There is a scandal at the heart of the Christian faith. This scandal makes it hard for people to believe in the person of Jesus and in the words of Jesus. The scandal is not some kind of hidden moral failing in a leader of a movement that has just come to light. It is out there in public view and is talked about from Christian pulpits regularly. The scandal is this: Christians believe that the Messiah, the Son of God, died a shame-filled death inflicted on him by his own Jewish leaders through the enforcement of Roman law. In a word, the scandal is about the cross on which Jesus suffered death.

Well, why would that be a scandal, you might wonder, especially if you grew up with the idea that Jesus died on a cross for your sins. Isn’t that what Jesus was sent for? Isn’t that what he was supposed to do? We have the hindsight of centuries as the ideas of Christianity have shaped much of the culture in which we live, but to those who were at the event of the crucifixion of Jesus itself and in the ensuing early years of the church, the idea that the Messiah would be subjected to such treatment was unthinkable.

The cross was all of the ugliness of humanity on full display. There was nothing glorious about it, and it would be hard for people to see it as the culmination or climax of Jesus’ earthly life. To casual observers, Jesus must have looked like a beaten, defeated man when he hung on the cross. There was nothing more humiliating than death by crucifixion, and the thought was that if someone was subjected to it, all their self-delusions of grandeur were finally shown for what they were: lies. Messiahs weren’t supposed to die gruesome deaths at their enemy’s hands. Messiahs were supposed to whip up the crowds, take up arms, and throw the dirty Romans out of the country, vindicating the people and re-establishing the old Davidic monarchy.

Pharisees and teachers of the law could smugly point out to you passages in the Old Testament about the curses associated with people who were put to death by the authorities. The tail end of Deuteronomy 21 is particularly instructive on that point: “If someone guilty of capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.” So, if Jesus died on a pole, he was by definition under the curse of God. Messiahs aren’t supposed to be under God’s curse, are they?

The early church was almost exclusively made up of Jewish people in the beginning, and the gospel was preached first to Jews, and then only after to non-Jews (Gentiles). We know from the Book of Acts and the letters of Paul that whenever Paul went into a place for the first time to talk about Jesus, he went first to the Jewish synagogue, and only after the message was rejected did he branch out to other locations. I imagine that the assertion that Jesus of Nazareth was really the Messiah, the Son of God, was nothing short of scandalous to most of Paul’s audience. It seemed absurd that God in all his glory, so unapproachable in his holiness that you couldn’t even speak his name out loud for fear of blasphemy, would then in the course of time reveal himself in the flesh as a human being and then die a shameful death at the hands of the enemies of the people of God.

That scandalous idea of the cross is uppermost on Paul’s mind as he begins his first letter to the Christians in Corinth. He says that to the Jewish people, the crucifixion of Christ is a “stumbling block.” That is how the New International Version translates a word originally written in Koine Greek in I Corinthians 1:23. The word in the Greek spelled out in English is “skandalon.” That is the word we derive “scandal” from. It literally means something you trip over or stub your toe on in the dark. It impedes your way and blocks you from where you should be going.

I imagine there are a lot of people who admire Jesus and his ethical teaching but want nothing to do with the scandal of the cross. We might try to patronize Jesus by saying he was a good teacher, well before his time, a good man who taught people to love one another. As for claims for divinity, or for being able to take away other people’s sins, or coming back on the clouds someday to judge everyone who ever lived — not so much.

I also imagine there are a lot of people who claim Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives who also want nothing to do with the shame of carrying a cross themselves. Jesus can take away my sin and bless me, paving my way to heaven, but it isn’t fair to think he expects me to go through suffering for him, is it?

At the heart of the Christian faith is a call, not only to believe in, but also to act upon. As Jesus takes up a cross, scandalously so, He calls those who want to follow him to join him in the scandal. He tells each would-be disciple that there is a cross fitted for them, and they are to take it up every day. We may try to shy away from it, but it is there, beckoning to us. Christians expose themselves to the derision, mockery and hostility of the world in the name of Christ, sharing the scandal, and sharing the glory as well. This is what I have based my life on as I seek to follow Jesus.

Derek Russell is pastor of the Hillsboro Global Methodist Church. He loves Jesus, family, dogs and football.