Jesus: A Stumbling Block Then, Still A Stumbling Block Today

The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭23:35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Was Jesus the Savior?  Another word for Savior would be Deliverer.  Was Jesus the Deliverer?

The long awaited, eagerly anticipated, desperately hoped for, promised Messiah.  Was Jesus the One?

Jesus claimed He was.

John the Baptist declared He was.

His disciples believed He was.

Many Jews believed He was.

Many Gentiles believed He was.

The religious leaders, the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the High Priest, the Sanhedrin… they all doubted Him.  They wanted to discredit Him.

“IF He is really God’s Messiah…”

If?  If. If!

They doubted.  They wanted to sow doubt.

The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭23:36-37‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Roman soldiers doubted.  They bought the lie the religious leaders were selling, parroting their accusations.

One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭23:39‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Jewish revolutionary hanging next to Jesus doubted too, also parroting their accusations, hurling hate.

“So you’re the Messiah?  Prove it!”

A lot of people believed a lot of things about Jesus.  Why were they so resistant, so loathe to believe that He could actually be who He claimed to be?

And today?  The strategy is the same.

Doubt.

Discredit.

Destroy.

What is so offensive about a Savior, a Deliverer, a Messiah?  Doesn’t everybody love a hero?  Doesn’t everybody love Captain America, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Iron Man, and Wonder Woman?

Yes.  We love the hero.

Yes.  We want to be the hero.

No.  We don’t want to need a hero.

Just like they were telling Jesus to “save himself,” we also want to be able to save ourselves.  We want to be our own hero.  We don’t want a Savior, because that would mean we had to admit that we needed saving.

We want to believe in ourself.

We want to have faith in ourself.

We want to make it by ourself.

Pride.

Be our own God.

Be our own hero.

What kept the religious leaders, the Roman soldiers, and the Jewish revolutionary from believing in Jesus is still the primary barrier that keeps people from putting their faith in Jesus today.

Pride.

Self-sufficiency.

The god complex.

This blogpost originally appeared at: Jesus: a Stumbling Block then, still a Stumbling Block today – Sonlife and is based upon Sonlife’s study, Knowing Him / A 50 Day Study in the Life of Christ / Day 47