GOD S FOOLISH WISDOM

(Preached on Sunday, March 15, 2009)

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

-1 Corinthians 1:21

 

There are many people who believe that most of our problems today are the result of the loss of rules.  There are those who feel that deregulation is the problem.  Others feel that it was due to lax enforcement of regulations or rules.  Some feel it is because we no longer seem to respect God=s law because we no longer post the 10 Commandments in our schools or public buildings.  They feel if we can just go back to all the old rules and then compel everyone=s obedience to the rules, then life will be wonderful. 

 

The question is do we really understand what God=s rules were and are.  A recent survey, cited by journalist Bill McKibben, reveals that less than 40 percent of Americans can name more than four of the Ten Commandments.  (I was going to test you to see how many you could name, but I decided to use them with the children instead, so it really wouldn=t be fair now.)  Beyond naming them, we would all probably agree it is more important to practice them.  Except we don=t.  Somewhere around 85 percent of us call ourselves Christians, and about 75 percent claim to actually pray to God on a daily basis.  At the same time, only 33 percent say they manage to get to church every week.  Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that AGod helps those who help themselves.@  Sorry.  You won=t find that anywhere in the Bible, not in any translation.  You will find it in Poor Richard=s Almanac.  It is a statement from deist Ben Franklin, not the Bible.  In fact, AGod helps those who help themselves@ is one of the most unbiblical ideas.  Jesus made the dramatically counter assertion: ALove your neighbor as yourself.@  Jesus also told the parable of the sheep and goats at the final judgement, where the judge of the universe says that if you helped the least in life C fed the hungry, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, visited the prisoner C then you had helped him.  And you would be praised and blessed!  (Not exactly reinforcing the idea that God helps those who help themselves.)

 

No, most of our view of the old rules originates from American practicality and self-interest.  How many of us heard our parents remind us over and over again Aa fool and his money are soon parted?@  Also, not in the Bible.  This is nothing new.  Truth is, this has been going on since before the days of Jesus, but for our purposes, lets start there.  Jesus taught that success is in sacrifice and true power is demonstrated through weakness.  He taught that all things come from God and are given for the benefit of everyone.  He taught that the strongest are to take care of the weakest, the greatest is the servant, and the way of children is the way to find God.

 

Jesus created a community of people that welcomed everyone, turned away no one, and was filled with those whom most in society would consider the worst sort of people.  His early followers continued to share his message with similar people and the society around them continued to view them as crazy.  In the 2^nd century a man named Celsus criticized the early followers of Jesus for proclaiming: A...anyone ignorant, anyone stupid, anyone uneducated, anyone who is a child, let him come boldly.  By the fact that they themselves admit that these people are worthy of their God, they show that they want and are able to convince only the foolish, dishonorable and stupid, and only slaves, women, and little children.@  Looking at the church through the eyes of the educated, logical, philosophical Greek culture of the day, the make-up and openness of the Christian community proved its falsehood. Paul and the early Christians understood that God=s way always had and always would appear foolish to the world.  Because God=s way, God=s rules, were based on the divine principle of love: love for God and love as justice for others.  Love for God and love for one another as lived out through justice, fairness, equality, acceptance for all people always seems foolish to the powerful in the world.

 

We can never convince people in the world who have not discovered this truth to live this way.  All we can do, as followers of Jesus, is bear witness with our lives to the power of suffering love.  All we can do is bear witness to the difference a life lived fully trusting God makes, for ourselves and for the world around us. 

 

One such life was the grandmother who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  It was a serious diagnosis and she began treatment immediately.  Not too long after treatment began, her daughter was diagnosed with the same cancer.  She began her treatment and her mother continued hers.  Then a remarkable thing took place.  The grandmother, in an act of complete self-giving, determined that she would forego the remainder of her treatment in order to be available to nurture and support her daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren through this crisis.  This was not a wise decision as the world viewed it.  It appeared utterly foolish.  We all know there is no guarantee with the treatment of cancer.  Yet, with treatment we may have a chance, without it we face almost certain death.  But her decision was guided by God=s wisdom, the wisdom based in love.  Her course of action fully embodied the self-emptying love of Jesus.  Her action completely personified the love God feels for each of us.  The young woman survived her battle with cancer; her mother did not.  But the legacy of love, rooted in the wisdom of a courageous choice, lives on.

 

It is not always life and death decisions or actions that bear witness to the life changing, world changing power of God=s principle of sacrificial love.  In a small town in Washington state, on the last Saturday of April, 2008, a home-run in a softball game between Central Washington and Western Oregon colleges provided the catalyst for a powerful witness.  It was the second game of a doubleheader between the two teams competing for the league championship.  Sarah Tucholsky, a senior was at bat with two runners on base in the top of the second inning.  On the second pitch she hit a homerun.  It was the first homerun of her career, and turned out to be her last.  In her excitement she missed first base while rounding the bases.  Realizing this, she stopped to turn back and in the process, injured her knee, so that she could not walk.  She crawled back to first base and grabbed hold, hugging it in pain.  If the coach were to replace her with another runner, it would stand as a two run single, no homerun.  If any of her teammates assisted her, she would be called out.  That is when Mallory Holtman, the league leader in homeruns and a player on the other team, Central Washington, asked the umpire if it would be acceptable for she and another teammate to carry the injured player around the bases.  The umpire was amazed at the question, but said, yes, it was allowed by the rules.  So Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace picked up Sarah Tucholsky and carried her around the bases, pausing for her to touch each base and complete her homerun.  They told her, AYou hit the ball out.  You deserve the homerun.@  Central Washington went on to lose the game, 4-2.   Sometimes there are things more important than winning.  AFor God=s foolishness is wiser than the world=s wisdom.@

 

Contrary to Celsus= assessment of the early Christians, we have always understood that God=s wisdom often comes from the places we least expect it.  It does not come through knowing everything C the whys, wherefores, or how-tos.  It is often much more subtle, both far simpler and exceedingly more complex.  It comes to us as we listen to the still, small voice, the whisper that can easily be lost in the whirlwind of busyness, expectations, and conventions of the world.  It often comes most clearly through children.