July 22, 2020

Matthew 15: 12 (NIV)

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

Jesus did not soften his words in the face of danger.*

Those disciples! You gotta love ‘em. What did they think Jesus was going to do when he heard that he had offended the Pharisees? Apologize? Make a run for it? Water down his message? Or were they trying to stir things up a bit? Maybe they thought Jesus would confront those self-righteous Pharisees. Wouldn’t that have been fun to watch? 

When we offend someone, most times apologizing is the right thing to do. In extreme cases, running away may be necessary. But diluting the gospel message is never the correct response. I don’t believe that Jesus deliberately set out to offend anyone, but he knew it would happen. He knew he would be in danger, but he didn’t run because he had a mission to fulfill. Proactively confronting the Pharisees wasn’t necessary – he knew they would be coming to him. “Leave them,” he tells the disciples in verse 14. Pick your battles. 

Upon learning that we have offended someone, we may be faced with the same choices Jesus faced: 

• Apologize – if we have done something wrong, or if the offense was unintentional but regrettable;
• Run away – if they are the dangerous sort;
• Confront – if we have an issue to settle.

But we should never let fear of offense prevent us from speaking the truth. Jesus models speaking the truth with love and discretion but he never advocates speaking less than the truth. We must stand with the Apostle Paul who said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” (Romans 1: 16.)

In the heat of battle, we find ourselves too vocal about thimble-sized issues and we drag others into the dark abyss of our narrow-mindedness. We would be wise to choose our battles . . . with greater care.*