Blessed are the Unoffended
Sometime around the year 29 AD, John the Baptist was thrown in prison for rebuking Herod’s unfaithfulness to his wife, then marrying his sister-in-law. John sat in prison, probably underground, dark and contained. After spending years in the wild glory of the open desert, prison must’ve felt brutal. This John was a close relative of Jesus who likely grew up with Him, he was in Elizabeth’s womb right alongside Jesus in Mary’s womb. His destiny was to prepare the people for the coming Messiah. He spent much of his life in the wilderness, just to have six months of ministry before he was imprisoned. This is the man who literally baptized the Son of God, and watched the Holy Spirit descend on Him when He came up out of the water. We can’t fathom the honor or responsibility of baptizing the Messiah, and neither could he.[1]
It’s curious what happened in between these glorious experiences and intimate encounters with Jesus Himself, and the lowest point of his life—rotting in prison and waiting to be beheaded. While there, he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus a question more weighty than I can describe: “Are You the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”[2]
After all his thirty-something years had held—the closeness of his relationship with Jesus, the things he saw, the purpose he dedicated his life to—John still doubted. He doubted that Jesus even was who He said He was, that He was the promised One John had sacrificed his life to serving.
I can only imagine how this question would’ve sounded to Jesus. His response is quintessential Messiah:
In that hour He healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, on many who were blind He bestowed sight. And He answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.”[3]
“Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.”
Why would Jesus say this? John didn’t mention anything about offense, right? The poor guy was trapped in brutal circumstances, and just wanted to know if he gave his life to the right king.
But Jesus knows what’s in our hearts. Countless times in Scripture, we see Him say something that doesn’t fully make sense to us based off of what’s happening, like He’s addressing something that hasn’t even been said—because He sees what’s inside of us. He knows our thoughts, our hearts, our intentions; and often He responds to those, rather than what we’re saying out loud.
There were many reasons John could’ve been offended. After all he’d given up to serve God, as an innocent man, he was going to spend the end of his life in a dingy prison before getting beheaded—just for doing the right thing. Although he didn’t say it to the two people he sent to ask Jesus this question, it’s very possible it came out of offense. Jesus’ own words about this man were “among those born of women” (in other words, everyone) “there is none greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”[4] Though there was no human greater than John, he was still a fallen and broken sinner with fear and skepticism in his heart.
Jesus—the all-compassionate, rich in mercy, meek and lowly God—responds in love toward the doubt of His beloved friend. It’s no surprise He tells us to “have mercy on those who doubt”[5], this is what He Himself did. He didn’t rebuke John for being weak after all the proof he’d seen. Instead, He displays His power yet again, turning from the question asked to Him and immediately healing multitudes of people right in front of their eyes. He reminds His brother, “the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor receive good news. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.”
To me, there are at least two ways that last line can be read.
Either Jesus knows that John has offense in his heart for what he’s been through, and He’s addressing what John isn’t admitting out loud. Or, Jesus knows that this question is not coming out of offense, and reminding John that though it may not seem like it right now, he is truly “blessed.”
Only Jesus knows who is “the one who is not offended” by Him.
If we search our own hearts, and ask the Spirit to do the same, chances are we’ll find some areas where we might be offended by God.
And before I highly recommend purging out whatever might have you offended by Him, let me clarify that I’m well aware that’s the least popular thing to do right now. Our culture is celebrating and condoning offense toward nearly everything—especially toward Christ and His bride. The trending, crowd-pleasing, cool thing to do is to harbor offense towards God and His church and spread it to others like wildfire. So, I’ll start by stating that our aim should never be people-pleasing.[6] And once we’ve accepted that this world is going to hate us,[7] we can open ourselves wide to the loving hands of the Master Surgeon, who is able to heal a problem before we’ve even identified that it’s there. He is trustworthy when we bring our offense to Him and allow Him into the most touchy subjects in our hearts. As much as we might feel that God’s condemning us for not “getting it right,” we have to move past the stage of projecting our own conditional love onto Him. If He was this kind in His response to John the Baptist when he doubted, surely He will be merciful with us too.
When God asked Abraham to give up his beloved son Isaac, the promised gift he and Sarah had waited for, the miracle they never thought they’d receive… what was his response?
Not offense, but obedience:
Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.[8]
When the time came for Hannah to give up her beloved son Samuel, the child she cried out and begged God for, the miracle that came to a barren womb… what was her response?
Not offense, but worship:
She said to him, As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord, his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.”[9]
When the bride of the Song of Songs goes looking for her beloved, she finds that he’s hidden himself from her for a time. A picture of a faithful follower of Jesus who feels that He’s left them, she fights off feelings of abandonment and chooses to believe in who she knows Him to be. When He tested her and she couldn’t see Him, what was her response?
Not offended, but lovesick:
I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer. If you find him, tell him I’m lovesick.[10]
Possibly the most “offensive” example of all: when the Canaanite woman approached Jesus in Tyre and Sidon, begging Him to heal her daughter, at first He didn’t even answer her. His disciples even asked Him to send her away because they were tired of her asking for help. Jesus replied that He was only sent for the house of Israel, and the children’s bread shouldn’t be thrown to the dogs. Now, we have the luxury of having the many teachings of Jesus and countless texts that explain who He came for, how He gives us access to the Father, how the lowly get to see Him, how He desires that all would come to Him. But she didn’t. This test could’ve easily offended her beyond belief, it’s hard to imagine having these words spoken to you and not being insulted. Her response is chilling:
She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.”[11]
Not offense, not entitlement—but immediate recognition of His authority and deity.
Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.[12]
I believe this is one of the many reasons Jesus said to a doubting Thomas, “blessed are those who have not seen yet still believe.”[13] We want to see God with our own eyes, we want to see Him move on our behalf, we want to be delivered of what plagues us, we want miracles, we want proof. None of which are bad— and yet, God honors the faith of the one who doesn’t see these things, and chooses anyway to place their trust in Him. The blind faith of the bride in the Song of Songs says, “though I cannot see You, I know You’re there.” The blind faith of the Canaanite woman says, “though this test appears unkind, I know that You are not.” The great faith of Abraham and Hannah says, “I was never entitled to having this gift, but You gave it anyway, and now I give it back to You.”
He will not fail us when we choose to trust Him through our blindness. He will not leave us in the dark.
If we sow offense, we will reap offense.[14] The peace of your life starts the day you look at God and say, “You are allowed to give or take anything from me. You owe me nothing. It is I who owe you my life.”
Autumn Crew is the Managing Editor of FAI Publishing. She lives in the Middle East and serves a number of disciple-making initiatives, including HAVEN Addiction Refuge.
[1] Matthew 3:13-16
[2] Luke 7:19
[3] Luke 7:21-23
[4] Luke 7:28
[5] Jude 1:22
[6] 1 Thessalonians 2:4, Galatians 1:10, Proverbs 29:25
[7] John 15:18-23
[8] Genesis 22:3
[9] 1 Samuel 1:26-28
[10] Song of Solomon 5:6-8
[11] Matthew 15:27
[12] Matthew 15:28
[13] John 20:29
[14] Galatians 6:7-9