In my readings recently, I read the parable of the sower.
3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
18 ¶ Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Actually the parable relates more to the condition of the soil where the seeds are cast.
When the disciples of Jesus ask for an interpretation, he graciously gives it. The one part that really struck me was relating to the seed choked by weeds (first see Matthew 13: 5+6 for the portion of the parable I want to focus on, then for the interpretation see later in the same chapter for verses 20+21).
What does the word offense really mean? I went and looked at a definition in Merriam-Webster's
Dictionary on the internet and found the following:
Definition of OFFEND
intransitive verb
1a : to transgress (see TRANSGRESS transitive 1) the moral or divine law : SIN
• if it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive
• —William Shakespeare
b : to violate a law or rule : do wrong
• offend against the law
2a : to cause difficulty, discomfort, or injury
• took off his shoe and removed the offending pebble
b : to cause dislike, anger, or vexation
• thoughtless words that offend needlessly
There are 2 key meanings for me here:
Obviously where God is concerned, it involves the disobedience of mankind. God will be angry because he loves his children and wants them all to return to him, sin places a barrier between mankind and God. Where mankind is concerned, offence can be taken by mankind when criticism of their sins are exposed or chastised.
The Saviour points out that when the Gospel message is given, many in the world will be offended. (See Matthew chapter 11, especially verse 6 below)
2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
In the verse of Matthew 13:41 listed below, shows offense from the perspective of God. Ultimately God is offended because he is a just God and sin cannot be allowed in his presence. Remember that is why Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden, even though they did not “know” good and evil, their transgression resulted in their expulsion from the presence of God.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
So ultimately offence is when a person hears what another is saying and the effect of hearing that statement causes that person to be emotionally hurt. Then as a result of that feeling of hurt, that person responds defensively. Usually the intention of the hurt person will be to ignore or forget the painful comment. Occasionally the hurt person can respond aggressively, by word (not so much a problem) or by violent reaction (a dangerous problem). This problem will occur in particular when the critical comment is directed towards religious conduct or beliefs.
As Jesus points out, many ancient prophets were persecuted, when delivering their message to a wicked Israel. These ancient prophets suffered terribly or even died as a result of that persecution. The sufferings and deaths of these ancient prophets was a symbolic forerunner to the eventual destiny of Christ himself.
So how do we handle being offended? Do we lash out or are we emotionally strong enough to handle criticism? Can we use the critical observations of others for our own advantage?
I had a friend who was much older than me. His personality was that of extreme emotion. I will never forget when he seriously rebuked me for not doing something that was expected of me. I will never forget the sharpness of the comment, fortunately for me, even though his words stung me, I was able to fix my error of omission. We remained the best of friends until the day he died, many years later.
My wife is another person who is also strong like that, but she is much more careful with her comments. Yet she has offended several of my friends who did not continue their friendship with us. Their egos were just too fragile.
I believe there is value in being offended. But we have to stop the complete cycle of response which makes offense so displeasing to God. Yes, we must hear, but despite the pain caused by what we have heard, we must reflect inwards and find what we can use for our own benefit. Sometimes we just have to ignore what others say because they may not know all the facts of the whole situation and make an incorrect statement.
I often find that those whose mouths flap the loudest, are the most vulnerable in their sensitivity. In other words, they can dish it out” as the expression goes, but they can’t take it!
To be humble is NOT to be weak.
Rather it shows a great deal of internal strength.
