When I first heard this song in worship at church I thought that the scandal referred to in this song was the scandal of my own sin, and how scandalous it is for Christ to be the atonement of my sins, and how unjust it is but at the same time full of love and grace. But after the Easter Sermon at my church as well as some quiet moments of theological thoughts this is what I have come to conclude.
Jesus' crucifiction was possibly the greatest scandal of all time. The night Jesus was arrested was full of scandal, not a public act of
all Jews but the by the priests, whose actions broke
Gods law of holding the feasts sacred. Jesus
was arrested in the dark of night
when all righteous Jews would have been
enjoying their Passover meal and
reflecting on the miraculous
exodus from Egypt.
The priests snuck
out and brought Jesus to Pilot and Herod
to be tried in the darkness of
night. Jesus was tried, "convicted" and sentenced
before the first light of dawn. As Jesus's
followers were waking and filling the streets (those who cried
hosanna hoshena just days before) woke to Jesus being
beaten and paraded through Jerusalem to Golgotha to be crucified. That night indeed was a beautiful
scandalous night.
Had Jesus been
given a "fair" trial in the light of day history would have been completely changed. It was not the majority of the Jews who wanted Jesus dead, but the religious leaders of the day. Jesus had a large following, and had they had a say or a vote, the outcome could have been radically different. Jesus had to suffer in the dark of
night, to take on the sins of the world. Without
the scandal of that night, our scandal would remain unatoned for.
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