Third Sunday in Lent
March 15, 2009
Crazy Talk
1 Corinthians 1:22-25
The Cross of Christ is Crazy
The cross of Jesus Christ is “crazy talk.” It makes no sense at all. And Saint Paul is the first one to admit it. He learned the hard way that preaching “Jesus crucified” is a “stumbling block” to Jews and sheer stupidity and “folly” to the Gentiles. But to those who are called, those who become Christian, the cross of Christ is the “power of God” and the “wisdom of God.”
Each Sunday I come out here wearing the cross around my neck and none of you laugh or snicker. Some of you even come up and say, “Where did you get the beautiful cross?” But what if I came out here wearing a dead chicken around my neck instead. That would look pretty stupid now wouldn’t it?
Or, I go into the mall and I see a young woman behind the counter helping me wearing a golden cross around her neck. And sometimes I want to say to her, “Do you know what that cross really means or is that just a pretty piece of jewelry for you?”
The cross was originally and instrument of torture. It was a tool of public execution. How would people react if instead of wearing a cross around our neck we Christians wore a “hangman’s noose” or a gold plated “electric chair?” Would they gasp in horror? Or, would they simply laugh and say that is so silly?
If a kid did that in school, it would be a security concern and an immediate trip to the principal’s office. Do that at an airport & it will get up extra screening by the TSA.
Go back into the ancient world and nobody would ever think of wearing a cross around their neck as jewelry, for the cross was the most terrifying instrument of death the human mind could manufacture. It was offensive and it was obscene.
Folly to the Gentiles
And the Romans used it to their full advantage to put fear into opposing hearts…and to break the will of conquered nations…and to prove the might of Rome…and to satisfy their lust for violent sport. It was the death of lawless rebels, harden criminals and slaves—a humiliating, degrading and defeating death.
Thus, the word “cross” itself became a vulgar, dirty word never used by educated people in polite speech. In fact, the most detailed account of a crucifixion in the ancient world is the one recorded in our Christian gospels. No other ancient author thought it wise to ponder at any length on such a disgusting topic.
And so, when Paul proclaimed Christ crucified and tried to get his Gentile audience to see Jesus, the Savior of the world, dying for them upon a cross most of them just had to laugh. This man lost his life to Rome. Was there any question who was stronger and more mighty? “Come on, Paul. What kind of fools do you take us for?”
A Stumbling Stone to Jews
And Jews, you might say, were on the other end of the stick. They had seen too many bodies of Jewish boys on crosses to find any glory in it. The cross was a sign of their shame and defeat to Roman armies.
The cross could not become even a sign of their suffering. Their own law, the Torah, said, “Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree.” The cross was a sign of God’s curse, not blessing.
And so when Saint Paul proclaimed a crucified man as their Messiah his Jewish hearers tripped right over it like they did the stones that characterize their country. Their Messiah would never let himself be killed in such a way. He would drive the Romans out and clobber them with a few crosses of their own.
Saint Paul means it, he really means it, when he says that Christ crucified is a “stumbling block” to Jews and “madness,” sheer madness to the gentiles. That is their reaction to his preaching.
Only a Fool Would Believe Such a Thing
Jesus on Cross by Dali, 1951
The fool who knows that most of our problems are caused by our own stupidity. The fool who knows that when we think we are the strongest we are the weakest and that whenever we exalt and glorify ourselves we are headed for a fall.
The fool who has come to realize that wise people have been putting their heads together for many years and the end result has not been so much pooled knowledge as it is pooled ignorance. The fool who is not fooled by much of the foolishness that goes for conventional wisdom in the world.
Let’s face it. Our foolishness is God’s judgment on our sin just as Saint Paul says in Romans 1, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.”
We have this tendency called sin to think our ways are better than God’s ways. But when God lets us have our way, we end up looking rather silly.
And so should it surprise us that it takes a “foolish” measure like the cross of Jesus Christ, when it is from a foolish mess we must be saved?
Yet, Was the Cross So Foolish?
And yet, is the cross so foolish? Was it foolish that God should choose the most terrifying of deaths if he is out to save us from our terrifying deaths and the terrible horrors we inflict on one another?
Was it foolish that God should choose a very public form of execution if God wants publicly to display the life he offers as our ransom?
Was it foolish that God should pick the penalty associated with the lower classes and with the most harden criminals of the worst kind if God wanted to show his compassion and solidarity with sinners and to demonstrate that no person is too little and no sin is too great to be excluded from God’s grace?
Was it foolish that God should take the form of a servant and die a slave’s death if he is out to save those who die as slaves to sin?
The Crazy Talk that Lovers Make
The foolishness of the cross is the foolishness of love. It is that “crazy talk” that lovers make. The cross was never meant to impress us with its charm and beauty. It was meant to save us from the ugliness of our sin.
The cross is not a pretty picture. But in that picture we see the face and heart of God. A God who never wearies of our foolishness. A God who never abandons us to our stumbling ways.
Christ crucified is the power that picks us up when we stumble and fall. Christ crucified is the wisdom that brings sanity to our foolish ways of living. Someone once said, “God is a potter; he works in mud.” Well, Christ is a carpenter. He works in wood.
Maybe the cross is “foolishness” and a “stumbling stone” to some, but to us who believe, it is the “power of God” and the “wisdom of God.” It is the sign of our salvation.
2009 © Pastor Paul Jaster