Reading: 1 John 5:5–13
The most scandalous thing about the first Noel was not that Mary and Joseph found no room in the inn. The most shocking thing was not that the Son of Man, destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron, was born in a stable. It was not that Jesus was born dependent on the gifts of others. It was not that Jesus’s parents had to flee with him to Egypt to save his life. The greatest scandal was that—in love for us—God had sent his willing Son to earth on a deadly mission. The squalor of his early life was a pointer to greater scandal to come.
One great scandal of Jesus’s life was his submission to the baptism of John (Matthew 3:13–17). Jesus, the Son of God, whose sandals we are not worthy to untie, submitted to the hands of John placing him under the waters of the Jordan River. There, a perfect human being publicly identified with his sinful but repentant people. Despite the scandal, God testified on that day that he was pleased with his Son.
Yet that was far from the end of the shocking history. Jesus went on to shed his blood for his sinful people. “Jesus Christ the righteous” became “the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1–2). He died in ignominy and shame, rejected by his people, deserted by his disciples, mocked by the Gentiles, and under the just penalty of God for sinners. Yet despite the scandal, God testified three days later that he was pleased—has always been pleased—with his Son.
This scandal was too much for the false teachers of John’s day and many in the centuries hence. They would deny that God could so closely identify with humanity by taking on our nature, identifying with us and dying for us. But John brings the testimony of God to bear against their teaching. God testifies by his own Spirit, by the water, by the blood, that Jesus Christ is his Son and that in his Son is life.
The water and the blood point to Jesus’s complete identification with us and his perfect propitiation in our place. Though outsiders may scoff at the scandal of God incarnate: Christianity is Christ; Jesus is the gospel. The one who has the Son has the only life worth having.
So keep trusting the Son of God. Don’t be swayed by worldly philosophies even when people dear to you have been swayed. Don’t be moved when suffering tempts you to believe it’s not worth it. Contend in your own heart for the faith that is our victory over the world. God has testified: the one who has the Son by faith has life.