“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”
(1 Corinthians 1:18).
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
This one line helped define Jim Nabors as the lovable character Gomer Pyle (pictured above). If you are too young to remember who Gomer Pyle was then perhaps none of this means means much to you. But please stick with me, it will begin to make sense momentarily, I promise.
Just recently I read Paul’s words cited above and they screamed out at me: “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” Now I must tell you that I have read this verse of Scripture perhaps hundreds of times but this morning they took on a whole new meaning for me.
I am sure you have had similar experiences when reading the Bible. You read a particular verse and suddenly the light comes on out of nowhere and you see the verse with new clarity and with new insight. It is indeed so utterly surprising when this happens.
Paul’s topic in the larger context of this verse is the comparison of God’s wisdom with human foolishness.
“For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1:23-25).
When one considers this context it then becomes clear that God has much different ways in dealing with the Evil of this world than we humans do. This is particularly true when it comes to human aggression and violence (war) that is going to destroy this wonderful earth and life God has created for us all.
So according to Paul and this is the point at which I was so surprised:
“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.”
So the big question we must ask ourselves when reading these stunning words is this:
“Why is the message of the cross foolishness to those who are perishing?”
Well, it is foolish to believe, let alone embrace, the idea that sacrificial love can be weaponized in such a way as to defeat the power of evil in the world.
“Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
Who would have thunk it, right?
This is exactly what surprised me when I read this verse this week:
God weaponized love to fight the aggression and violence in this world. The cross of Christ became the instrument God used to confront and ultimately defeat the violence of the world.
For Christians the beating of war drums demonstrates just how foolish our world is and always has been. We engage in violent conflicts and wars to what end? What changes? Where is the peace (shalom) that the war mongers promise us with the startup of each and every new campaign?
In the nuclear age this is immensely troubling since there are enough nuclear weapons available to us to destroy life on earth many times over. This is the foolishness of the world that is so alarming and to expect the powers that be to act any differently is of course unreasonably naive.
Quite frankly, they know no better.
Yet the main feature of the Gospel is the wisdom of God demonstrated on the cross of Christ. The Lord proclaims, writes Paul:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
The message of the cross is our world’s only hope of survival. It is the message of self-giving love (agape) in response to the aggressions and violence of a world seemingly gone mad.
The cross becomes our compass bearing, leading us towards a better life based on the wisdom of God and not the foolishness of unregenerate leaders, greedy politicians, and narcissistic presidents.
God help us all to see and embrace the life-giving wisdom of God today.
Amen and Amen!
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