The Foolishness of God
My children attend a school that uses a classical model of education. Although this entails many different things, one point that is emphasized is the classics in literature. They read ancient literature including Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. A few years ago, my sister and I, in hopes of trying to understand some of what our children are learning, joined a book study led by one of the teachers at the school and read some of these books. There are many things I learned in this study, but one I was pondering on again today was centered on what Paul meant when he wrote the following in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25:
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
One of the primary things I learned in this class is that we, as 21st century humans, cannot possibly understand how the ancient Gentile culture would have felt about the “rumored stories” of Jesus. Read either of Homer’s poems or Edith Hamilton’s Mythology and you will get an understanding of the gods of the ancient cultures. They were indeed powerful, but also vindictive, petty, and unpredictable. They were gods who tossed Odysseus around the ocean for years out of jealousy (Poseidon), slept with women and allowed their goddess wives to take it out on those women (Zeus and Hera), or kidnapped women to live in the underworld for half the year (Hades). These were not gods to be tangled with, and they were most definitely not gods that you could call humble.
And then a rumor starts out of that strange group of Jews. The group that only worships one god. A rumor that this god came to earth born as a helpless baby – and not as a baby king, but as a child in a no-name family in a no-name region of the world. Then, He ultimately allows Himself to be CRUCIFIED. Read some tales of these other gods and you start to get a real picture of how incredibly foolish this must have sounded.
You see, Christ crucified was indeed a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. How could the Jews’ Messiah allow Himself to be killed by the very kingdom He should be overthrowing? And for the Gentiles, what kind of god would allow the Romans to put Him to death? What I have realized is that when I am living in a world where the crucifixion is taken for granted as our way to salvation, I can’t possibly understand how outrageous these statements were at the time.
One of the key themes of the Bible is God taking human wisdom and turning it upside down. The youngest upstages the oldest, the outcasts become the leaders, the fishermen become world changers. Humans look to power, might, and strength. These were NOT the qualities God sought out. In fact, He told Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.” As I continue to get older and see how the world views things, I recognize that “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”
So, I am glad that my children can learn that when this message came to ancient Rome – it was indeed foolishness to the Gentiles. I hope that they can learn that it can still seem that way to some, but that the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and that this is the One God who can be trusted, loved, and counted on to keep His word.
