VII.
Let’s go back to Paul’s request that the folk, “Consider your own call … “
How might his thoughts on “wisdom” and “foolishness” give us insight on our call to be “in Christ Jesus”?
VIII.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to save those who believe. or Jews ask for signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to those who are the 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 abolish things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. In contrast, God is why you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
IX.
Take a moment to consider some of Jesus’ remarks, like – “the last will be first and the first will be last” (Matthew 20:16); or “… many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Matthew 19:30); or “the master … he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve [the slaves]” (Luke 12:37) and the Beatitudes of Matthew 5 which speak to a reversal of typical expectations.
Might Jesus’ remarks and Paul’s encourage us to expect the Kingdom of God ushers in a new way of life. A way that is counter to the kingdoms we encounter day to day. Maybe we could call this “the great reversal.”
This past Tuesday (1/31/2023) I read in the Lectio365 app,
“From His lowly birth in a stable to His criminal’s death on a cross, Jesus’ life on earth is marked with striking humility.
“As He makes Himself a servant and is laid low into the grave, God’s response is to raise Him up: out of the grave and over every throne and nation in heaven and on earth.
“In Jesus I see the upside-down, counter-intuitive pathway to flourishing in the Kingdom: that the way up is down, and the pathway to honour is humility.
“In Luke 18:14, Jesus says: ‘For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.’
“In a world of self-promotion, God, how might I follow in the upside-down footsteps of Jesus and pursue humility rather than applause today?”
How comfortable can we be in walking the “upside-down” pathway of Jesus?
charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}