1
Corinthians 1:18-31
18 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. 19 For
it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the
wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God
decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but
we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to
Gentiles, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For
God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger
than human strength.
26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of
you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of
noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to
shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God
chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to
nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the
presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ
Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the
one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Coming
in March there is a new movie coming out – Noah. Russell Crowe is playing the lead role. Jennifer Connelly is in it. Anthony Hopkins is in it – he is cast as
Methusalah, Noah’s grandfather. It has a
budget of $130 million and will be complete with lots of special effects.
I have
no idea whether this is going to be a great movie – or a flop, but I do know
the story is a fascinating story. Now
the Bible spends just a very brief section on the story of Noah – so to make a
major motion picture, there will have to be some creative license.
But it
is an interesting story – and when you read it, you wonder about all the things
that are not said in the Bible.
For one
thing, what did the neighbors think?
I’ve
lived in neighborhoods where the Homeowners Association would send you nasty
letters if you left your trashcan out overnight. And here’s Noah building this huge Ark that
is 300 cubits long. I mean, my trashcan
is only about 3 cubits high.
Bill
Cosby had a routine early in his career as a comedian in which he imagined what
it would have been like to be Noah. Part
of this routine involved Noah’s neighbor walking by one day and he sees the
ark. He yells out to Noah, “Hey, Noah –
what is this thing?”
Noah
yells back – it’s an ark.
The
neighbor yells back, “An ark? You want
to move it? It’s blocking my drive
way. I can’t get my camel out of my
garage.”
At one
point in the routine, Bill Cosby continues in the roll of Noah and begins to
complain to God, “Lord do you know how hard it is for a man my age – I’m 600
years old. I have to haul all this wood
around. I’m going out getting two of
everything – one male mosquito, one female – do we really need those things
anyway. And then you let me bring in
those two elephants and you never told me that the female was pregnant. You
give me no manual for how to deliver a baby elephant and all the neighbors are
laughing at me because there I am under the elephant trying to catch the baby. The neighbors are making fun of me all the
time – “ha, ha ha, there’s crazy old Noah.”
Bill
Cosby’s routine on Noah is a classic comedy skit – but he nails it when it
comes to the neighbors making fun of us and laughing at Christians.
Paul is
right there with Bill Cosby.
Paul
says in his letter to the Corinthians: “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing.”
The
world around us is laughing at our foolishness, for to them, we are fools.
We
see it on the playground when everyone seems to be bullying and picking on one
of the children – and one child stands up against the bullying because she is a
Christian and she tries to show love and compassion. The other children might respond well – but they
might also laugh and ridicule.
We
see it when the teenager tries to be sexually pure. The body is sending messages to the brain – “oh
yeah, we gotta get some satisfaction!”
And all the other kids are saying, “Yeah, no big deal, just be sure to practice
safe sex. You’d be a fool not to.”
To
stand up against those pressures – well, the world sees that as foolish.
We
see it in adults who feel out of sync with culture. Culture says blessed are those who are
greedy, for they shall inherit the earth – but faith says, that the earth will
be inherited by those who are meek.
Faith says, blessed are those who show mercy, but the world says that
those who show no mercy get ahead.
The
world looks at us and says – “fools.”
Henry
Ward Beecher, the famous New England minister, entered his pulpit one Sunday
morning. On the pulpit was a letter in an unmarked envelope. He opened it and found a single sheet of
paper. On it was one word – “Fool.”
It was meant as an insult. It was meant to hurt the pastor.
But the pastor was not dismayed – he held
up the paper and said, “I’ve known a lot of men to write letters and forget to
sign their name, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a man forget to
write the letter but remember to sign his name.”
Who is the fool? Who is the one who is wise?
As Paul said, “For the message about the
cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.”
To
love our neighbor is fine, but Christ calls us to love our enemy ---
foolishness in the eyes of the world.
To
care about the poor? To practice generosity
and to be our brother’s keeper? To look
after others and not just to look after ourselves? To think of others more highly than we regard
ourselves? Pure foolishness in the eyes
of the world.
To
believe that God sent his Son to die on a cross – to be executed between two
common criminals? Foolishness in the
eyes of the world.
To
gather together in a church and eat some pieces of bread and to drink from cups
the wine or the grape juice? To call
that a Sacrament? Foolishness in the
eyes of the world.
When
we live as Christ commands us to live, some will admire us. Some will respect us. But many will laugh at us. Comedians with videos on youtube will insult
us. And they will call us foolish, but
God will call us wise.
“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.”
To live a life in
which you show love to your neighbors, and even to your enemies – that may seem
foolish to the world, but that is a good worthwhile life.
To live a life
that helps the poor oppressed may seem foolish to some, but to God, that is a
life well lived.
The world can
ridicule those of us who believe we are saved by Christ, but come judgment day,
knowing Christ as Savior will have proved to have been wise indeed.
I was in a
classroom once in Seminary and we were asked what we wanted written on our
tombstones. I offered that I’d like mine
to say, “here lies Maynard Pittendreigh, he died of extremely old age.”
The professor
smiled and said, “I’ll do you one better.
It is said that among some of the Monks of the Orthodox Church it
is common to place upon their tombstone the phrase: “Here lies a Fool for
Christ.”
What greater tribute could there
be?
Copyright 2014
W. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved
