Surprised by Jesus

When God-in-the-flesh showed up twenty centuries ago in Palestine, the religious PhDs rejected him and the prostitutes and social outcasts flocked to him. Why? Because the open welcome of divine grace that Jesus offers, open to anyone who would simply leave their moral resume at home, is not predictable. It is not safe. It is subversive…

In this book, Dane Ortlund reflects on this subversive grace as it uniquely emerges in each of the four Gospel accounts. In each Gospel, the message and mission of Jesus is deeply surprising:

• In Matthew, we see the surprise of disobedient obedience.
• In Mark, we see the surprise of the king undergoing the fate of a criminal.
• In Luke, we see the surprise of the insiders becoming outsiders and the outsiders becoming insiders.
• In John, we see the surprise of the Creator of the universe becoming one of his own creatures.

Such surprises confound our law-marinated hearts. But the good news that Jesus won with his own blood will not be tamed. This good news is subversive. This book exists to exult in this good news and the scandalous mercy Jesus loves to pour out on needy sinners—on people like you and me.