Easter Foolishness

18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved. 19 It is written in scripture: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the intelligence of the intelligent. 20 Where are the wise? Where are the legal experts? Where are today’s debaters? Hasn’t God made the wisdom of the world foolish? 21 In God’s wisdom, he determined that the world wouldn’t come to know him through its wisdom. Instead, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching. 22 Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, which is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 24 But to those who are called—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. 25 This is because the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25

We have just celebrated Easter, the most important day on the Christian calendar. Without Easter, we have nothing. Without Resurrection, we have no hope. This is what Paul calls the foolishness of the Cross. A savior that dies to save? Can’t there be another way? God, through Christ, is more interested in things eternal than temporal. Sure, God is involved in the world, but Jesus’ mission was not to save the people from Roman oppression, but to save humankind from itself, from its own (from our) destructive tendencies. We see these tendencies alive and well today.

So how do we respond, as Easter People? We respond by refusing to play by the world’s game of separation and finger pointing. We respond to Christ by refusing to hate and allow hate to be shared around us. We respond to Christ by loving even the unlovable, and especially “those people,” whoever they maybe today. We are stronger together, and evil wants nothing more than to pull us apart with suspicion, enmity, and hate.

The message of the cross makes no sense without the love of God through Christ. But that love is the message of Easter. That is what the world is looking for, even if it can’t articulate it. As we draw closer to God in our own faith, we can better articulate it for and with others. Compassion, love, unity, gentleness, hope, these are all marks of faith that we can visibly share with the world around us. The world is a dark place sometimes. But God’s light shown in Jesus’ Resurrection is brighter than any darkness. Reflect it into the dark places of life. Live it for the world around us. Believe it for yourselves.

Thanks be to God. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Brian