Y’all this could be perhaps my favorite Gospel reading. It is what is known as Jesus cleansing the temple, and folks it is a constant reminder that when the question arises, WWJD, “What would Jesus do?” That making a whip, flipping tables, and driving people out of the church is always an option! In this gospel we see Jesus in the most vulnerable of human emotions, anger. And he does not disappoint. We see the humanity of Jesus and it is erupting through the temple, flipping tables, making a whip out of a bunch of cords, and then shoving people out the door, that’s dedication to this tantrum. I just love it, and for that reason it pains me to say this, but we’re going to have to wait and talk about this gospel for another time because this week Paul has grabbed me in his letter to the Church in Corinth.
Paul says, “The message about the cross is foolishness…” Foolishness… The dean of my seminary once wrote, “From time to time, Christians should stand back and acknowledge how odd our faith looks. For we claim that the most important divine action in history is the humiliating death of a poor Jew at the hands of an occupying power.” Foolishness.
You know throughout history we have obscured the foolishness of the cross. We have gilded it with gold, forged it with silver, and encrusted it with gems of immense worth. We have given them homes around our neck, on our walls, in places of reverence and importance. Even our own crucifix tells the resurrected story of Jesus crowned, glorious, and in elaborate clothes, rather than the truth of the passion narrative, of pain, agony, depravity… Foolishness.
History has worked hard to transition the cross away from an object of violence. My professor once said, We have refused to recognize that “the central Christian symbol is the ancient equivalent of the hangman’s noose, or the electric chair. And Instead of a dramatic demonstration of God’s power, we have weakness and failure affirmed.” That is the truth behind the message of the cross… and it is foolishness.
Paul knew that, he knew the message of the cross was countercultural to the Roman and Greek city of Corinth. I was reading a historian who said that the Roman “Ideas of universal human dignity were almost all but nonexistent and large swathes of the population were seen as … inherently worthless. Weak members of society were objects not of compassion but of derision. More than most, Romans lionized strength over weakness, victory over defeat, dominion over obedience. Losers paid a harsh price and got what they deserved, and [resisters] were to be ruthlessly handled … Roman politics became a ruthless game of total winners and abject losers … The drive to dominate and not be forced to bow before a rival was paramount.” These were the people Paul was writing to… Foolishness
Does this society sound familiar? The philosophy of a me-first nation? We live in a world that recognizes power through individualism, strength, dominance. Our greatness is only confirmed by acknowledging the other’s weaknesses. With this mindset, we breed a society of people who not only one-up each other, they seek to tear down the other, as if Your demise will show my strength. This is the only victory we know, I win when you lose. And so we separate, we create sides, make decisions not only by what will help us, but what will hurt the opposition. We create opposition! Because there could never be enough room at the table for both you and me, surely not enough bread and wine on this earth for us both. That is the way that the world sees victory, and my friends it is foolish to think anything else.
But Mediator, there’s something about that foolishness isn’t there? There’s something about that belief that the weak can make a difference. That maybe loving one’s enemy can build a bridge of companionship across even the widest cavern of differences. There’s something about touching the wounds of society, the diseased, the outcasts. Reminding them that they are loved, they can be made whole, that they are welcomed among us. There’s something about that forgiveness, that reminder that there is nothing we can do to separate us from the love of God, that God will come after us time and time again, that though we might fail, our God never looks at us as failures. My friends, there’s even something about that table. That belief that it’s big enough for us all. That there always will be enough bread and wine. That it can provide, nourish, and sustain an entire community while begging to serve more.
Y’all there’s something about the foolishness of the cross… in all its shame, dishonor, and ridicule, that it actually gave birth to new life for all of humanity.
Mediator, you are foolish. And from everything I can find, all the stories I hear, you have been foolish from your inception. You have sought to do church and community differently. You have built relationships with churches of other races and faiths… and you have shared fellowship and worship with them. You have been foolish to build a relationship with a church and school in Haiti, where you have sowed love and joy alongside the most marginalized of this earth. You have foolishly invited speakers that transcend conventional Christian thought, you have been challenged, stretched, and grown in your acceptance and belief. You have been foolish, or after hearing all the stories this past year perhaps I should say CRAZY to endeavor on the BBQ, where over the course of nearly 5 decades you have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. ALL of which you have given away to benefit those least among us...
But, perhaps greatest of all you have been foolishly accepting of anyone who would darken those doors. You have welcomed the sick, the disabled, disgraced, lost, outcast. The sinner and saint, and you have recognized them all under the singular label, “brother” or “sister.” You have said come here and be made whole with us… You have been foolish to love, and look at you!
Perhaps the message of the cross isn’t so foolish after all…
