Jesus was even a scandal to his own mother. Incredible. There they are in Acts 1, Jesus’ mother and His brothers are up there in the upper room as a disciple now of Jesus, now converted to Jesus instead of, “Come back home, son” at age 12. And then they’re going to put Him out of commission because they think He’s insane. Making fun of Him. “Everyone who wants to be a public figure comes out into the public, and here’s the feast, here’s a great chance for you.” They were just mocking Him, and even His own mother was in on it. That’s just an incredible thought to me.

What I’m saying is, if He’s not a scandal, then you’re not converted. If He hasn’t become a scandal to you, then you’re not converted. And I’ve been thinking about that a lot. A scandal can only happen when it’s past your discernment point. In other words, you can’t be saying, “Oh, this is a scandal! I get it. This is a scandal.”

It has to be so big and so impressive that you’re faced with this wall. Like we talked about the other night, God help all of us when we’re faced with a scandal this big. Because it’s an immense thing to come up against the Truth of the Word of God in its reality, rather than just a neat, new movement of doctrine and power and relationships and all this kind of stuff. Big deal. Big deal. If it’s not a scandal to you then you won’t be willing to propagate it. You’ll be content to believe it and hang around it. That’s the difference. “When you’re converted, strengthen your brothers.” Your focus turns outward when you’ve paid the price, when you’ve faced the offense of the cross as Paul called it.

Then your focus turns outward because you’ve been crucified with Christ. You don’t live any longer so you’re not going to spend much more time thinking about your ambitions and your popularity with other people. You won’t be able to do that. You’ll see men no longer after the flesh. You won’t see the president of your company as an intimidating force where you’re willing to share with the janitor but you’re not with the president of the company. You’re willing to share with your next-door neighbor but not with your parents. You won’t see men after the flesh once you’ve faced the offense of the cross, and you’ve had your flesh crucified to you and you to the world as Paul said. When you face that scandal then you’ll be willing to do what you need to do, rather than just believe in the right things.

No, but I’ll tell you what, if you’re walking in the truth, if you’re walking in the light as He is in the light, then there’s no question that God will make sure that what you need will be provided you, whatever that might be. You don’t need to conjure anything up. Again, I’m not talking about a big event or something like that. I’m talking about a walk that says, “I’m going to respond, and I’m going to walk with God, and I’m going to obey God. And I’m going to do what God’s called me to do.” In the process, God’s desire is to mold our character and to form us into the full measure of the stature of His Son. Even Jesus learned obedience by His scandal, by the things that He suffered. It said that He had loud moans and wails and tears and was heard because of His reverent submission. Hebrews 5.

You’re going to come to that place, where you’re just going to have to see what’s inside of you is pure cowardice or pure selfishness or pure something or other. You’re going to have to decide what you’re going to do with that, but there’s a scandal involved.