In his first letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul wrote, “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.”
In Paul’s mind, those who were perishing were those who didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Many Jews in Paul’s day considered the Good News of Jesus to be foolish, because they expected the Messiah would be a conquering king, like King David, who would restore Israel to its former glory. But Jesus hadn’t restored David’s kingdom as was expected. In addition, he was executed as a common criminal. How then could a common criminal be the saviour?
Greeks, too, considered the Good News foolish. They didn’t believe in a bodily resurrection, and they didn’t see in Jesus the powerful characteristics of their own mythological gods. Like the Jews, they too believed that no reputable person would be crucified. To the Greeks, death was defeat, not victory.
The Good News of Jesus still sounds foolish to many today. After all, our society worships power, influence, status and wealth, but Jesus came as a humble servant, espousing the values of love, compassion, kindness and humility. Jesus also suffered a humiliating death for the sake of humanity, which also sounds foolish to those who don’t believe. To them, death would seem to be the end of the road, the ultimate weakness. However as we know, Jesus didn’t remain dead. His resurrection demonstrated God’s power over death.
But the question of his resurrection poses another stumbling block to non-believers. They argue there is no evidence of any human being ever having been raised from death to life. And they discount the claims, as recorded in the New Testament, of those who bore witness to the resurrected Jesus.
I would point to the actions of the disciples of Jesus following his death as evidence to support his resurrection. At the time of Jesus’s death, his disciples abandoned him, fleeing in fear of their own lives. What then could possibly have happened to make them do a complete about face – risking death in the process – and start publicly proclaiming Jesus? In my mind, it had to be that they witnessed the resurrected Jesus.
So, the message of Jesus and the cross might be foolishness to non-believers, but as Christians we understand that knowing Jesus personally is the greatest wisdom anyone can have, because ultimately Jesus offers something that nobody else can – eternal life with God.
The Lord be with you.
Reverend Michael Danaher.
