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The Message of the Cross is Ours
From 1 Corinthians 1:18 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." 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? 21For 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."
I overheard a layperson tell a seminary friend, "What a waste of a great mind to go into ministry!" In campus ministry, one of our most active students had to lie to his mother to come to our meetings and outings. He said, "If I tell my mom I'm coming to a church thing she won't let me; but if I say I'm going to a dance or out with friends, she will." All who dedicate their lives, whether laity or clergy, to share their experiences with the Cross of Jesus, will encounter at some point, those who think that message is foolishness or a waste of time. Paul encountered fierce reactions against himself and especially against his message about Jesus having to die on the cross for us. He remembers the passage, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." And it comes back to God's kingdom and those who accept God's invitation to come in. In the ranks of believers God has brought in those whom the world would have placed somewhere else. The common laborer who leaves his or her job to proclaim Christ. The lawyer successful in his or her practice finds no meaning in that kind of work and realizes true meaning for them lies in the ministry of the cross. People from all walks of life have been called and welcomed into the kingdom of God. All sharing a message that the world deems foolish. God has taken the world's weak and made them Kingdom Strong. God has lifted high those the world placed low and despised. God is our source and from God we have this new life in Jesus Christ, Who is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; if we're to boast about anything or anyone, it should be the Lord, and no one nor nothing else.
I'm in a formation group for district superintendents and every time we are together we wrestle with what it means to be a DS and what we can do to bless the church. We, as DSs, are from all walks of life, and we have different points of view and some have even lost the message of the cross. Our discussion yesterday was on a book about corporations and organizations who seek to provide meaning in their products so that people will buy them. I ask why the Church has lost the passion we see in the corporate world but not in ours. This year, the Apple Macintosh computer turned 30 years old. I remember as if it were yesterday the commercial during the Super Bowl that kicked off the sale of this computer. An ad ahead of its time, mostly black and white, playing on the fears of Orwell's book 1984, men as robots working at stations while listening to Big Brother on a huge screen. In comes a woman running with a hammer who heaves the hammer into the screen. The ad ends, and the next day, three million Macs were sold. Apple then employed evangelists to tell the Mac story and implied that personal meaning could come through this computer. Meanwhile, the Church world has stayed the black and white world of the 1950s and the hammer is hitting us. It is the message of the cross that we must yet proclaim to bring the fullness of life and bring the brightness of color into our lives.
PRAYER: Loving God of wisdom, share with us this wisdom and let us never forget nor neglect to share the message of the cross. Yes, some see it as weakness; others as foolishness, but those who need it will see it as life as we once did. May it be so again for us, and for the new people we are supposed to reach. In Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
