Foolishness

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…”  1 Corinthians 1:18 

I read that this morning and a thought struck me. Of course it’s foolish to those who don’t believe. The Gospel doesn’t make any sense at all really. It defies common sense. The God of the universe, Creator of all things, perfect and holy, holy, holy, who lives in Heaven wrapped Himself in skin and came down to earth to be with us.

Why?

Because after He created us, He gave us one simple rule and we broke it. We screwed up. And we’ve been screwing up ever since. We are law breakers and there is a price to pay for anyone who breaks laws. Since God is perfect, He requires a perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins. As the band of misfits that we are, we could never obtain perfection to save ourselves from His punishment, so He devised a plan.

 It’s crazy for sure. Absurd.

He caused Himself to be born as a helpless baby, cared for by the very screw ups that He was trying to save and He lived among us. He endured heat, cold, hunger, pain, thirst, rejection, temptation, betrayal and every other emotional, physical and mental strain that we face. Again…why? So that He wouldn’t be a far away God who can’t understand our struggles. He walked among us. He touched us. He talked with us. He taught us. He healed us. He ate with us.

Now for the really foolish part.

He didn’t come just to hang out. He had a singular purpose. To be beaten, spat upon, and mocked. He came to have his flesh ripped away as He was whipped 39 times with a rope that was entwined with broken glass and bones. He entered the human dimension so that 12 inch nails could be driven through His hands and feet and a spear stabbed into his side. He lived to die…as the perfect sacrifice needed to pay for our sins.

He did for us what we could not do so that we can regain what we lost all rights to in our rebellion…Heaven. Why, why, why? Is God so lonely in Heaven that He had to devise this plan just to have someone to keep Him company? Doubful. With an angelic chorus singing His praises 24/7, He’s probably not lonely and I don’t know about you, but I’m not very entertaining.

To a logical person this plan can sound preposterous…unless you are a good parent and you love your children. If you had to sacrifice your life for some reason to save the life of your child, you would do it, right? Then consider John 1:12, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” and 2 Corinthians 6:18, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”  You see, it’s not a big mystery and not very crazy at all. It’s all about a Father’s love. 

It’s all about John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”