No Offense

Adding “no offense” to a statement makes me laugh. It is so ridiculous that you can say whatever you want, then add “no offense” and that makes it okay. Clearly this isn’t actually acceptable. If you have to add “no offense” to what you are saying that is probably a good sign that you should just not say it. But still, quite funny. No offense.

There is a meme circulating on social media (as we find ways to fill our time in the midst of these “stay at home” days) where respondents give ten unpopular opinions they have, ten things that they don’t like that most everyone else does. For example, an unpopular opinion I have is this: the idea that any government official could possibly have enough information to be able to decide which businesses are and are not “essential” is so utterly preposterous that it makes my head spin. Literally. Except not. No offense.

Anyway it got me thinking about all the things Jesus said that people found objectionable. Since Jesus wrote all of Scripture, literally, the offensive things He said can come from every corner of Scripture, but for the sake of not having the red ink go to waste I will stick to 10 things Jesus said that people found offensive realizing that Jesus, being God, means He never needed to say, “no offense.”
*This was actually really easy so I could have gotten them all from the Gospel of Matthew and there are probably closer to 50 things in the Gospel accounts.

In no particular order.

1. “…If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”  (Matt. 7:11). This is in the Sermon on the Mount which begins with the oft-quoted beatitudes but rarely does one get to the part where Jesus calls His entire audience evil.
2. “On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt 7:22-23). Jesus identifies those who think pointing to their magnificent works will get them into heaven and says that will not be the case.
3. “Take heart, My son, your sins are forgiven” (Matt 9:2). “Blasphemous” for one to declare they could forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. And yet Jesus is God.
4. “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). Jesus said this to the Pharisees, the most religious group of Jews in that time.
5. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matt. 15:26). Jesus said this to a Gentile woman, calling her and all Gentiles dogs. Somehow she didn’t get offended though; she trusted in Him.
6. “But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man’” (Matt. 16:23). He said this to one of His most faithful followers.
7. “Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21). Who likes taxes?
8. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! … Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides … You blind fools! … You blind men! … hypocrites! … You blind guides! … hypocrites!… You blind Pharisee! … hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs … you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. … Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! … You serpents, you brood of vipers …” (Matt. 23:13-33). 
9. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:53-57).
10. “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58) with “The Jews answered, ‘We have a law, and according to that law He ought to die because He has made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). Jesus was crucified for being Who He is, God. 
11. And in our own day, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40). To His disciples but with applications for me and all who trust in Him regardless of our circumstances. Why so afraid.