In preparation for the Easter season, I read D.A. Carson’s new book, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. In it, Carson unpacks five Biblical texts and through those texts, explore the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection.
Dr. Carson writes in his preface:
“Nothing is more central to the Bible than Jesus’ death and resurrection. The entire Bible pivots on one weekend in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. Attempts to make sense of the Bible that do not give prolonged thought to integrating the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are doomed to failure, at best exercises in irrelevance. Jesus’ own followers did not expect him to be crucified; they certainly id not expect him to rise again. Yet after these events their thinking and attitudes were so transformed that they could see the sheer inevitability that Jesus would die on a cross and leave an empty tomb behind, and absolutely everything in their lives was changed.”
One reading of this book simply isn’t enough. Dr. Carson works through Matthew 27:27-51; Romans 3:21-26; Revelation 12; John 11:1-53; and John 20:24-31. This book helps shed light on the meaning of the cross and resurrection in our own lives…and what could be more powerful than that.
Perhaps my favorite part of this book is it’s sheer accessibility. I admit that I’m a reader. I have been since my mother would ground me to a bed with a stack of books. But Scandalous is easily readable and understandable. You don’t need a theological dictionary and a concordance. And perhaps that’s the greatest gift Dr. Carson could have given us – a book rich in theological truth that we can actually grasp!
