Communion With the Christ:: The Lenten Season: The Foolishness of the Cross

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;

but to us which are saved, it is the power of God." 1Cor: 1:18

The message of a crucified Messiah was viewed as foolishness to the world as the Apostolic church went forth proclaiming the Gospel regarding the very Son of God, Jesus Christ.

The message that God would assume in his own person our very humanity then allow himself to pay the penalty of all humanities sins by being nailed to a cross, where Jesus would then die, to the world this was, and is, simply foolishness.

As The Apostle St. Paul wrote about the Gospel that he preached to the Corinthian Church and to all of us throughout the ages.

"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." 1Cor:1:18

Foolishness to the Jews & Gentiles

In the mind of the Jews the Messiah could not allow such a thing to happen; to die upon a Roman cross and to be put to public shame, this was utter nonsense. In the minds of the Jewish people the Messiah would come as a great warrior, arising out of the house of David who then would defeat the enemies of Israel and establish their nation Israel as the dominant nation in the all the Earth, and then all nations would come to believe in Israel's God.

To the Gentiles, the message regarding Jesus was foolishness, how a Jewish Rabbi living in a subjugated nation occupied with Roman military, rejected by the his own people's religious establishment and sentenced to die by a the order of a Roman Governor, dies upon the cross, then his followers make the claim that he is now resurrected, alive from the dead, to the Gentiles, and Greeks in particular who prized logical thought and debate, to them this seemed as foolishness.

"But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness";1Cor:1:23

A Cursed Messiah?

This Gospel of about a crucified Messiah, which is, that, Jesus was hung upon a cross, was too much for the Jews, yet this crucifixion was central to message which the Apostolic Church proclaimed about Jesus.

"For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified".1Cor:2:2

The Jews saw the death of Jesus upon the cross as not evidence of his Messiahship, but they looked upon it as evidence of cursing as they read the words of the Prophet Moses.

"His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accused of God;) that your land be not defiled, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance".Deut:21:23

The Jews viewed the death of Jesus as something to be scorned , in their view this was evidence of God's curse upon him.

The Jews used circular logic, that went like this "Jesus is cursed because he is hanging on a tree and seeing that he is hanging on a tree therefore he is cursed". The Messiah the Jews awaited, would not allow such to become them. The Jews wanted a Messiah who would fulfill their purpose.

The message, that placed a death upon the cross as central to its thrust was something hard for many of that day, and our day, to embrace. Yet this is just what the Church proclaimed throughout the Roman Empire.

The Church powerfully presented Jesus' death on the cross as central to the working of God in bringing redemption and salvation to humanity. What the Jews interpreted as being cursed St. Paul redefined it and articulated it as the work of redemption dealing with the sin of all humanity, not just Israel, but all humanity.

Jesus , on the cross , not only deals with sin and the curses of sin, but also through the cross deals with the Law, which all humanity fails to keep and therefore comes under its condemnation .This failure exposes our need for a Savior.

"For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." Gal: 3:10-14

By Faith

Far from being cursed Jesus is dealing with all that curses each and all of us. The Law in which the Jews boasted in, was itself a snare to them in their, and ours, inability to keep it perfectly. The Law provides no means of reforming the person, it could not adequately deal with humanities sinful state it could only define and condemn it.

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" Heb: 10:1-3

Jesus sets us free, from all that would encumber us through the cross. Jesus brought a completion to not just to the Law but even accomplished our salvation if we but freely receive it.

"First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law.Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God" (8-12)

For the Jewish people the thought that the Law , bound up in their Covenant with God, which was their national identity , that is, how they look upon themselves as God's elect people, now , after the death of Jesus and the message of the Apostolic Church was ; that the Rabbi Jesus who was condemned to die, now lives , and their Law set aside , was for many Jews, just too much to grasp, they found Jesus a stumbling block.

The Jews understood that they were God's people by his divine call upon their nation , that is by the Grace of God, yet they believed the Law was the device of maintenance in this election as God's people and non-Jews could enter this relationship though the keeping of the Law. Now , the Gospel message proclaimed a far different view , that election was opened to any and all through faith apart from the Law.

The thought to just accept by faith what God had done was hard form to accept, yet that is just what their great ancestral Patriarch Abraham himself did.

"Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all."Rm:4:16

Foolishness

As the Apostles traveled the Empire and preached about Jesus , they encountered skepticism not just among Jews but also the from the Gentiles , who many heard the Gospel and considered it as foolishness. This was true especially among the Greek educated and academics.

They heard the message of the Gospel , that a Jewish Rabbi was somehow the Creator of all things and came in the flesh and shared our humanity, did and taught many great things, yet never used his power of divinity to his own advantage, and in his time upon the Earth uncured the anger of the Jewish religious leaders of his own people, which t resulted in his death, and now according to the witness of the Apostles this dead Rabbi has been raised to life and now was ascended into the heavens. To the Greeks this was foolishness. They were too wise to believe such a message

"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe"1Cor:1:21

By The Spirit

The Gentile would have understood power and might, put they failed to see the passive power of God in a life given upon a cross. To see understand this would require the working of the Holy Spirit in their minds for the natural mind of humanity cannot grasp the spiritual thing of God. Some are too self-assured in their own capacities and abilities.

"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit".1Cor:2:14

the Areopagus

The Apostle St. Paul encountered this when he stood before the Philosophers of Athens and presented the Gospel about Jesus. They, in their own wisdom, had become idolatrous and along with their philosophy arose idolatry.

St. Paul spoke them about the Gospel of Jesus Jews and gentile alike. This exchange led to St. Paul being given audience and an opportunity to address the forum of assembled Philosophers at the Areopagus in Athens.

"While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you."Acts:17:16-23

The message St. Paul preached garnered some interest from the assembled philosophers, but they remained unmoved, blinded by their own wisdom.

The Lenten season reminds us that it is not through the powers of mind or strength of ourselves that salvation has been accomplished for us but through the power of the Cross of Jesus, it is message which at times falls upon deaf ears or incites adversarial reaction from those who hear it. It is message a which does not flatter our humanities carnal nature, but rather exposes all of our need for Jesus.

It is through the foolishness of the Cross of Jesus that salvation is ours.

Benediction: May we each and all look only to Jesus Christ and him Crucified, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.