This will not be what you are thinking or what you expect. Our Gracious God must know that we are inimitably weary of the world’s salacious news. First, a disclaimer, a mea culpa. I am slacking off today. The bulk of this blog was written by Michael Card, a singer/songwriter and Bible teacher. I share with you, on this slacking-off day within the Christmas season, a poem he wrote. The Greek word from the New Testament is σκανδαλον. Scandalon, meaning “that which causes offense and results in opposition, disapproval or hostility. If you haven’t been paying attention or have forgotten, that word pretty much describes the mission of the Son of Man.

Here is Michael Card’s “Scandalon”.

The seers and the prophets had foretold it long ago

That the long-awaited One would make men stumble.

But they were looking for a king to conquer and to kill.

Who’d have ever thought he’s be so meek and humble?

He will be the Truth that will offend them one and all,

A stone that makes men stumble and a rock that makes them fall.

And many will be broken so that he can make them whole

And many will be crushed and lose their own soul.

Along the path of life there lies this stubborn Scandalon

And all who come this way must be offended

To some he is a barrier, to others he’s the way,

For all should know the scandal of believing.

It seems today the Scandalon offends no one at all,

The image we present can be stepped over.

Could it be that we are like the others long ago?

Will we ever learn to listen and to stumble?

He will be the Truth that will offend them one and all.

A stone that makes men stumble and a rock that makes them fall.

And many will be broken so that he can make them whole.

And many will be crushed and lose their own soul.

And his love for us will always be unconditional.

Pastor Art