The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 1:23, writes: "We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles."
Why is "Christ crucified" a scandal, and foolishness? Because the idea that God the Son would undergo such horrific suffering seems not the kind of thing a God would do.
Was the suffering horrific? When I watched the movie "The Passion of the Christ" there were several times I needed to run my head away. I couldn't look at it, and yet I thought that the real thing was more horrific than this movie.
German theologian Jurgen Moltmann wrote that “Christians who do not have the feeling that they must flee the crucified Christ have probably not yet understood him in a sufficiently radical way.”
He was despised and rejected by men. . . .
As one from whom men hide their faces he was despised,
and we esteemed him not.
(Isa. 53:3)
