delivered 15 March 2009
by Rev. Dr John Evans
Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19
1 Cor. 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
“For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (1Cor 1: 25)
Like many passages of scripture, I have read this passage many times; even quoted it many times — but in preparing for today I have seen it in a new light.
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. (1Cor 1:20)
Yes, I had thought, Christians and the Christian faith are different from the ways of the world; yes, Christianity can sound strange – but, then it came to me. Paul is actually saying much, much more than that our ways are different from the ways and beliefs of the world; or our song does not follow the rhythm of the world. He is actually saying we look stupid in the eyes of the world; but it is that very stupidity or folly – the crucified Christ – which is wisdom, God’s wisdom. And perhaps more significantly, he is also saying, the wisdom of the world – is not really wisdom at all.
And why my insight? I have ringing in my ears the great example of the failure of the world’s wisdom – the current global financial crisis. Or what is now being called the Great Recession or the Great Correction. Whatever it is called, this economic event permeates our news, our politics, our thinking, our daily conversation. It even has put an edge on the start of the footy season – and bizarrely, tragically, it is seen as a reason to put on hold an even greater worry: the degradation of the environment and climate change, and the very survival of the planet itself. Our economic malaise is seen as a whole host of failures – failures of regulation, even the failure of the markets, failure of key elites to have seen it all coming – whatever. However, in the end the Great Recession has been underpinned, even caused, by folly, dressed as wisdom.
Perhaps in our daily lives the difference between folly and wisdom is minuscule – very tiny indeed. It can be just a matter of timing – when an investment is made or an asset is realised, can make all the difference. And the difference between folly and wisdom can also be knowing what question to ask; how you frame the issue can be critical. So is the current global financial mess really about better regulation of, say, banks, and because we failed to do that we have allowed them to get away with murder? Or is it really about collapsing the whole of human existence into being a consumer in some stupendous globalised market in which other aspects of human life are dismissed? Life serves the economy, rather than the other way around. I don’t hear much about this latter way of viewing our economic malaise at the moment.
How you frame the issue, how you ask the question, can indicate if you are wish or foolish. Our three readings illustrate how so much can depend on how we frame a problem or issue, and whether we are wise or foolish.
The structure of Paul’s letter to this troubled community of Corinth is a great example. The major theme underpinning this letter is that there is great division and dissension in the Corinthian church. Some are saying they belong to Paul, or to Peter, or to Apollos. There is discord and disunity. Paul at this point could have gone into managerial mode, and dispute resolution! He could have endeavoured to mediate, or even arbitrate, between the various parties. This was, after all, the presenting issue. That would have been the wise course of action – we might have thought.
Paul, however, immediately on outlining the issue, changes key and begins this discussion about wisdom and folly. He addresses a deeper question: Do you actually understand who God in Christ is for you? And so he says:
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 things that are, so that no one may boast in the presence of God. (verse 28 ff)
And there was the problem – people were boasting about who they were, and which party they belonged to. If however, one re-frames the situation from God’s perspective — from the perspective of the wisdom of God – no one should be boasting!
Wisdom, the wisdom of God is about seeing the world with fresh, compassionate and loving eyes; it’s about understanding the nature of God.
And from the gospel reading, a similar situation arises. Here we do not have a sweet, compliant and loveable Jesus. Jesus is angry. He overturns the tables and drives out the traders and moneychangers from the temple. People just do not seem to understand that religious life is not about institutional life and structure (here, commercial transactions or the sale of birds and animals for sacrifice). Nor is spiritual life really about a building (in this instance the Herod the Great’s temple in Jerusalem). It is about a relationship with God – a relationship that Jesus himself would transform.
I can just imagine how the temple authorities would frame the issue; imagine a Church-Council equivalent at the Jerusalem temple: “We really must do something about the dove sellers. There are too many of them, the quality of the doves is substandard, and there are rumours of kick-back payments being made to their suppliers. We must manage the temple better.” And so on. This would be their wisdom. And indeed much talk like this passes for wisdom in today’s church.
Religious life is however, not merely about ritual, about buildings and religious practices – it is more basic. It’s about our relationship with God; or as Jesus dramatically says, it’s about your very body, and you being raised up to life in the name of God, as he predicts he will be. Here is the issue – not the operation of the temple life. Jesus cut through what was seen to be important, even the received wisdom about the religious life, to his understanding of God’s wisdom and ways. And his anger –- his consuming zeal -– which does sit strangely in our understanding of Jesus, reminds us that the folly of the world in the face of the wise alternative, can annoy us and also make us very angry.
My third illustration comes from the ten commandments. I think particularly here of the commandment to keep the Sabbath, the seventh day, or as Christians have done, the first day of the week, keep it holy – and free of work. This fourth commandment sits interestingly between the great affirmations about God – like that God is the one and only God and what is then needed to organise a new nation, an agrarian community that gives life and meaning to its residents, by not murdering, or stealing, et cetera.
The commandment to keep a day which is different certainly seems today like folly if all of us have to be good consumers in a globalised market. It is not wise; and we have changed our society’s structure to incorporate this new insight. How are you to make money if industry, shops, schools whatever don’t work around the clock? However, even if we accept that it is important wisdom of God to have a regular rhythm of a break, a Sabbath, a rest – that can ironically become a strict law code – which even Jesus runs up against. Remember the trouble he got into when his disciples plucked ears of wheat as they walked through a field or he healed a sick person on the Sabbath. What seemed wise could be seen to be folly.
At the end of the day, this fourth commandment is not a means of religious officials exercising power over others. It is about understanding profound insights into the rhythm of God, the creator, the maker of heaven and earth; and what our needs are as one of God’s creatures; or what the needs of the world are. Again, the wisdom is about our relationship with God so that we might have a full life.
Wisdom, God’s wisdom –- as these examples show: in our community life (like with Paul), religious life (like with Jesus) and even in how the world operates (as in the commandments) — will be different from the way of the world. But Paul wanted to emphasise that God’s wisdom was supremely shown through the cross of Christ. Here was truly amazing folly – which just goes against what we would think would be sensible or wise. A god, any god or divine being, just has to be all powerful; and in no way would be associated with suffering or death, death on a cross, let alone being being despised and rejected. What happened to Jesus of Nazareth was not a spiritual insight – rather it has to be seen as folly, a scandal, and just pain wrong. But no, Paul says, this is not the case. God’s weakness is greater than any human strength. The suffering Christ actually gives life.
During the week I read these words about suffering, and our responses:
“Why do we persist in trying to ‘solve’ problems with violence, despite the fact that violence threatens our own survival? We resort to violence when we do not know what to do with our suffering.
Suffering can be life-giving if our hearts are broken open so that we then have the capacity to empathise with others’ suffering. To reach that point we must honestly name our suffering, feel it fully and then allow the turmoil to settle and an inner quietude to emerge, so God can help us find our way through.
Isn’t this the nature of God’s love shown in the cross of Christ? Isn’t this really the lasting wisdom, that God is there with us in our suffering, and that through that suffering there is still offered life – resurrection and new life? The wisdom of the world is revenge, violence, blame and hatred. . . or at least sue someone. The wisdom of God is different. God’s wisdom is about dying to the old, and finding new life; repentance and forgiveness. It is always about life and hope.
