Offended

"Blessed is the one who is not offended by me," Luke 7:23.

Offended? Offended by Jesus? How in the world do you get offended by Jesus? Well, if God's sent you out to preach repentance to a hell-bound world, and if you've been doing that very thing, and if a king finds your message disturbing, and if you're now in jail, and if it turns out that you'll be beheaded for your preaching, and if you hear that Jesus isn't preaching hell-fire and damnation but heals a foreigner's slave and gives life to some widow woman's kid, and if you hear that Jesus is everybody's darling, well then, that might give you pause about Jesus. But here's the cool thing: Jesus considers John the baptizer (that's who we've been talking about) to be the greatest ever - that is, no other human's greater. Yes. And John finds blessing despite his (earthly) outcome. No offense taken.

With a brother or sister today, we find no offense by Jesus, rather, we joy in the blessing of Jesus' purification. And, together in joyful praise, we bask in the blessing he pronounced.