For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
(1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
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Have you ever felt like a fool? I mean - really, truly foolish? You consider yourself wise, and certainly wise to the ways of the world, but somehow you got taken in, sucked in, and you couldn’t get out, and afterward you were kicking yourself for it? It’s probably a more common experience than we realize, simply because we beat ourselves up when we act foolishly and we don’t want anyone to know about it. But the truth is that people get taken in all the time. There are scams galore. I was reading in the news just the other day about the famous “microsoft support” scam. You know the one. Someone - usually with a heavy accent - calls your house, tells you that they’re calling from microsoft, and then tells you that your computer has been sending out “error messages.” “Your computer is infected with viruses and malware,” they say. And they can fix it for you! Just give them remote control of your computer and they’ll clean everything up. And, of course, they’ll charge you for doing it - and probably steal a whole bunch of your online passwords while doing it! It’s a scam. It irritates Lynn no end, but I have fun with it. I keep the guys on the line forever. I figure if they’re trying to rip me off they won’t be ripping off anybody else, so I’m performing a public service. But the interesting thing about the article I was reading was that it’s estimated that about 200,000 Canadians every year fall for it. It’s easy to fall for it. These scam artists are pretty good, and they sound quite professional, and they try to scare you by telling you all the horrible things that will happen to you if you don’t buy their service and let them have control of your computer. They’re convincing, so there’s no shame in falling for it. Everybody gets taken in from time to time. All of us. That’s just one example showing how many of us can get so easily taken in. And when it happens we’re often afraid to tell anyone, because we just don’t want to look foolish. That, I think, is one of the most challenging things about being a Christian.
The simple fact is that if we truly choose to follow the way that God lays before us, we look foolish. “What’s that, Abram? You’re going to leave your home where you’re comfortable and your people whom you know and go - somewhere? And you don’t even know where that is? Foolish.” Or - “What’s that, Moses? You - who haven’t had much experience leading anything except a herd of sheep - are going to lead the entire people of God out of slavery and through a harsh wilderness? What’s got into you? That’s just plain foolish!” Or - “What’s that David? You - a young boy - are going to go into battle against the fiercest warrior our enemies have only carrying a slingshot. You’re a fool!” Or - “What’s that Jesus? You’re going to deliberately engage in a ministry that you know is going to lead to you being killed? That sounds pretty foolish!” Most of us don’t have to go to those extremes, but - still - when we choose to follow God's way, then at best we’re naive do gooders and at worst we’re fools. I mean, really - loving our enemies? Turning the other cheek? It makes no sense. The world rejects the very idea. And never mind loving your enemies. What about loving your neighbours? We live in a society that’s conditioning us to be suspicious of virtually everyone. Between the government and the media we’re being whipped into hysterical fear about terrorism, but the fact is that you’re far more likely to die in a car accident or from an intestinal illness than from a terrorist attack - but we don’t fear driving or eating. But our neighbours? Or immigrants? Especially if they look different? Them we’re afraid of. Jesus says we shouldn’t be. But the world says that the way of Jesus is naive and foolish. And by human wisdom, so it is.
Paul wrote that “... the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’” Later on in the passage, he puts the same concept more powerfully: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” The uncomfortable thing about those words for us is that a person who chooses to live according to the way of Jesus is going to be seen by the world as a fool, because we’re going to do things that the world can’t grasp. When we have a confirmation class (as we do this year) I always give them an assignment. I actually think it would be good for all of us to try. I ask them to find the unpopular kid at school or the unpopular person at work - and have lunch with them, and be seen having lunch with them. Nobody would understand. “Why hang around with him or her when you could be with us?” Well - we do foolish-seeming things like that because Jesus did foolish-seeming things like that. He ate with tax collectors and prostitutes and other sinners, and the religious leaders objected: “look at who he eats with. He’s not from God. If he were he’d eat with us.” He counselled people to co-operate with Roman soldiers and to love their enemies, and the people objected: “He’s not fighting against the Romans. He wants us to co-operate with them. He can’t be the Messiah.” People couldn’t understand. People turned away. People rejected Jesus. Ultimately, people crucified Jesus. Because the way of Jesus (the way of the cross) is foolishness to those who don’t know God.
You see, God's way is so extraordinary and so different from what the world tells us is normal. God's sacred, holy ways which Jesus lived out, astound and astonish the world around us. We look like fools when we live the way Jesus calls us to live. And that’s OK, because “... the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
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