1 Corinthians 1
I remember one of my professors in
college teaching about evangelism. He told the class that he had been talking
with his neighbor and the conversation turned to faith. My professor talked
about Jesus and the hope of the resurrection. His neighbor talked about what he
could see, touch, and analyze. In the end, the neighbor sighed and said, “I
wish I could believe in such simple things like you, but I just cannot.”
It can be rather vexing how the world
responds to Christians as though dealing with idiot children, patting us on the
head and sending us on our way. We should not let our pride be wounded though;
instead we can humbly stand with St. Paul. He confessed, “For the word of the
cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is
the power of God.” We should recognize
the same about our world.
Today’s major philosophical bent,
post-modernism, argues that everything is open to interpretation and that there
is no meaning except whatever the individual assigns to it. It is a clever
piece of sophistry because, in the end, two people can say the exact same thing
and mean two vastly different things. It also leaves the individual as a little
god or goddess who allows words to mean what he or she wants them to mean.
In such a mindset, the cross must indeed
be written off as foolishness because of its all-encompassing implications. The
cross states that all are sinners, everyone needs forgiveness, there is God, we
are accountable to Him, and there is but one way to be saved; faith in Jesus. Such
exclusivity is unacceptable to the modern world, but to us who believe the
cross displays the power and wisdom of God – which is greater and stronger than
anything the world can offer us – we see there our hope of salvation as God
works out His will.
Ironically, we Christians do not want to
seem foolish so we water down the message of the cross, fudge on God’s
mysteries, and find ourselves in conflict not only with the world, but with one
another. We should instead recall who we are:
not that we are wise, but that we are among the foolish that God has
given righteousness, sanctification, and redemption through faith in Christ
Jesus and His cross.
Lord Jesus, help me humbly meet my neighbor
with the hope that You have given me in the foolishness of Your cross. Amen.
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