The Foolishness Of Jesus

      You and I are naturally attracted to well-built, stylish, accomplished people who exude an air of command. We are drawn to eloquent messages that dwell on human potential and achievement. We long to become part of elite groups of people that draw the admiring gaze of others.

Surprisingly, Christianity does not cater to any of these inclinations, despite man’s repeated attempts to make it fit our molds. Think of the chief architect, Jesus of Nazareth. After he was born, he was not laid in a jewel-encrusted crib, but in an animal trough (Luke 2.7). Although he descended from King David, Jesus was born into a lowly family of construction workers (Matthew 13.55), he came from a backwater town (John 1.46), and there was nothing impressive about his physical presence (Isaiah 53.2).

Additionally, Jesus’ gospel (good news) was unsophisticated. He frequently spoke to crowds with confusing parables without publicly explaining them. His cryptic sayings disturbed and repelled his audiences – “eat my flesh and drink my blood!” (John 6). When he did speak clearly, he taught his disciples that lowliness defines the citizens of his heavenly kingdom. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23.12).

With a few notable exceptions, the men Jesus selected to preach this message were not highly-educated, successful men in the worldly sense. They were fishermen and common people, just like their rabbi. When the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, a group used to elegant traveling rhetoricians, he reminded them of both the nature of the gospel as well as its proclaimers. “For Christ… [sent me] to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1.17-18). Was all of this foolishness accidental on God’s part? On the contrary – “God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (vss. 27-28). A lowly message will attract a lowly people. “Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (vs. 26).

All of these thoughts fit perfectly into the scope of Bible history. God has always selected leaders who were clearly deficient in some obvious way. God has always issued commands that seemed counter-intuitive to the people who received them. God has always raised up a minority people who were inferior to the strong nations around them. Why? To make it clear where the true power of salvation lies. It does not lie in the intelligence, strength, and glory of mankind. The power of God is in a painful, humiliating Roman cross. Are we content to embrace it ourselves?

~Nathan Combs