The Scandalous Birth of a Scandalous Child

ENCORE PRESENTATION: [Pre-recorded. Do not call in.] "Blessed is he  whosoever shall not be offended in Me." (Matthew 11:6) Christ's birth was SCANDALOUS. Joseph's neighbors and relatives received the news of his wife's "virgin birth" with about the same skepticism as it would've been received today. And the idea of the promised exalted Messiah of the Jews born to "people of the soil" - a lowly carpenter, did not at all fit the rabbinic expectations of the revered teachers of Israel. Even the place of his birth: Nazareth, was scandalous: a town with such bad reputation that even the disciple Nathaniel, when first introduced to Christ said "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). The idea of a prophet from NAZARETH (let alone the Messiah Himself!) , was an absurdity to the Jews.  But there's more: the gospel of salvation itself is called "a scandal": the message and mission of Christ is presented in Scripture as something that people "trip" over, unless they're specifically called by God to believe it! Your host: Rev. Rick Anderson, on "Jewish Roots."