The Foolishness of the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
Third Sunday in Lent, 2009
I’ve always found it interesting how Hollywood tries to make sense of the Christian faith. On the one
hand we have some compelling movies with very Christian themes. Films like The Chronicles of
Narnia series, The Lord of the Rings, The Passion of the Christ, and even some odd little cult
classics like Signs.
Then, on the other hand, we seem to have quite a few films depicting Christians as ignorant, narrow-
minded bumpkins. I haven’t seen the film Religulous, which reportedly spotlights the uneducated,
loose-tongued buffoon image of believers. From what I’ve heard and read of it, I’d place this in the
most in-your-face category of films disrespecting the faith. And I don’t now if I will see it, as I’m not at
all sure I want to put money in the pockets of people who engage in one-sided straw man attacks
that ultimately insult around 2 billion people on this planet. I guess you can ascertain that things like
this get my dander up a bit. Part of the reason for this is that they place us in a no-win situation.
Because when we try to explain and defend ourselves, we’re already on the defensive, so we may
end up looking even more foolish in some people’s eyes.
But, upon reflection, the other thing that occurs to me is that, despite our desire to be good,
obedient Christians, some of us can be a little goofy at times. There may be an element of “the truth
hurts” when people poke fun at how some of us behave in our less discrete moments, especially
comparing these to what we claim to believe. I recently came across one of those David Letterman
style lists. This one is the ten things people are least likely to say when they see a Christian bumper
sticker on a car:
1. I'm sure they had a good Christian reason for cutting us off, honey.
2. "Stay clear of those folks, Martha. If they get raptured, that car's gonna be all over the road!"
3. "Quick, Alice, honk the horn or they won't know that we love Jesus!"
4. "No, that's not garbage coming out of their windows, Bert. It's probably gospel tracts for the road
workers."
5. "Oh, look! That Christian woman is getting a chance to share Jesus with a police officer."
There are more, but I’ll spare you the pain.
And if self-restraint is prescribed for people with Christian bumper stickers, you can imagine how
much more is the case for drivers wearing little white collars. But even if we’re behaving ourselves,
we’re not guaranteed respect. How are we to respond when people not only fail to understand our
faith, but treat it with disrespect? Should we try to figure out an effective way to defend ourselves
against these attacks and salvage some of our credibility (or should I say, pride)? Should we stalk
away darkly muttering that, when Jesus comes back they’re dead meat, and hoo boy, we’re glad we
won’t be in their shoes on Judgment Day? What are we to do?
I find it comforting that this isn’t exactly a new situation. Jesus was clear that we’d face trouble on
His account. He once said, “In the world you’ll face persecution” (John 16:33). Obviously it was
happening in Jesus’ time as well. He undoubtedly foresaw this continuing, and of course a little
sarcasm is nothing compared to what’s been dished out to Christians over the centuries when real
persecution hits, as it is now in many places around the world.
But the fact of the matter is, ridicule has been one of the most common responses to the gospel
message of Jesus dying on the Cross for our sins and being resurrected to give us new life.
Rationalism and unbelief are not new things. How do we deal with this?
Well, I can’t think of a much more succinct point than the one Paul gives us in today’s epistle
reading. He writes to the church at Corinth: “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.” There’s a cold dose of
reality here. You see, in Paul’s time, much like our own, people were looking for something worthy
of their energies. Like many of us, they wanted to check something out before devoting themselves
to it. For many of the Jews at the time, the understandable goal was to find a military hero to deliver
them from the tyranny of Rome. They wanted signs to identify the real McCoy, the one who would
triumphantly reestablish the nation of Israel.
For the Greeks it was finding a satisfying philosophy in which to invest their intellects. They wanted
something that would feed their minds with a higher level of wisdom. If nothing at all else this would
at least impress their friends at the toga party. So you have the divisions in Corinth over who’s
following Paul, or Apollos, or Peter, or Jesus, as if these were all different but equal options. It was
like choosing a philosopher or guru to follow.
To them what Christianity really had to offer seemed to miss the mark. As Paul writes, “For Jews
demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews
and foolishness to Gentiles.” A stumbling block to Jews because Jesus, the alleged Messiah, wasn’t
a military hero, and was even considered cursed by virtue of dying on a Cross. Foolishness to
Gentiles because they were looking for an impressive philosophy & what they were offered was a
murdered rabbi and some laughable nonsense about a resurrection from the dead. They’re all
looking for power or for wisdom, but failing to recognize the real and unexpected source of all of it
who’s standing right in front of them within the gospel story.
