{"id":70,"date":"2015-08-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/03\/foolishness\/"},"modified":"2015-08-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-08-03T00:00:00","slug":"foolishness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/03\/foolishness\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 8th March 2015 – Foolishness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Word This Week:<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians:18-25 (NRSV)<\/p>\n

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. For it is written, \u2018I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.\u2019 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? 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. 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\u2019s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God\u2019s weakness is stronger than human strength.\u00a0
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<\/span> I just don\u2019t know how such a smart person can believe in God!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> That is a statement I had made to me a few years ago by a colleague of mine in the department of education.\u00a0 He and I had many a conversation about many things \u2013 we were great mates, but he just could not accept the idea that God had come to earth as a human being, been willing to act as a servant, be arrested, beaten, spat on and eventually killed in a most torturous way on the cross\u2026 and don\u2019t even get me started in the idea of the resurrection\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Foolishness.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> In todays world, we are bombarded with the message that we don\u2019t need God, that Christianity is some outdated religion which has been surpassed by modern science.\u00a0 We are told that the biblical accounts couldn\u2019t be true \u2013 Jesus couldn\u2019t have performed miracles \u2013 that just doesn\u2019t happen.\u00a0 But Paul in our reading from the first letter to the Corinthians draws our attention to the greatest stumbling block for people not just now, but for the last two thousand years. The cross.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> It makes no sense for a burgeoning faith group such as the one Paul was a member of, which is seeking to grow in numbers – \u00a0to point to the cross.\u00a0 Why would you point people to this symbol of shame and death? It seems foolishness \u2013 even now to point to the cross. \u00a0Indeed many priests, ministers and pastors have stopped pointing to the cross as the central core of the Christian faith, and focus instead on the good life and teachings of Jesus\u2026 lest they be seen to be foolish by the world\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> The thing is though, without the cross, the rest of the Jesus story fades into insignificance.\u00a0 Without the cross Jesus is just another nice guy who said some nice things 2000 years ago.\u00a0\u00a0 When we look to the cross however, \u00a0in the shame and in the humiliation of it, we see the glory of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> You see It is not a symbol of shame for Christians, but a symbol of Christ\u2019s victory over death.\u00a0 It is a symbol of sin defeated.\u00a0 During Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter, we go through a period of preparation \u2013 a preparation for the cross, and the resurrection.\u00a0 We take time to reflect on our own lives and our relationship with God, so that we can better follow our Lord and saviour.\u00a0 It is a time of repentance and renewal as we rededicate ourselves to Christ.\u00a0 It is a time to defeat the complacency we sometimes develop in our spiritual lives through disciplined prayer and reading of the scriptures as we prepare for the cross of Good Friday and the resurrection of Easter Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> But why is the cross so important? <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Sin.\u00a0 That word has a bit of baggage nowadays doesn\u2019t it? It has been dragged around by the media, and used by the lunatic fringe to justify hate and violence.\u00a0 The truth is that sin is simply anything we do that is in opposition to the will of God.\u00a0 To use Jesus\u2019 summary of the commandments \u2013 whenever we fail to love God, or love our neighbour we sin.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Now you\u2019re probably thinking \u201cyes yes Daryl we know all about sin\u2026 \u201c but bear with me.\u00a0 Because it is important \u2013 Sin separates us from God.\u00a0 Sin stops us living to our full potential, it stains us and removes us from relationship with the one who created us. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> We were created in the image of God, to be in relationship with God \u2013 yet because sin is so pervasive and has corrupted the world so much \u2013 we have no way to reconcile ourselves to the glorious, perfect creator and sustainer of the universe.\u00a0 Even if all of humanity were to repent, and somehow manage to stop sinning from this day forward the corruption that has already taken place would mean that we would still remain separated from God – And without reconciliation with God we suffer the wages of sin \u2013 death. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> That is where Jesus comes on the scene. God himself, recognising that we are incapable of defeating sin, recognising that having committed even one sin we have created an eternal gulf between us and Him. He chose to come to earth as one of us.\u00a0 He chose to live as one of us, to be tempted as we are, to be as frail and weak as we are.\u00a0 God chose to live as one of us so that he could mend the bridge \u2013 so that as a human being he could live a sinless life, and as a human being he could offer himself on behalf of the rest of us as a sacrifice, a ransom to set us free from the bondage of sin, to reconcile us to God, so that we need not suffer the eternal consequence. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> By Jesus \u2013 the perfect sinless human dying on the cross – he suffered the consequence of sin without ever having earned it. He took the consequence for us so that we would not have to suffer it.\u00a0 But how you might ask can one man take the consequence of sin for billions of people \u2013 well Jesus wasn\u2019t just a man was he? Jesus is the Eternal Word of God through whom all things came into existence, he is the beginning and end \u2013 he is eternal \u2013 and so his offering of himself is also eternal. <\/span>

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As the creator of all and therefore being above all, Jesus\u2019 death is sufficient to repay the debt of all. Leaving no debt left for humanity, He then demonstrated his complete destruction and defeat of death through raising again His body on the third day.\u00a0 His resurrection on the third day which he foreshadowed in our Gospel reading shows also that the corruption of humanity that accompanied death was defeated, as He rose in an uncorrupted body.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> That brothers and sisters is why the cross matters. That is why we must always point to the cross of Christ as our victory \u2013 because through the cross God has reconciled all who would place their faith in Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> We sometimes get caught up focussing on the life of Jesus, because we don\u2019t want to talk about the cross.\u00a0 The life of Jesus is incredibly important \u2013 the manner of his birth, his teaching, and his miracles all point us to his identity as God among us.\u00a0 His life of love and compassion sets the model for us to follow as we seek to serve God and our neighbours.\u00a0 But we must never forget that the cross is the key \u2013 we must not allow the world to stop us talking about this foolish cross of Christ, rather we must cling to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> I am a fool for Christ. Are you?<\/span>
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