Top 10 Scandals Honorable Mentions:
Though millions worship him now, the religious leaders of his day saw Jesus as a scandalous troublemaker deserving death. In fact, he scandalized the religious leaders so many times we couldn’t even include them all. Here are some of our favorites:
Jesus Eats With Sinners And Tax Collectors
Luke 19:1-10
Chapter 19
1 He entered and was passing through Jericho.
2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn't because of the crowd, because he was short.
4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."
6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.
7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."
8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much."
9 Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
Jesus Kicks The Money Changers Out Of The Temple
Mark 11:1-2
Chapter 11
1 When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,
2 and said to them, "Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Untie him, and bring him.
3 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs him;' and immediately he will send him back here."
4 They went away, and found a colt tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him.
5 Some of those who stood there asked them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?"
6 They said to them just as Jesus had said, and they let them go.
7 They brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their garments on him, and Jesus sat on him.
8 Many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees, and spreading them on the road.
9 Those who went in front, and those who followed, cried, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
11 Jesus entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
12 The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry.
13 Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
14 Jesus told it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" and his disciples heard it.
15 They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves.
16 He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple.
17 He taught, saying to them, "Isn't it written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?' But you have made it a den of robbers!"
18 The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, for all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.
19 When evening came, he went forth out of the city.
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.
21 Peter, remembering, said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away."
22 Jesus answering said to them, "Have faith in God.
23 For most assuredly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and doesn't doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says happens; he shall have whatever he says.
24 Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.
25 Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.
Jesus Calls Out The Religious Leaders
Matthew 23:1-39
Chapter 23
1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,
2 saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses' seat.
3 All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don't do their works; for they say, and don't do.
4 For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.
5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringes of their garments,
6 and love the chief place at feasts, the chief seats in the synagogues,
7 the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi, Rabbi' by men.
8 But don't you be called 'Rabbi,' for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.
9 Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.
10 Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.
11 But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.
12 Whoever will exalt himself will be humbled, and whoever will humble himself will be exalted.
13 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
14 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don't enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of Gehenna as yourselves.
16 Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor.'
17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
18 'Whoever will swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever will swear by the gift that is on it, he is a debtor.'
19 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
20 He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.
21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who is living in it.
22 He who swears by the heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law - justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!
25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness.
26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside of it may become clean also.
27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,
30 and say, 'If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'
31 Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are sons of those who killed the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
33 You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
34 Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them will you kill and crucify; and some of them will you scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;
35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.
36 Most assuredly I tell you, all these things will come on this generation.
37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!
38 Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you will say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Translation: World English Bible