For Paul writes, “To those who are called [to him], both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God
and the wisdom of God.” … “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.” Paul is plainly describing a difference in the
way people respond to the gospel message. Some will be guided by the Holy Spirit to recognize its
truth, and others will either not be called or not allow themselves to recognize its truth. To them it
will all seem like foolishness. So you have a comedian in Hollywood caricaturing the Christian faith.
Or you have a college professor sneering at the primitive naivety of Christianity. Or you have a
strong, confident business tycoon from Georgia rolling his eyes and calling the Christian faith a
crutch for the weak. The foolishness of the Cross.
I think it’s fair to say that Paul’s point is this: Perhaps our main job as Christians is to be loving and
unapologetic purveyors of the foolishness of the Cross. We’re not called to obnoxiously clobber
people with the gospel, or to manipulate people with clever arguments, but simply to live and speak
the gospel.
We’re to live the gospel, offering sincere friendship and love and kindness to others in a world that’s
often cold and dangerous. And when the trust is established—when people are readier to hear us—
we speak the gospel, and then let the Lord work in their hearts. In the mean time we persist in
loving them where they are. It’s a simple message that doesn’t need to be unnecessarily
complicated: We proclaim Christ crucified. That is, we tell our neighbor the true and simple story
about God’s love for us in sending His Son to die for our sins in order to give us new and unending
life in Him.
There’s a tremendous freedom in that! The real work has been done and is being done by the
Lord! He’s the source. Paul writes, “Christ Jesus became for us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who
boasts, boast in the Lord.” It’s not about us; it’s about Him.
I think this discussion wouldn’t be complete without addressing one rather unfortunate response to
people’s hostility to the gospel. It’s one that we see a great deal of, especially in our own country.
This response is, to put it simply, accommodation. What accommodation is, is watering down our
faith to make it fit more easily with our culture. In the face of criticism, we’re tempted to
accommodate others’ beliefs by showing the world how Christianity can be made to fit with their
worldviews. It helps us to feel a little less foolish, but in the process we may end up giving away the
farm.
Now please hear me clearly here. I’m not claiming that other religions or belief systems are bad, or
even that God isn’t present in them in some way. I’m certainly not claiming that we’re in any way
superior by believing what we believe. In fact our faith teaches exactly the opposite: All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. No one is better than anyone else. But what I am saying is that,
rather than gratefully and joyfully sharing the unique gifts our faith has to offer—the gifts of
forgiveness, reconciliation, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life; we may be tempted to satisfy ourselves
by talking about how we’re all on paths with the same destination. If we do this, we ignore the very
basic differences between religions and pretend we’re all saying the same thing.
But my friends, either Jesus took our sins onto himself and saved us, or he didn’t. Either he’s the
way, the truth, and the life, or he’s not. Either he rose from the dead or he didn’t. Either he
ascended to the right hand of God to prepare a place for us, or he didn’t. Either He changes lives
now, or He doesn’t. And as far as I know, the Christian faith is the only one that fully believes all
these things about one person.
Is this scandalous? Possibly. Is it foolish? From some perspectives, it probably is. But Paul says,
“Since the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our
proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but
we proclaim Christ crucified.” It’s unexpected, it’s simple, and it’s lavishly generous. We don’t have
to work our way to salvation, but it’s given to us as a gift by God himself in the form of Jesus Christ.
The foolishness of the Cross has been what has united Christianity since the beginning. In Paul’s
time, people following this or that leader, even within the church, resulted in division. When people
lost sight of the fact that the center of our faith is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
and embraced leaders who offered power or wisdom, thinking this was just as good, the result was
disunity. The same is true today. When we go too far to accommodate the culture, rather than
unapologetically letting the Cross speak for itself, we lose our center. When we act as if wise
philosophies or religions demanding only endless toil to work toward God, are as great as the gift of
eternal life offered by the Son of God, we deceive ourselves and others.
Paul’s teaching is clear: “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness
is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness—the weakness that in love compelled Him to
become a simple human being who gave himself to be killed on a Cross—God’s weakness is
stronger than human strength.”
May we never shrink from being purveyors of the foolishness of the Cross. May we never
shortchange the message of the One who, as Paul says, became for us wisdom from God,
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. But first, may we never forget to be careful how
we drive if our car has a Christian bumper sticker. In the name of the Father, and the Son, the Holy
Spirit, Amen.
