Grace, mercy and peace be to all who have endured the worst blizzard in 90 years and the start of another war.  I'm going to say what some might call foolishness.  I believe the world is a safer place than it was a week ago.  I may be attacking opinions that you may hold dear, but I hope those who disagree won't hold it against me.  The world is a bit safer today than last Sunday.

          In our text for today, St. Paul seemingly attacks one of the most precious symbols in Christianity - the cross.  He says the cross is foolishness, but only to those who reject its purpose.  It's always been that way.  The cross has always been considered foolish to some, and somehow, in some way, it has to be that way.  God had to bring salvation to this world through some means, and perhaps the cross is no more foolish than any other means.

          We Christians think it foolish that other religions would emphasize reincarnation, or being a god on one's own planet, or a religion that encourages the death of its opponents.  We think it foolishness for some to believe God is just an idea, a concept within each of us, or that all religious roads lead to heaven.  But the concept of God having a Son, and then sacrificing that Son to save a dying world, to give his life on a cross, of all things, one might easily be led to say, "that's ridiculous, that's foolishness!"

          Not long ago, an astronomer named Carl Sagan publicly rejected the idea of god.  As many had done before him, he said the idea of a god was foolishness.  That humans would somehow be subject to the whims of a god who was outside of humanity he considered a foolish creation of the mind to explain the unexplainable, to provide simple answers for simple minds.

          In response, Christians said it was foolish to deny a Being believed for centuries by millions.  How could the wisdom of the wise be so blind as to deny God?  How could philosophers of this age ignore so much evidence that God exists?  St. Paul in this text is saying the foolishness of the cross is something that we must confront.  Yes, the cross, the idea of God's son dying for the sins of others might seem to be foolish, but it is something all people must one day confront.  Are we for it or against it?  Are we going to be scoffers or believers?

          The idea of God's Son dying in an obscure country called Israel, among a people chosen thousands of years before through a migrant named Abraham does seem foolish.  His family thought so.  When he first told his family God had spoken to him, they thought he'd been in the sun too long!  Why believe in only one god when there are many, they asked.  How could faith in one god be better?  "Foolishness!" they said, but that foolish faith saved him.

          In following generations, the idea of God wanting to help His people took hold.  Through Abraham's family, God established a faith among a nation called the Hebrews - "wanderers" - a group through whom God brought the salvation of an entire planet.  Why should this be foolish?  Must God, to be believable, bring salvation through a mighty army or a nation of people worthy to merit His blessing?  To save us, God had to become part of us.  He had to come into the world, to be part of us.  To be a just God, He couldn't force people to follow Him.  To be understood by them, He needed a point of entry, and that was through Abraham and the nation of Israel, his descendants.

          The covenant relationship of God with people continued through the ages down to Jesus Christ, and culminated in His sacrifice for our sins on the cross.  He came to us through Abraham, but salvation is from Jesus.  Everything in the Old Testament points forward to the coming of the Savior, and everything in the New Testament points back and says Jesus is the Savior, the One God sent to save the world.

          God needed an entry point - Abraham - and He needed a method - the cross.  The world was lost in its own foolishness, so God made a plan to sacrifice the life of His Son.  Is it so strange that God should have a Son?  Must God be above such relationships?  Must He be magnificent, distant, unreal, an ornamental statue for the dresser?  Why not send a Son, and why not use a cross to save the world?  What could be more real than a common Roman cross?

          Yes, the cross may seem foolishness, but only to those who are perishing.  However, to all who follow Abraham's footsteps of faith, to all who believe in that one true God and in His Son Jesus Christ, it is the precious symbol of salvation.

          So we, confronted with the foolishness of the cross, must react.  Will we say, as do so many "bright lights" of the world, "If there really is a God, He wouldn't do that.  He'd choose another way."  But what other way?  What other method would be better, more understandable?

          God is holy and just.  He knows the world is unholy and unjust.  His holiness and justice require that something be done to balance the scales, to even the plain, to remove the sins that blemish His creation.  If He punished the whole world as it deserved, then all humanity would perish!  That would be justice, but that would also be our end.

          So He chose His Son as the means of His forgiveness, and the cross as the method.  That's the foolishness - and the love - of God.  God's greatest foolishness is in loving us at all.  But God is a parent to His children.  Is there a parent here today who would not see all the foolishness of his child, and yet still not love him?  Even if she rebels and runs away or openly hates the parent, does the parent stop loving her?  No, the parent always finds a way to love.  The parent must be there when the prodigal child returns.

          No parent turns his back on the child and cares nothing.  So our heavenly parent, the Almighty God, always cares, both for the believer who loves Him, and also for the unbeliever who rejects Him.  That may be the greatest foolishness of all - to love those who reject Him.  But always remember - there is not an unbeliever in the world anywhere whom God would not take back in an instant.  There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, far greater joy for the lost one who comes back, than for all the others who don't need to repent.

          God did not send His Son into the world to be understood, but to be believed.  He came to love the world, not to destroy it.  He did not send His Son to condemn to the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

          We know well the words of John 3:16:  "God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have eternal life."  We forget, however, John 3:17, "For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."  The cross is foolishness only to those not being saved.

          But there is a huge difference between foolishness and being a fool.  At a recent anti-war protest rally, sixteen highly visible people publicly called the President and his administration stupid, ignorant, moronic and fools.  But just how ignorant are the people they accused?  The President has a Master's Degree, and is a former Governor;  The Vice President, a Master's Degree (and former Senator);  The Secretary of State, a Master's Degree (former 4-Star general);  The Secretary of Defense, a Bachelor's Degree (former ambassador);  The Director of Homeland Security, a Law Degree (former Governor);  The National Security Advisor, a Doctorate Degree (former Stanford U. Professor).

          We all know who makes up the first group, but what about the second group, the name-callers?  Though all but one finished high school, not one finished college.  Many from this group have said they are embarrassed to be Americans, yet none has offered to leave.  The first group's primary purpose is to serve mankind, the second is to make lots of money.  The first group is defending our nation against its enemies, the second has often praised our nation's enemies.

          The six people in first group are briefed daily with the latest intelligence, while the sixteen in the second rely only on their own opinions.  Members of the first group have spent most of their lives improving the lives of others, while members of the second group have often made shambles of their own lives.  The first group governs a nation, while the second entertains it, for they are Hollywood actors.  And the Greek word for actor is "hypocratay", from which comes our word, "hypocrite."  Yes, indeed there is a huge difference between foolishness and being a fool.

          Thank God for the foolishness of the cross.  That He would choose to love sinful people is such a mystery.  That He would choose to take back us rebels, us deserters, we who squander His fortunes, makes Him all the more worthy of our faith and love.  And so now, as we have been blessed, we can and should serve Him however we can, whether in the army or by voicing our valid objections, whether by preaching the gospel or by shoveling snow, whether by driving a tractor or by driving a tank, we must serve Him every day.  And I thank God for all you servants, whoever you are and whatever you do for the Lord and His people.

          God grant that every one of us will hold fast to the foolishness of the cross.  Let us pray:  Thank You, dear Father, for giving us hope for this life and hope for the life to come.  Give us all a deep appreciation of Your love that moved You to the foolishness of the cross.  Amen

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.