I Corinthians 1:22
For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom of God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…
If the Jews’ demand for a sign and the Greeks’ desire for wisdom kept them from engaging with the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified, what is our hinderance? As I look at our culture, particularly this young and growing generation, it seems to me primed for the message of Jesus. It loves a good story. It values honesty, authenticity, and transparency. The Jesus that I know is exactly that. So what then is the hang-up?
I think there are two hinderances to our culture turning to Jesus.
The first hinderance to our culture turning to Jesus is the poor presentation of Jesus by his church. In a world looking for a story, we try to give a 4 or 12-step process to faith. Massive turn-off. Our world wants relationship, not check-list, and when we give them a check-list, they look for something else. That saddest thing of all is that Jesus is a relationship, and is not a checklist. So it is our presentation that is wrong! Another element of poor presentation is that in a world looking for what is authentic and honest, we often present a blurry, incomplete, partially hidden story of how Jesus has changed us. It is only when we are willing to acknowledge and proclaim the brokenness that Jesus has saved us out of that the world around us can see the true depth to the story of Jesus.
The second hinderance to our culture turning to Jesus is it’s absolute desire for the easy. We see this particularly clearly in the young generation (J-high through30-somethings). There seems to be a thought that if it is meant to be, then it will happen without too much struggle. I wonder if this was set up by a generation of parents who worked incredibly hard to give their children a life of comfort, resulting in a generation that grew up having to work for and wait for very little, beginning to think that they were entitled to that comfort and ease. The outcome is that now they are under the impression that the good things in life are deserved and do not need to be worked for.
When this comes to Jesus it is detrimental. Paul talks about training as an athlete for a fight. Peter talks about “ridding ourselves” of the unclean. Jesus talks about “carrying our cross” and things such as “suffering” and “persecution.” But this is a culture that doesn’t want to carry anything that might be burdonsome, doesn’t want pain or suffering, and definitely doesn’t want persecution – standing apart from the world and being criticized for it.
The combination of our poor story telling and our culture’s dislike for the difficult leads to a generation that although theoretically primed for Jesus, hesitates from following. We end up with lots of people who “believe” (when they hear the incredible story they do believe), but fail to “follow” because that is too difficult.
I don’t think that’s quite where Paul was going with this passage in 1st Corinthians, but it is where my mind took me this morning. Let us remember that God,
is the source of [our] life in Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom of God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Jesus is our life, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Jesus is the everything to us. He is the breath that gives us life, he is the power to live for God, he is the forgiveness that allows us to be in relationship with God at all, and he is the power that is restoring us to the fullness of what God intended us to be. What a beautiful story is God’s pursuit of us through Jesus. What a difficult, but incredible journey to pursue God back. Let us run to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Let us acknowledge Jesus as or Savior, our Healer, our Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and our Soon and Coming King.
Thank you, Jesus, for all you have done for me.
Teach me to faithfully tell the fullness of your story in my life.
Grant me strength to follow you, to model discipline and faithfulness when times are less than easy.
Lead me in your ways, oh Holy Spirit.
Amen.