"Does this offend you?"

Jesus was healing the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the poor. Matthew 11:4-5

He then said, "Blessed are those who are not offended in Me." Matthew 11:6

If someone today claims to heal the sick in the name of Jesus because Jesus is the healer Matthew 4:23-24 and the same, yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13:8 are people offended?

Jesus healed a man who was diseased for 38 years. John 5:5-9

People saw the healed man carry his mat and told him that it was against the Law to do it on the Sabbath. John 5:10

He told them that Jesus said to do it. John 5:15

For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. John 5:16

Looks like they were offended at Jesus.

At another time, Jesus healed on the Sabbath Day a man that was born blind. John 9:1-7, 14

Religious leaders said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." John 9:16

They were offended, weren't they?

Another healing by the Lord was of a woman who was bent over and couldn't raise herself for 18 years. It was on the Sabbath Day. Luke 13:10-13

But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day." Luke 13:14

He was offended, wasn't he?

The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?" Luke 13:15-16

The justification for doing well on the Sabbath Days, including healing people, was that Jesus said His Father works and so He works also. John 5:16

Jesus asked those in a religious meeting, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they kept silent. Mark 3:1-4

As a reply to their silence, Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. Mark 3:2, 5

Were they offended by this?

Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him [Jesus], how they might destroy Him. Mark 3:6

When Jesus talked about people eating His flesh and drinking His blood and that He was the bread that came down from heaven, some of His disciples said that this was hard to take. John 6:50-60

When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. John 6:61-64

Were they offended?

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. John 6:66

Could the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of His body of believers, the Church, Ephesians 1:22-23 say to any of us, "Does this offend you?"

"Are you offended at Me or My words? Are you ashamed of some of My sayings as recorded in the Bible or some of My doctrines as taught by the New Testament writers?" Mark 8:38; 1 Corinthians 11:23; Galatians 1:11-12

Instead of being offended, why not take Jesus for Who the Bible says He is and what He did and said on the earth, and what He has done through His followers? Mark 16:19-20; John 20:30-31; Acts 5:12; 14:3

Rather than being offended at Him, we can be pleased with Him.

We can join with the multitudes who rejoice for all the glorious things done by Him. Luke 13:17

"Lord, You are my champion. You are my Savior. There is no one like You. You are Who I want and need. All that You have been and are, this is Who I want You to be to me and through me to help others. Thank you."

Your thoughts?

R. Jason