As Christians, we all appreciate that the cross is central to our faith. Jesus' death and resurrection are at the core of our beliefs. The events of Holy week and the final days of Jesus' life are probably familiar stories to us. But whilst we may know what happened way back then, do we fully appreciate and understand what those events mean? The entire Bible pivots on that one weekend in Jerusalem 2000 years ago so we must give it our fullest attention.
Scandalous by D A Carson helps us do just that. It is broken into five chapters, based on some lectures he gave.
One usually doesn’t think of irony as being a part of Jesus’ crucifixion; yet, it’s clear that the events of the crucifixion are profoundly ironic. And that's where Carson starts. Taking the Gospel of Matthew, Carson identifies the following four ironies of the crucifixion:
The man who is mocked as King is the King
The man who is utterly powerless is powerful
The man who can’t save himself saves others
The man who cries out in despair trusts God
The second chapter is a powerful exposition on justification and the amazing love of God shown in the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement(Romans 3:21-26).
Chapter three looks at the cross from the apocalyptic view of Revelation. Satan has been cast out of heaven and has no standing before God by which to accuse God’s people. A redeemer—the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world—has risen and Satan is furious (Revelation 12). But death remains the last stronghold. It is our last enemy. Our eternal life begins the moment we are saved by Christ, but our bodies will still feel the effect of sin. And its presence outrages Jesus (John 11:1-53).
The book’s final chapter provides us with a greater appreciation for the Apostle Thomas. Typically when this passage is discussed, Thomas gets a bad rap. He’s “doubting Thomas,” caught on his bad day, perhaps. Oh, how he must be kicking himself over doubting the resurrection, we think! But this is not so. His doubt, it seems, was perfectly reasonable. He did not want to succumb to gullibility, to have the wool pulled over his eyes, suggests Carson (John 20:24-31).
The cross and resurrection of Jesus is scandalous. It kills our pride. It devastates our sense of spiritual self-sufficiency. But it offers us the greatest hope we could ever ask for. Read this book slowly and savour the scandal of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus.
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Dean is the Sales Manager at The Good Book Company. He engages with churches, organisations and individuals to provide them with useful resources for their varying ministries. Dean attends St John's Church in Woking, where he lives with his family.