The Foolishness of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18 For 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 the latest national religious survey, people were asked to identify themselves by their religion (American Religious Identification Survey, 2011). The survey included every religion they could think of – Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, non-denominational, you name it. One statistic jumped out from that study. Though many denominations are losing members, there is only one group that increased in number in every state of the union. Can you guess which religious identification that was?

“None.”

That’s right, “none” was the religious identification that increased everywhere, across the board. People are increasingly giving up their faith in God and declaring that “none” is their religion of choice. This survey points to a trend of the escalating secularization in American life.

There is a religious recession going on … an ecclesiastical downturn. The new “Son of God” movie may become popular, but the critics on the History Channel are the norm as they try to discount the veracity of the Bible because of its supposed weaknesses. News outlets clamor for more gay athletes to promote while vilifying athletes who are outspoken in their Christian beliefs. A Christian photographer or baker who refuses to take pictures or make a cake for a homosexual wedding will always be derided in our world. A god who overlooks lifestyles and lets people live and believe however they want is always more palatable than the God of the Bible who calls certain lifestyles sins and then provides a Savior from those sins.

No matter how well we dress up the cross of Christianity, the world will always find it unpleasant, for the world marches to a different drummer. Its enthusiasm is always for whatever seems attractive and successful. The cross of Christ is the opposite. It is old and rugged – an emblem of suffering and shame.

The message of the cross is foolishness to unbelievers. But then, this is nothing new. The Corinthians were rejecting the cross two millennia ago because they thought they had found a better way. St. Paul faced the same situation back in the first century that we face in the twenty-first century: people rejecting the Gospel because it seems weak and foolish, not very powerful, not very wise. As Paul says, “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23).

The Jews demanded miraculous signs. But then they discounted the miraculous feedings, exorcisms, the healing of lifelong illnesses or the raising of Lazarus from the dead. The Gentiles demanded wisdom, a god they could craft in their image and put under their control.

Our age is no different. People don’t want to believe in God so they can live however they want. They try to discredit creation or the Bible or Christianity so they can enjoy the decadent flavor of the month. They don’t want God to be real, because then they have to admit that the guilt and shame and loneliness they feel is also real.

Sadly, even we Christian fall into the trap of believing that the cross of Christ is foolishness. Maybe not with our words, but certainly with our actions. We keep Jesus at arm’s length. We don’t want Him getting too close. We want Jesus under our control, instead of being the other way around. We are afraid of Jesus calling our fun a sin. We have other priorities right now, and church and Jesus aren’t at the top of the list. We don’t think that the forgiveness of sins, coming through the message of the cross, is that big of a deal. If we did, we would never, ever miss a worship service.

Even to us, the cross doesn’t seem all that powerful. It doesn’t put money in the bank or heal our cancer. It’s not as entertaining as football or shopping or vacationing. The cross actually seems kind of weak and foolish.

That’s why Lent is beautiful time for us to discuss the triumph that comes from a cross that appears so weak and foolish. It is the perfect time to focus on the message of the cross proclaimed in the Epistles in our Lenten series. It is an ideal time to listen to St. Paul speak specifically to the Corinthians and us when he writes: “For 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.”

We have to agree with the world – it just isn’t logical that the all-powerful God would descend from His heavenly throne of glory to take on the lowly, feeble form of a human embryo, and then be born from His mother’s body and be laid in a cattle trough. It just doesn’t add up.

We concede – it just doesn’t make sense that this perfect, sinless God-Man would take on the burden of living the perfect life for us by His baptism in the Jordan, absorbing the poison of our sin and death into that perfect, sinless, divine body of His. No, it just doesn’t add up.

We accept the fact – it doesn’t make much sense that Jesus endured strife so that we might enjoy peace. Or, that though the way of salvation is narrow, the love that won that salvation for us is wide. Or that the cross appeared to be the defeat of Jesus, while in reality it was His greatest triumph.

We admit – it doesn’t make sense that the One who is the Lord of all life, the One who cannot die, the immortal and eternal Son of God should have His corpse laid into a tomb. It boggles the mind that the eternal Word from the Father, this cosmic King, should breathe His last and die in humiliation and shame and pain as He did. It just isn’t rational that the Father would pour out His wrath on His beloved Son. It just doesn’t add up. It makes no human sense. It is pure foolishness. And humanly speaking, it does seem to be a dumb idea that God would become man, just so He could die at the hands of His creatures.

And yet that’s the way it is, isn’t it? “To us who are being saved” the message of the cross “is the power of God.” We don’t need to apologize for the cross. We don’t need to try and make it more acceptable to human logic. In fact, it can’t be done. It’s simply impossible to prop up the cross with enough human logic so that it makes sense. There really is no defending the cross. It can’t be defended. It can only be proclaimed. It can’t be argued. It can only be preached. And that’s what the apostle does. “We preach Christ crucified,” he writes (1 Corinthians 1:23).

You see, there is no other message to preach. For there is no other way out from under the human predicament, no other way we could escape the eternal hellfire we deserve than for God to act in the dramatic and decisive way He did. Stepping here into this world of ours, He took matters into His own hands.

He had created Adam with His own hands, but now those hands were nailed to a cross. He had breathed life into man, but now the Son of Man breathed His last. The Creator of all life was dead.

Jesus, who knew no sin, now became sin for all humanity. He died our death. He endured our hell. He paid our price. On the cross.

Please understand what happened on that cross. Jesus Christ died. And because Jesus is God … God died. Nothing else would do. There was no other way.

But that is the way of salvation. The way to the cross was death for Jesus. But now that cross is life for those who believe in Jesus. There is life in that cross. There is forgiveness in that cross. There is love in that cross.

There is power in that cross!

For there was God upon that cross.

The cross may not put any money in your checkbook, but it will give you riches in heaven. It may not heal your cancer, at least not right now, but it will raise your body from the dead. It may not put hair on your head and make you popular with the girls, it may not trim your waistline and put you into bikini shape for the summer (if we ever have summer again). No, it may not do any of those things, but it will put you right with God, now and for eternity.

If that’s not a big deal for you, then go ahead and claim your religion as “none.” Admit that you have no use for Jesus, or the church, or the cross.

But, if you admit that you are indeed a poor miserable sinner; if you know that you have sinned against God in thought, word, and action, by what you have done and what you have failed to do; if you are troubled in conscience and want relief from your burden of guilt; then I have good news for you. This word of the cross is for you. This message of Christ crucified is for you. This is God coming to save you. This is God suffering for you. This is God hanging dead on the cross for you. This is God rising from the dead on Easter morning for you.

Human foolishness. Godly wisdom.

The cross – foolishness to the world. The power of salvation for us. Amen.