A Holy Week offense
Lori Borgman | Monday, April 06, 2009
We have turned being offended into a national
pastime.
We are offended by slights in traffic and pushy
people in the checkout line. We are offended when someone is overly
kind (condescending) or a touch cold (arrogant).
A woman can be offended when a man comments on
her physical appearance and she can be offended when a man does
not. (Keep trying, fellas.)
We are offended when people make snap judgments
and offended when they can’t make up their minds fast enough.
Special interest groups are offended when others
take note of the features that set them apart, the same way they
are offended when others overlook the features that set them apart.
So many offenses, so little time.
Watchdog groups monitor public figures and scratch
hatch marks onto tally sheets every time they perceive an offense.
And then there are the watchdog groups watching the watchdog groups.
Taking offense has become a means of strutting,
intimidating and seizing control of the microphone.
Being offended with the right attorney by your
side can be lucrative.
The supreme offense is before us right now – holy
week -- the days when Christians commemorate the Last Supper, the
betrayal of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection.
The cross is genuinely offensive. It offended
2,000 years ago the same way it offends today. It is so offensive,
that we soft sell it or turn away altogether.
A number of Easter cards under the religious heading
this year feature verses that say, “Wishing you the birth of Spring
and all good things.”
Jesus Christ was betrayed, denied and crucified,
the most defining moment in the history of the church and a pivotal
benchmark in the history of time, and a card company translates
it into a chick, a rabbit and three pastel eggs with a glitter overlay
for only $2.99.
If I was the type to take offense, I would.
USA Today recently ran a cover piece about the
decline of faith in the United States. The reporter quoted an Episcopalian
theologian in South Carolina who recalled a couple coming into his
office with a yellow pad of their teenage son's questions. One of
them was: “What is that guy doing hanging up there on the plus sign?”
If ignorance was grounds for offense -- oh well.
Christ’s death on the cross was God telling the
human race that we are totally and completely incapable of cleaning
up our own mess – so He had someone else do it for us.
We are offended by the cross because it shouts
that every human being is guilty (an offensive concept). The cross
says our sins (an offensive word) are repugnant to a holy God --
from the lying and cheating to the pyramid schemes, the waste and
lust for more. From the whispers of gossip to the betrayal of vows,
the everyday unkindness and small cruelties, God finds it all reprehensible.
Imagine that, God offended by us.
In a most offensive means of executing justice,
God preordained that an innocent man would be the atonement for
the offenses of the guilty.
The cross casts a long shadow of offense. Be offended.
Then go one step further and be forgiven.
