1-23-23 - Foolishness

You can listen to this reflection here.

This coming Sunday, our Gospel reading is “The Beatitudes,” Jesus' core training session for followers. We’ll take a look at that this Friday, but for most of the week, I’d like us to explore Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth.

In this discourse, Paul asserts the primacy of the cross of Jesus Christ, arguing against teachers who held that this doctrine was either unimportant or wrong. Corinth was a commercial city through which trade from many regions passed by land and sea. Its populace was sophisticated, eager to explore every new religious fad and philosophical trend. In a climate that so prized wisdom and knowledge, it could be hard to defend a religion which venerated as divine an itinerant rabbi who had died a criminal’s death on a Roman cross. “We need a good P.R. firm,” thought some Christian leaders, seeking to reframe the central story.

Paul was having none of it: "For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

He means that those who see this story as “foolish” prove by their lack of discernment that they are among those who are perishing. In contrast, those who have accepted Jesus’ death on the cross as a saving act can see the power of God evident in what looked like pathetic defeat.

That principle is manifest any time ordinary people confront political power that threatens their freedom. When people work or advocate or march for human rights and democratic principles, it can look like foolishness too. But when enough people come together on an issue, change can happen.

Where do you feel called to stand up for a principle – or for your faith – that others call foolish or weak?
Where might you be called to proclaim your status as a “foolish” Christ-follower?
What weakness might you bring God’s power into?

Paul takes the accusation of “foolishness” and runs with it, reminding his listeners that God was up to something in allowing his Son to die that shameful death, that God irrevocably broke the hold of sin and death in what looked like humiliating defeat. God is still up to something as the freedom Christ won for us is revealed in our lives.

Sometimes we need to get to the end of the story to know just how powerful God’s power really is. But here we are, living both at the end and smack dab in the middle of it, holding to this truth: “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” Thanks be to God.

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