God's Foolishness

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ~ I Corinthians 1:18

As I come to the end of this summer edition of Morning Grace, here's what I want to leave with you: if you remember nothing else, remember this.

God's foolishness is more powerful and hopeful than any of our wisdom.

Human wisdom would say "what kind of people worship a guy who gets himself killed by a world superpower in a horrible, torturous way?"

Human wisdom says: that guy's not a winner. That guy's a loser.

Human wisdom says: worship a criminal? No way.

Human wisdom sees the cross as the ultimate sign of weakness.

But it is that very foolishness that saves us.

Saves us by self-emptying.

Saves us by not responding to violence and hatred with violence and hatred.

Saves us from our own egos.

Saves us with humility and patience and love.

Saves us by service and hope.

Human power does not side with the weak or the criminal or the marginalized or the "losers" of the world.

But God's power does.

God's power meets us in our most broken, foolish moments and saves us from ourselves.

For humans, the cross is foolish.

But God takes foolishness and turns it into life.

God of folly, save me from my own certainty. Amen.