Luke 7:23 And blessed is he, whoever shall not be offended in me. Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. It was simply inevitable that our Lord, if he laid himself out to do the very best and greatest that could be done, should be an offence to many. "Not to send peace, but a sword," was a purely incidental, but it was a necessary result of such faithfulness as he showed. I. THE OFFENCE TO BE FOUND IN CHRIST. 1. The offence of the Messiahship. Our Lord offended John the Baptist (see preceding homily) by the quietness of his method and the slowness of his results. He offended Peter by foretelling the sorrows and the shame to which he was moving on (Matthew 16:22). He offended Nicodemus by the profundity of his teaching (John 3.). He offended the leaders of religion of his time by denouncing their formality and insincerity. He offended the people by preaching a doctrine too broad for their narrow-mindedness (Luke 4:28), too deep for their shallow-mindedness (John 6:52-66), too elevated for their earthly mindedness. 2. The offence of the cross. (1) The memory of a crucified Nazarene was a stumbling-block to the Jew, who expected something very different from this dishonour (1 Corinthians 1:23). (2) The story of a crucified Jew was foolishness to the Greek. With his venerable mythology, his honoured philosophy, his pride of patriotism, he was not prepared to put his trust in a malefactor executed in Judaea. 3. The offence of the kingdom. In one sense, "the offence of the cross" has ceased. It has become the symbol of all that is beautiful in art, refined in culture, strong in civilization. Yet is there everywhere, yet will there always be, something in Christ that will offend the human soul. For he requires of us that (1) we empty our minds of preconceived ideas, and approach him with the docility of children (Matthew 18:3); (2) we surrender every evil habit, however dear or valuable it may seem to us (Matthew 5:29); (3) we give the first place in our thought and our affections to himself, making even our nearest and dearest human kindred occupy the second place (Luke 14:26); (4) we find our recompense for faithful service in the spiritual and the eternal, rather than in the material and the temporal; (5) we accept his Divine favour and enter his service as those who claim nothing and accept everything at his hand. Many are they who live in our land, who read our Christian literature, who sit in our sanctuaries, and who, for one of these reasons, are offended in Christ. II. THE BLESSEDNESS or THOSE WHO DO NOT FIND IT; who come to learn of him in all docility of spirit; who cheerfully part with all that he condemns that they may follow him; who offer to him their undivided heart; who accept his service that they may receive a spiritual and a heavenly recompense. Blessed, indeed, are they; for: 1. Their hearts will be the home of a heavenly peace, and a joy which no man taketh from them. 2. Their life will rise to a noble height of sanctity, of beauty, of usefulness. 3. On their checkered course will fall the sunshine of their Master's blessing - his consecration of their joy, his overruling of their sorrow. 4. Their life will end in a calm and peaceful hope, which will pass into glorious fruition. Blessed, indeed, is he whosoever is not offended in Christ, but cordially accepts him as the Saviour of his spirit and the rightful Lord of his life. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. |
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