1Corinthians 1:20-23
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…
The death and resurrection of Jesus means the penalty of sin has been paid by the Lord Jesus Christ; it proved His power to forgive sin—His crucifixion spanned the gap which existed between Heaven and Earth.
As a result, the resurrection of our Lord means that the foolishness of Christianity is wiser than any other religion’s wisdom. Yet, Christianity appears foolish in the eyes of those who will not believe in and follow a crucified, risen Christ.
When the topic of religion comes up, some people have a difficult time taking faith in Jesus seriously. Perhaps there are raised eyebrows, sighs, or outright antagonism. More than once, friends have been surprised that someone as intelligent as I would believe the old Christian “fairytales.” I have also spoken with those who honestly think that the world would be a better place without Christianity.
The “foolishness” of the crucifixion and resurrection is the perfect way of revealing who Jesus is and who we are. Even I don’t understand why God chose to orchestrate Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection the way He did—I mean, I can’t understand it from a marketing perspective. From a barely noticed crucifixion, thousands of years before the invention of mass media in a remote part of the Roman Empire to an even less noticed resurrection—which nobody actually saw at the time but later was witnessed by a few women and a small group of friends— most of the world now knows about those events in the life of Jesus.
That makes no sense. I’d have waited until the Internet was invented, I’d alert every major world news organization. I’d make sure there were television crews and documentary filmmakers present—I’d have bloggers live at Golgotha writing about all the events of Good Friday. I’d place video cams inside the tomb, streaming every minute for three days. I’d have scientists reading spectrometers placed at the tomb’s entrance and an iMax film crew posted there on Sunday morning.
“The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom” (1Corinthians 1:25) however. God has chosen seeking and preaching as the preferred avenues of faith. We preach that “the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). God wants to keep it personal. That’s God’s wisdom. So let’s tell our family, friends, and even our enemies about the wondrous events of the crucifixion and resurrection this Easter and afterwards. It pleases Jesus to save people He loves through that kind of “foolishness.”