Foolishness or insanity?

1 Corinthians 1:17-25 (TNIV) -

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18 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.

19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
20 Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?21 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.22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

My thoughts -

Paul calls the message of the cross foolishness here. I think that's being charitable. I'm thinking rather than foolishness it's just stark raving mad. Sometimes I think we're so locked into our own perspective (culturally Christianity has moved from a fringe cult to, in this region at least, the establishment) that we forget what it must look like from the outside. I confess, having grown up in the church, that I have never seen our beliefs from the outside.

Do we ever *really* critically engage what we believe. Have we considered the scandal, the foolishness, the insanity that is the cross. Because we need to. Not in order to disbelieve but in order to understand the depth of God's love for us in Christ and the power of Grace to free us from the chains of sin in our lives.

Here is the foolishness of the cross: We were, as said best by Paul in Romans 5:10, God's enemies. We like to use the word "sinners". We like to say that Christ died for sinners and that's all well and good but doesn't get to the core of what that means. I like the word "enemies" in the TNIV translation. Sin separates us from God. Sin pits our will against God's. Sin makes us enemies of God's. We, in sin, willfully disobey our Creator and live lives outside God's will. That makes us God's enemies.

Yes, it seems harsh but that's what we believe. That's how it is. And here's where the "foolishness" of the cross comes into play. Here's where it all starts to sound really crazy. Unlike what we would do, God didn't destroy God's enemies in Christ at the cross. God became human in Christ to reconcile with us, God's enemies, and in Christ God sacrificed God's own Self in order for us to be able to be reconciled.

So where did I lose you? Where did I lose me? This doesn't make sense, right? God died. That which is Life Itself died. Maybe this wouldn't be that controversial for Nietzsche, but it seems pretty out there to me. How does that even work? And yet, if we believe in the Incarnation, if we do believe not in the goodness, or teachings of Christ but also in the deity of Christ, and we believe that Christ was offered as a sacrifice for our sins then what we do believe essentially is that Life Itself died for us. Up is down. Black is white. Cats and dogs are living in harmony with each other. God died so that we can have life.

Sounds an awful lot like foolishness now, doesn't it? It sounds crazy! And yet that is the depth of God's love for us that is in Christ Jesus. As the institution our beliefs don't go challenged as often as I'd like. I know that sounds weird but if your beliefs aren't challenged how can you critically engage them? How can you consider what they mean? How can you contemplate the scandal that is the cross if no one points out how messed up that really sounds? How can you realize that God's love for us in Christ is so great that it is, quite frankly, absurd?

But once you realize that is the depth of God's love for you and for all how can you not respond to it? How can you not share that love with everyone you encounter? How can you, in being reconciled to God in Christ, not leave that transaction changed?

You can't. It's impossible. You have been reconciled. You have been redeemed. Now go follow God's example in Christ and do likewise with your own enemies. Share God's love with everyone you encounter.