(1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
Third Sunday in Lent, 2009
I’ve always found it interesting how Hollywood tries to make sense of the Christian faith. On the one
hand we have some compelling movies with very Christian themes. Films like The Chronicles of
Narnia series, The Lord of the Rings, The Passion of the Christ, and even some odd little cult
classics like Signs.
Then, on the other hand, we seem to have quite a few films depicting Christians as ignorant, narrow-
minded bumpkins. I haven’t seen the film Religulous, which reportedly spotlights the uneducated,
loose-tongued buffoon image of believers. From what I’ve heard and read of it, I’d place this in the
most in-your-face category of films disrespecting the faith. And I don’t now if I will see it, as I’m not at
all sure I want to put money in the pockets of people who engage in one-sided straw man attacks
that ultimately insult around 2 billion people on this planet. I guess you can ascertain that things like
this get my dander up a bit. Part of the reason for this is that they place us in a no-win situation.
Because when we try to explain and defend ourselves, we’re already on the defensive, so we may
end up looking even more foolish in some people’s eyes.
But, upon reflection, the other thing that occurs to me is that, despite our desire to be good,
obedient Christians, some of us can be a little goofy at times. There may be an element of “the truth
hurts” when people poke fun at how some of us behave in our less discrete moments, especially
comparing these to what we claim to believe. I recently came across one of those David Letterman
style lists. This one is the ten things people are least likely to say when they see a Christian bumper
sticker on a car:
1. I'm sure they had a good Christian reason for cutting us off, honey.
2. "Stay clear of those folks, Martha. If they get raptured, that car's gonna be all over the road!"
3. "Quick, Alice, honk the horn or they won't know that we love Jesus!"
4. "No, that's not garbage coming out of their windows, Bert. It's probably gospel tracts for the road
workers."
5. "Oh, look! That Christian woman is getting a chance to share Jesus with a police officer."
There are more, but I’ll spare you the pain.
And if self-restraint is prescribed for people with Christian bumper stickers, you can imagine how
much more is the case for drivers wearing little white collars. But even if we’re behaving ourselves,
we’re not guaranteed respect. How are we to respond when people not only fail to understand our
faith, but treat it with disrespect? Should we try to figure out an effective way to defend ourselves
against these attacks and salvage some of our credibility (or should I say, pride)? Should we stalk
away darkly muttering that, when Jesus comes back they’re dead meat, and hoo boy, we’re glad we
won’t be in their shoes on Judgment Day? What are we to do?
I find it comforting that this isn’t exactly a new situation. Jesus was clear that we’d face trouble on
His account. He once said, “In the world you’ll face persecution” (John 16:33). Obviously it was
happening in Jesus’ time as well. He undoubtedly foresaw this continuing, and of course a little
sarcasm is nothing compared to what’s been dished out to Christians over the centuries when real
persecution hits, as it is now in many places around the world.
But the fact of the matter is, ridicule has been one of the most common responses to the gospel
message of Jesus dying on the Cross for our sins and being resurrected to give us new life.
Rationalism and unbelief are not new things. How do we deal with this?
Well, I can’t think of a much more succinct point than the one Paul gives us in today’s epistle
reading. He writes to the church at Corinth: “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.” There’s a cold dose of
reality here. You see, in Paul’s time, much like our own, people were looking for something worthy
of their energies. Like many of us, they wanted to check something out before devoting themselves
to it. For many of the Jews at the time, the understandable goal was to find a military hero to deliver
them from the tyranny of Rome. They wanted signs to identify the real McCoy, the one who would
triumphantly reestablish the nation of Israel.
For the Greeks it was finding a satisfying philosophy in which to invest their intellects. They wanted
something that would feed their minds with a higher level of wisdom. If nothing at all else this would
at least impress their friends at the toga party. So you have the divisions in Corinth over who’s
following Paul, or Apollos, or Peter, or Jesus, as if these were all different but equal options. It was
like choosing a philosopher or guru to follow.
To them what Christianity really had to offer seemed to miss the mark. As Paul writes, “For Jews
demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews
and foolishness to Gentiles.” A stumbling block to Jews because Jesus, the alleged Messiah, wasn’t
a military hero, and was even considered cursed by virtue of dying on a Cross. Foolishness to
Gentiles because they were looking for an impressive philosophy & what they were offered was a
murdered rabbi and some laughable nonsense about a resurrection from the dead. They’re all
looking for power or for wisdom, but failing to recognize the real and unexpected source of all of it
who’s standing right in front of them within the gospel story.
