The Weak and Foolish, Powerful and Brilliant Cross
Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: March 3, 2024
In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,
Those who approach DeForest from the south and are driving north on Main Street are treated to, what I think, is the best view of this building. On the south-facing exterior wall of this building is a huge cross. It is especially beautiful at night when the cross is back-lit. I wonder how many people since this building was built in 2000 have seen that cross! It has to be hundreds of thousands. Maybe over a million?
What do you suppose people think when they see that cross? Many people who see it are likely very grateful for that little unexpected reminder of Jesus’ love and forgiveness. But did you know that many people who see that cross think it is worthless and silly and foolish. They wonder why anyone would display such a ridiculous symbol. That sounds like a blasphemous thing to say out loud. But it is true. In fact, the apostle Paul himself writes about this very thing in our text this morning. He writes about The Weak and Foolish, Powerful and Brilliant Cross.
Paul begins our text with a somewhat shocking statement: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. (v. 18) The word for “foolishness” in Greek is moria. We get our English words “moron” and “moronic” from it. Just think of what Paul is saying here! He is saying that the proclamation of God’s Son dying on the cross to save sinners is moronic! Or put another way, only morons would believe it!
Here it might surprise you to know that God intends to do it this way! Paul quotes from Isaiah 29 where the LORD says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nothing. (v. 19) God has determined that what man needs to be saved would not be found in a logical syllogism some brainy philosopher would posit. It would not be a complex mathematical formula worked out by a theoretical mathematician on his chalkboard. It would not be data gathered by a scientist in a white lab coat in a laboratory as a result of years of hypothesis and experimentation. Paul even says in our text, Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Jewish law? Where is the probing thinker of the present age?
Maybe as Paul wrote this he was thinking of his time in the city of Athens. Athens was a center of culture and the arts and learning. Many philosophers and thinkers called Athens home. One day the thinkers invited Paul to come and address a gathering at the Areopagus. The Areopagus was where the “smarties” would gather and listen to all the latest ideas. I suppose it would be like being invited to give a lecture in a big lecture hall at Harvard or Oxford. Well, Paul took them up on their offer. Paul went and preached to the professors and PhD’s in philosophy in Athens. Paul talked. They listened. Finally, Paul told them of Jesus and his resurrection. Uh oh! Did Paul just say Jesus was raised from the dead? The reaction is recorded in Acts 17: When they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some of them started to scoff. (Acts 17:32) They scoffed! “What? Is this guy a moron? Does he think we are all morons? Dead people don’t rise again!” The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. (v. 18)
Of course, this was the predominant reaction in the Greek world, where there was an emphasis on wisdom and learning. Paul talks in our text about how his own countrymen tended to react to the message of the cross. Paul observes, Jews ask for signs. (v. 22) God often did miraculous signs in the history of the Jews. When he sent Moses to Pharaoh in Egypt, God told Moses to throw his staff on the ground in front of Pharaoh as a “sign” to him. When King Ahaz wouldn’t believe the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah told the king, The LORD himself will give you a sign. A virgin will conceive and give birth to a son. (Isaiah 7:14) It got to the point the Jews thought they were entitled to signs from God whenever they wanted one. In our gospel lesson today, when Jesus cleared out the temple, we heard the people demand, What sign are you going to show us to prove you can do all these things? (John 2:18)
Paul would tell the Jews about Jesus of Nazareth, who was finally nailed to a cross, died, and rose again to be their Savior. But the Jews tripped on the word “died.” In our text Paul says this message was offensive to Jews (v. 23). “Offensive” literally means “something that trips a person and makes them fall.” The Jews just couldn’t get past a crucified Christ. They got tripped up on the cross. Where was the powerful “sign” from God in a bloody cross?
So what to do in a world where people think the message of the cross is weak and foolish? Paul tells us, God in his wisdom decided to save those who believe, through the foolishness of the preached message…we preach Christ crucified. (v. 21, 23) Paul preached the crucified Christ. Because it pleases God to save this way. Because, as Paul says, the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (v. 25)
There are those today who say we need to “rehabilitate” Jesus’ cross. We need to “reimagine” it. We need to repackage it. We need to “remove the offense of the cross.” They preach a “smart Jesus” without a cross who gives us wise principles by which to live, and thus saves us. They preach a “golden cross,” a cross that has “power,” the power to make you powerful and rich and healthy. Who doesn’t like Professor Jesus with a golden cross? But Paul says he will stick with a crucified Jesus and a bloody cross. This is God’s one and only way of salvation.
So we will keep our cross on the south end of our building, knowing full well that some will think only morons would hang such a foolish thing on their building. We know better. We “believe” better. For us, that symbol on the south end of this building will always be the weak and foolish, yet powerful and brilliant cross.
Amen.
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