”And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.“ (KJV Matthew 26:30-31, see also KJV Mark 14:26-27)
When Jesus tells his disciples, who had all ready been with him through so much, that even they would be offended because of him, what did he mean? When they had forsaken all to follow him, how could they be offended because of him?
In this context, the word “offended” may mean something different from what it might mean in other circumstances. Here, to be offended can refer to being severely disappointed or shocked by an unwanted and unexpected result.
When an armed guard comes to take Jesus, his disciples are ready to fight for him. Peter raises his arm with a sword against a servant of the high priest and “smote off his ear” (KJV Matthew 26:51; see also Mark 14:47; Luke 22:50; John 18:10). Instead of being grateful for and encouraging this behavior, Jesus responds to this act by saying, “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (KJV Matthew 26:52-54). This response for Peter to disarm is unexpected and may have caused Peter to doubt his assessment of the situation. Perhaps he is overreacting. Maybe this isn’t as bad as it looks and Jesus will be safe without needing to be defended.
As events proceed, Peter becomes the prototypical example of being offended where, three times, he denies that he knows Jesus. But the warning of Jesus is not to Peter alone. All of his disciples are, in one form or another, going to be offended because of him.
Thomas is deeply “offended” at what happens as events unfold when Jesus is severely beaten and brutally crucified, and then dies. So deeply does this offend him that he mourns the loss of Jesus bitterly in his soul. Even after several days, and excited testimony from close friends of the resurrection of Jesus, he refuses to be comforted and believe that it actually could be true. The “offense” is real for Thomas as he deeply mourns the loss of someone he loves so deeply. Even those who have seen Jesus have difficulty comforting Thomas with their words. They are only met with his response that, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (KJV John 20:25).
Thomas is not the only one to refuse to be comforted. Mary, who first sees Jesus at the tomb, is found weeping as circumstances turn from terrible to even worse, when she discovers the body of Jesus is gone from where she expects it to be. The pain of the moment, with its awful disappointment or offense, is real for her.
When the women who see Jesus at the tomb, tell the other disciples that they have seen the Lord, these disciples do not believe them either. As much as Jesus may have tried to prepare them for what would happen, the reality of the situation and the circumstances which brought about his death is so stunning and “offensive” that it shocks all of them. Seeing Jesus suffer and die upon the cross is a scene that is far from the kind of ending that any of them had in mind for where this was going. The anticipated freedom from oppression that he could save them from, seemed lost. This traumatic scene of death is hardly the victory they had in mind when they first followed him and then came to know him as the Son of God.
The difference between the expectations of the disciples and the reality of how things actually unfold is too great for any of them not to be offended. What questions and doubts could have raced through their minds can be nearly unbounded. What if they had done things differently could that horrible scene have been avoided? Couldn’t Jesus have done things differently and still accomplished his purpose? Indeed, all of them were “offended” because of him.
But all the questioning and self doubt really could do nothing to change what happened. After all, Jesus allowed it to happen as he willfully followed his Father’s will, even as a lamb follows his shepherd’s voice to the slaughter.
In the end, the offense was temporary but inevitable. The stark contrast between what is expected and what actually happens is too great to not offend. Is this type of experience of being offended, unique to these disciples of Jesus? Might disciples of Jesus at other times and places also find themselves facing similar moments? Might there be times when Jesus can say to any of his disciples, “you will be offended because of me”? Might this happen even if the disciple has the zeal of Peter to say in his heart, “I will go with you to death! I will never be offended because of you!”?
If it was so with Jesus, might it also follow in the lives of the disciples themselves? Could there be times when an expectation and what actually happens presents a difference so great that even loved ones may find themselves “offended because of me”?