I’ll admit it.  I don’t deal with offense as well as I’d like.  I especially have a difficult time when I feel continually disrespected through verbal jabs.  Today I burned and tonight I prayed.  God have mercy…on me.  It made me think, how did Jesus handle provocative remarks?  He isn’t the mamsy-pamsy Jesus we think of, but how did he defend his respect?  Surprisingly it was through story.  The recalling of an old one or the telling of another.   But maybe not so surprising as this was an indirect way of confrontation.
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Conflict in Lk 4:  Why don’t you do miracles in your hometown like you did in Capernaum?
Jesus: Was not Elijah sent to the widow of Zarepheth and not to a widow of Israel?  Was not Elisha sent to cleans Namaan, a Syrian and not an Israeli?

Conflict in Lk 5:   John’s disciples fast and pray but yours don’t. We are Pharisees and we are irritated.
Jesus:  Do you put a new patch on an old wineskin?  Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

Conflict in Lk 6:  Disciples picked  heads of grain for food.  Pharisees ticked.
Jesus:  Have you not read your Bible lately about David eating consecrated food in his hour of need?

Conflict in Lk 7:  Pharisees see Jesus is anointed by a sinful woman and think if he was a true prophet he wouldn’t let her touch him.
Jesus:  Two men owed money.  One a little.  One a lot.  The lender forgave them both.  Which one was more appreciative?  Which one are you?
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And so it goes on.  You get the idea.  When Jesus was insulted, he turned the tables back on them, although  not always in an obvious way.  His confrontation was real, but indirect.  He put them in a similar scenario that they were judging.  When they judged the scenario correctly, they showed their judgment on themselves.  Brilliant.

I know it’s not something I can follow precisely.  Story telling is not my craft.  But Jesus did show himself respect.  He stood up for himself but it didn’t resort to name-calling, expletives (which have been in my head all day), but showing people the true situation.  How that plays out in my desire to overcome offense  I don’t know.   What I do know is this:

“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threads.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”  

He entrusted himself.  Maybe I could do a whole more of just that.

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