On three occasions, Jesus teaches his disciples directly, and not just in parables, that suffering and persecution could be, or will be, stumbling-blocks for them. These three warnings refer to three different time-frames: the immediately impending events of his arrest, trial and crucifixion; the persecution they will face after Pentecost as they preach the gospel to a hostile world; and the tribulation that will come upon the church as the end-time approaches. The order in which these warnings occur, however, is the reverse of the order in which the events themselves will happen. The first warning, referring to the great tribulation, is found in Matthew 24.9-10. Jesus is addressing his 12 disciples, but the warning must be for those disciples who will experience the suffering of the end-times: “they will hand you over for torture” (this word - 'thlipsis' - is translated ‘tribulation’ in the parable of the sower), “and kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations for my name’s sake; and then many will be ‘scandalized’” – the stumbling-block will become a road-block to turn them back from the path of discipleship. The next reference is in John 16.1, and is an inversion of the previous one. Jesus says that he has warned his disciples about the hatred of the world and the persecution they will face as they preach the gospel and become the church “so that you may not be ‘scandalized’”. This again reminds us of the parable of the sower: the seed sown in stony ground shrivelled in the sun rather than being ripened by it because it had no root-growth. Here Jesus is implying that his disciples need to know what to expect in the course of their discipleship, and that to be rooted and grounded in his teaching is the best preparation for the stumbling-block of suffering. A shallow ‘prosperity gospel’ which leads Christians to expect that their voyage to heaven will be all plain sailing leaves them particularly vulnerable when things ‘go wrong’ or get tough: they think that God has deserted them or deceived them, and can quickly stumble and fall in their faith, tripped up by suffering. The parable of the two builders (Matthew 7.24-7) makes the same point with a different illustration: the house that is built on the firm foundation of Jesus’ teaching survives the storms of life, but the house built on sand collapses when the winds blow and the floodwaters rise. The third reference is the most immediate. On the night of his betrayal Jesus warns his disciples (Matt 26.31): “Tonight you will all be ‘scandalized’ in me”, to which Peter (as we have already seen) replies: “Even if all the others are scandalized, I will never be scandalized.” (Mark’s version does not repeat the verb, but is otherwise the same.) The parallel with the two previous examples suggests that here, too, it will be the fear of persecution and of sharing Jesus’ fate that would cause them to trip and stumble in their discipleship; they certainly fled in terror when Jesus was arrested, and Peter’s fear of being identified as one of Jesus’ disciples led to his predicted denial. But there may have been another meaning as well in Jesus’ warning. “You will be scandalized in me” ( a phrase we will find elsewhere) may imply that the disciples’ panic-stricken desertion of Jesus in Gethsemane would be caused, partly at least, by dismay and disappointment: how could their beloved Master and Messiah so meekly allow himself to be arrested ? Why did he not summon twelve legions of angels to rout the arresting soldiers and usher in his messianic reign ? Was Jesus himself the stumbling-block ? We shall return to this startling possibility later.
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
SKANDALON 3 (b): suffering [ii] Jesus' warnings of suffering
On three occasions, Jesus teaches his disciples directly, and not just in parables, that suffering and persecution could be, or will be, stumbling-blocks for them. These three warnings refer to three different time-frames: the immediately impending events of his arrest, trial and crucifixion; the persecution they will face after Pentecost as they preach the gospel to a hostile world; and the tribulation that will come upon the church as the end-time approaches. The order in which these warnings occur, however, is the reverse of the order in which the events themselves will happen. The first warning, referring to the great tribulation, is found in Matthew 24.9-10. Jesus is addressing his 12 disciples, but the warning must be for those disciples who will experience the suffering of the end-times: “they will hand you over for torture” (this word - 'thlipsis' - is translated ‘tribulation’ in the parable of the sower), “and kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations for my name’s sake; and then many will be ‘scandalized’” – the stumbling-block will become a road-block to turn them back from the path of discipleship. The next reference is in John 16.1, and is an inversion of the previous one. Jesus says that he has warned his disciples about the hatred of the world and the persecution they will face as they preach the gospel and become the church “so that you may not be ‘scandalized’”. This again reminds us of the parable of the sower: the seed sown in stony ground shrivelled in the sun rather than being ripened by it because it had no root-growth. Here Jesus is implying that his disciples need to know what to expect in the course of their discipleship, and that to be rooted and grounded in his teaching is the best preparation for the stumbling-block of suffering. A shallow ‘prosperity gospel’ which leads Christians to expect that their voyage to heaven will be all plain sailing leaves them particularly vulnerable when things ‘go wrong’ or get tough: they think that God has deserted them or deceived them, and can quickly stumble and fall in their faith, tripped up by suffering. The parable of the two builders (Matthew 7.24-7) makes the same point with a different illustration: the house that is built on the firm foundation of Jesus’ teaching survives the storms of life, but the house built on sand collapses when the winds blow and the floodwaters rise. The third reference is the most immediate. On the night of his betrayal Jesus warns his disciples (Matt 26.31): “Tonight you will all be ‘scandalized’ in me”, to which Peter (as we have already seen) replies: “Even if all the others are scandalized, I will never be scandalized.” (Mark’s version does not repeat the verb, but is otherwise the same.) The parallel with the two previous examples suggests that here, too, it will be the fear of persecution and of sharing Jesus’ fate that would cause them to trip and stumble in their discipleship; they certainly fled in terror when Jesus was arrested, and Peter’s fear of being identified as one of Jesus’ disciples led to his predicted denial. But there may have been another meaning as well in Jesus’ warning. “You will be scandalized in me” ( a phrase we will find elsewhere) may imply that the disciples’ panic-stricken desertion of Jesus in Gethsemane would be caused, partly at least, by dismay and disappointment: how could their beloved Master and Messiah so meekly allow himself to be arrested ? Why did he not summon twelve legions of angels to rout the arresting soldiers and usher in his messianic reign ? Was Jesus himself the stumbling-block ? We shall return to this startling possibility later.
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