“The Scandal of the Cross”
I Corinthians 1:18-25
I Cor. 1:22, 23: For
Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a
stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles…
[Prayer]
If
we have any sense of decency at all, we will be scandalized by certain
behaviors and events. There are some
things that ought to embarrass us. I
thank God that I still have the capacity to blush in certain situations or
shake my head in wonder at the audacity of some people. Shame and embarrassment are not necessarily
bad things.
But
some Christians these days act as if they’re ashamed of the cross. It’s embarrassing. Its connotations are negative. There is fear that the cross will chase
people away. One mega-church pastor, who
shall remain nameless, has even stated that his ministry cannot be successful
if he preaches the cross. There are
church sanctuaries – excuse me, worship centers – being built purposefully
without crosses in them. One must not
present a negative image.
Related
to that is the explosion of so-called seeker-friendly services. Marva Dawn, a Lutheran pastor, writer, and
professor, is a critic of such services.
She refers to them as entertainment evangelism. Come
take a look at the church. Check out
this Christianity business. Discover all
the wonderful programs we have to offer.
Let us entertain you. Let us
demonstrate to you just how much wonderful it is to be a Christian.
There is nothing wrong with being visitor-friendly. We ought not to put obstacles in the way of
those who come seeking Christ or searching for a church home. Nor should we paint too rosy a picture of our
faith. Following Jesus is not all fun
and games. Crosses in one form or
another come with the territory. Worshipping God isn’t about being entertained
or made to feel good. It is God who is
the focal point of worship, not us. As
much as we want to make people feel welcome – as much as we need to let people
know that church is a place of refuge and healing for the lonely, hurting, and
lost – at some point we have to be honest about what being a Christian can
cost. We might as well be up front about
it.
Paul and the other early disciples preached Christ and Christ
crucified. What happened on the cross –
what the cross symbolized – was central to the Gospel message. How do you preach the Gospel without
mentioning the cross? Minus the cross
both Incarnation and Atonement lose their meaning. Without Christ’s crucifixion there could be
no resurrection. His death – on a cross
– is the act that bridged the great chasm between God and a fallen
creation. How can we not preach it? How dare we try to hide it in an attempt to
successfully market a church? The Gospel
of Jesus Christ is not just another product that we offer to a consumer-driven
culture.
The Gospel would have been an easier sell back there in the First
Century if the cross could have been ignored.
Jews wanted nothing to do with a crucified Messiah. They wanted a market driven miracle worker, a
symbol of
The Greeks weren’t too crazy about the idea themselves. Real gods don’t take on human form. Real gods do not empathize with
humanity. Real gods are indifferent to
the pain of human suffering. Real gods
don’t lower themselves to the muck and mire of human existence. The very notion that the Word could become
flesh was ridiculous. The Incarnation of
God in Jesus of Nazareth was a pipe dream.
The notion of redemption by way of divine suffering was thought to be
utterly stupid. It was scandalous.
So much for conventional wisdom.
By way of the Incarnation and Atonement God turned conventional wisdom
on its ear. Real Messiahs are not
crucified, dead, and buried. Nor do they
descend into hell. Ya wanna bet? God does not become incarnate in a human
being. God doesn’t pitch his tent in the
human camp. God does not suffer. God does not die. Ya wanna bet?
The message of the Gospel – the truth about a crucified Christ – is a
message that contains the very wisdom of God.
The message of the Gospel – the truth about a crucified Christ – is the
story of God’s mightiest act. It was the
Greek philosophers’ highly intellectualized vision of an aloof God that was
made to look silly. It was the
high-powered vision of a wonder- working warrior Messiah that was made to look
weak. The Suffering Servant – the Word
made flesh – the crucified Christ - was the ultimate demonstration of God’s
wisdom and strength. God’s seeming
foolishness proved to be divine genius.
God’s seeming powerlessness proved to be the demonstration of his
ultimate power.
When we deny or hide the cross in order to make Christianity easier to
accept and understand we are not sharing the Gospel; we are marketing cheap
grace. When we skip over the reality of
crucifixion in order to bring about church growth we are not being faithful
evangelists; we’re just foisting another brand of feel-good religion on a dying
world. When we do not preach, teach,
proclaim, and demonstrate Christ and Christ crucified we’re not sharing our
faith; we are putting forth a watered down theology and dumbed down form of
worship - something that is not the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Even if we learn nothing else about following Jesus, we must learn
this: being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not about success; it’s about
faithfulness. The Church of Jesus Christ
is not a body whose life depends on its marketability. The church isn’t a social club trying to
recruit members. The church isn’t an
exclusive club for the upwardly mobile.
The church isn’t a carnival with lots of prizes to be handed out. The church isn’t a religious Wal-Mart where
one goes window shopping for the best ecclesiastical deal in town. The Body of Christ is not for sale.
The season of Lent is an ongoing reminder that Jesus didn’t take the
easy way out. He did not give into
multiple temptations to be popular or powerful.
His ministry was never about success as measured in human terms. None of his work was ever about building up
some successful religious enterprise. He
didn’t preach about how to win friends and influence people. He didn’t teach the power of positive thinking
or try to form self-help groups for those who needed a boost to their
self-esteem. He didn’t lobby
His life was an embarrassment to his family and the folks back
home. His was most definitely not one
of those local-boy-makes-good stories.
His death was a scandal in the eyes of his fellow Jews. Jesus never followed the path of conventional
wisdom.
But then God has never been about conventional wisdom. Trust a ninety-year old man and woman to
produce a son – not likely, but it happened.
Call a fugitive from justice to go back where he was wanted dead or
alive and defy Pharaoh – nonsense, but that’s what God did. Enter into covenant with a rag-tag bunch of
political refugees – I don’t think so, but guess what, it happened. Move a Persian dictator to set those captive
children of
Christ and Christ crucified: a stumbling block to some and just plain
foolishness to others. A scandal. An embarrassment. There will always be those in the world who
cannot accept the reality of a crucified Christ. There will always be those seeking an easier,
more sensible way to follow Jesus. The
cross is going to turn some people off.
The plain Gospel will always sound unattractive to those who want the
truth to be like bad iced tea: watered down and overly sweet. We will always be tempted to preach an easy
Gospel.
For the message of the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing (or
as Peterson paraphrases it, hell-bent on
destruction), but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Amen.