For Paul writes, “To those who are called [to him], both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God
and the wisdom of God.” … “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.” Paul is plainly describing a difference in the
way people respond to the gospel message. Some will be guided by the Holy Spirit to recognize its
truth, and others will either not be called or not allow themselves to recognize its truth. To them it
will all seem like foolishness. So you have a comedian in Hollywood caricaturing the Christian faith.
Or you have a college professor sneering at the primitive naivety of Christianity. Or you have a
strong, confident business tycoon from Georgia rolling his eyes and calling the Christian faith a
crutch for the weak. The foolishness of the Cross.
I think it’s fair to say that Paul’s point is this: Perhaps our main job as Christians is to be loving and
unapologetic purveyors of the foolishness of the Cross. We’re not called to obnoxiously clobber
people with the gospel, or to manipulate people with clever arguments, but simply to live and speak
the gospel.
We’re to live the gospel, offering sincere friendship and love and kindness to others in a world that’s
often cold and dangerous. And when the trust is established—when people are readier to hear us—
we speak the gospel, and then let the Lord work in their hearts. In the mean time we persist in
loving them where they are. It’s a simple message that doesn’t need to be unnecessarily
complicated: We proclaim Christ crucified. That is, we tell our neighbor the true and simple story
about God’s love for us in sending His Son to die for our sins in order to give us new and unending
life in Him.
There’s a tremendous freedom in that! The real work has been done and is being done by the
Lord! He’s the source. Paul writes, “Christ Jesus became for us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who
boasts, boast in the Lord.” It’s not about us; it’s about Him.
I think this discussion wouldn’t be complete without addressing one rather unfortunate response to
people’s hostility to the gospel. It’s one that we see a great deal of, especially in our own country.
This response is, to put it simply, accommodation. What accommodation is, is watering down our
faith to make it fit more easily with our culture. In the face of criticism, we’re tempted to
accommodate others’ beliefs by showing the world how Christianity can be made to fit with their
worldviews. It helps us to feel a little less foolish, but in the process we may end up giving away the
farm.
Now please hear me clearly here. I’m not claiming that other religions or belief systems are bad, or
even that God isn’t present in them in some way. I’m certainly not claiming that we’re in any way
superior by believing what we believe. In fact our faith teaches exactly the opposite: All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. No one is better than anyone else. But what I am saying is that,
rather than gratefully and joyfully sharing the unique gifts our faith has to offer—the gifts of
forgiveness, reconciliation, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life; we may be tempted to satisfy ourselves
by talking about how we’re all on paths with the same destination. If we do this, we ignore the very
basic differences between religions and pretend we’re all saying the same thing.
But my friends, either Jesus took our sins onto himself and saved us, or he didn’t. Either he’s the
way, the truth, and the life, or he’s not. Either he rose from the dead or he didn’t. Either he
ascended to the right hand of God to prepare a place for us, or he didn’t. Either He changes lives
now, or He doesn’t. And as far as I know, the Christian faith is the only one that fully believes all
these things about one person.
Is this scandalous? Possibly. Is it foolish? From some perspectives, it probably is. But Paul says,
“Since the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our
proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but
we proclaim Christ crucified.” It’s unexpected, it’s simple, and it’s lavishly generous. We don’t have
to work our way to salvation, but it’s given to us as a gift by God himself in the form of Jesus Christ.
The foolishness of the Cross has been what has united Christianity since the beginning. In Paul’s
time, people following this or that leader, even within the church, resulted in division. When people
lost sight of the fact that the center of our faith is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
and embraced leaders who offered power or wisdom, thinking this was just as good, the result was
disunity. The same is true today. When we go too far to accommodate the culture, rather than
unapologetically letting the Cross speak for itself, we lose our center. When we act as if wise
philosophies or religions demanding only endless toil to work toward God, are as great as the gift of
eternal life offered by the Son of God, we deceive ourselves and others.
Paul’s teaching is clear: “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness
is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness—the weakness that in love compelled Him to
become a simple human being who gave himself to be killed on a Cross—God’s weakness is
stronger than human strength.”
May we never shrink from being purveyors of the foolishness of the Cross. May we never
shortchange the message of the One who, as Paul says, became for us wisdom from God,
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. But first, may we never forget to be careful how
we drive if our car has a Christian bumper sticker. In the name of the Father, and the Son, the Holy
Spirit, Amen.
The Foolishness of the Cross
(1Corinthians 1:18-25) Third Sunday of Lent
(1Corinthians 1:18-25) Third Sunday of Lent
March 15, 2009
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton
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