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.
What was God thinking?
The newborn Jesus was placed in an animal trough. The angels first
announced the news of Jesus’ birth to the lowest of Jewish society, the shepherds.
Jesus, God’s Son and himself God, died as a criminal on a cross. What on earth was
God thinking?
If I were to create a plan to save the world from sin and death, I
would not begin with a manger or end with a cross. My King of Kings and Lord of Lords
would not be a homeless teacher who spent his time with fishermen, tax collectors, and
lepers. What was God thinking?
Consider your own call, brothers and sisters. Not many of you are wise
by human standards; not many are powerful; not many are of noble birth. What is God
thinking?
God calls us to be his body, his church here on earth. God calls the
young child, the elderly, the unemployed, the handicapped, the shy, the depressed, the
high school dropout, along with the CEO, the thirty-something, the doctoral student, the
pastor. Together we are Christ’s hands and feet and voice in the world. What is God
thinking?
The source of our life is Jesus Christ, who became for us wisdom from
God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
In the eyes of the world we may not look like much, but in God’s
eyes we are worth dying for. Believing in a God who would die on a cross is foolishness.
But God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom. It is God’s foolishness in
Jesus Christ that gives us life.
What was God thinking? He was thinking of you.
O, Loving God, we don’t always understand that your ways are so
different from those of the world. Help us to be fools for Christ in a world that values
its own wisdom. Amen.
Deaconess Doreen Scheuerman
