Surprised By Jesus: Subversive Grace in the Four Gospels

Surprised by Jesus: Subversive Grace in the Four Gospels

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. . .

Dane Ortlund reflects on this subversive grace as it uniquely emerges in each of the four Gospel accounts.

• 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.

This book exists to exult in this good news of grace and the scandalous mercy Jesus loves to pour out on needy sinners, people like you and me.

Dane C. Ortlund (PhD, Wheaton College) serves as senior pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois. He is an editor for the Knowing the Bible series and the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series, and is the author of several books, including Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. Dane lives with his wife, Stacey, and their five children in Naperville, Illinois.