When I think of the word “scandal,” I think of a situation that is morally outrageous. I think of the Pertamina Oil Scandal in Indonesia, in which a state-owned energy giant manipulated subsidized oil to the tune of $12 billion. I think of Amazon’s recent $2.5 billion settlement with the FTC over Prime subscription practices. I think of moral breaches, a breaking of trust. I don’t think of Jesus Christ.
But Jesus, to my surprise, is described in the Greek New Testament as a skandalon.
This is weird, because the word is translated as “stumbling block” all over the New Testament. How is a giant rock in the road a scandal? I had to find out what this word meant and how it differed from the word we use today. Something wasn’t adding up.
It turns out that originally (and in contexts outside of references to Jesus) it meant the movable stick or trigger of a trap. It has the feel of an engineering term, referring specifically to the trigger mechanism.
If you’ve ever watched Alone or Survivorman (both of which I’m a fan of), you know that setting these types of traps is a difficult balancing act, involving perfect angles and precariously places loads. It requires a delicate balance. Usually, there is a deadly hazard, such as a rock, held up by a precarious assortment of sticks positioned just right so the rock stays aloft until the trigger is tripped. If set correctly, it is triggered by even the lightest touch, even the press of a mouse’s foot.
This is “passive hunting.” Hunters do not interact directly with the prey. The hunter does not reach out to the hunted; instead, the hunted reaches for the hunter. The animal is lured by the bait to the trigger, and then—WHAM! The end. The victim is not ensnared by a machine the hunter operates; they are ensnared by a machine they trigger themselves.
Naturally, this image makes for an incredible metaphor, which we can trace in both Hebrew literature and ancient Greek. In Amos 3:5, the prophet asks, “Does a bird fall into a net on the ground when there is no trap stick [mokesh] for her?” By the 5th century, Aristophanes was using the term in The Acharnians to describe verbal traps (skandalethra epōn) set by prosecutors.
So, my next question was: why in the world doesn’t the Bible use “trap stick” to describe Jesus?
Jesus is so misunderstood, He seems like the trap stick of a snare. You think you’re getting a King, then WHAM—He’s on a cross, abandoned by His friends, naked, murdered in front of His own mother. You think He’s dead, then WHAM—nope, He’s back from conquering death. This dynamic happens over and over again.
The reason the Bible translates it as “stumbling block” is valid, but it requires context. The Apostles make references Isaiah 8:14 when they call Jesus the Rock. They intentionally want Jesus referred to as a stumbling block. But I think there’s more here, because Isaiah seems to fuse the ideas together:
And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Isaiah 8:14)
This validates my understanding. Isaiah blends the ideas through parallelism. The feeling is that the “rock of stumbling” isn’t just a random boulder in the road that trips people; it is set up to trap them.
In the context of Isaiah 8, people are afraid of the Assyrian army. They are looking for political alliances and earthly security. God tells them that if they trust in Him, He will be their Sanctuary and Fortress. But if they don’t, He will become their Rock of Offense. The same stone can be the foundation on which you are saved or the rock that crushes you. It depends on how you approach it.
In this light, the metaphor is perfect. To the proud, who step over Jesus or try to walk around Him to get to God, He is a stumbling block. He trips them; He makes them fall. But for those who put their trust in Him, they find eternal life and salvation.