Last Sunday's Sermon

Sermon January 27^th, 2008 Benson, NC

1 Corinthians 1:10-18 ¹⁸ Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. ¹² What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." ¹³ Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. ¹⁸ 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.

1 Corinthians 1:25 ²⁵ For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

Power is a theme Paul returns to again and again in his letters to the Corinthians. Each time he connects power to the Cross, or to the message he's preaching. He is not talking about power as we perceive it in our society, where people get their way because they have friends, or money, or persuasive skills, or status. Paul is talking about the Cross as if it has a specific power: the message of the Cross is our salvation. No other power can save.

Early in this letter to the Corinthians Paul expresses concern about the behavior of the Church. He is witnessing a Church of Christians at odds with each other. The church has become like a political convention with signs and slogans. We learn later in the letter that church members are suing each other. We learn that they are acting immorally. At some point in the letter a reader might despair that there is any hope for this church at all.

Paul though writes tenderly to them. The Corinthians are a church that can go over the brink or be pulled back from the abyss. Paul pulls them back by reminding them of the power of the Cross. He doesn't remind them of the Cross's power by using conventional methods of persuasion. Such methods, a power in themselves, would divert the power of the Cross into something else, something not the Cross – but something humanly acceptable.

It seems odd that the Cross should become humanly acceptable. Even dressed up in swelling words, it couldn't be disguised that the Cross was the number one means of torture and execution. The Roman Empire had a message of the Cross. It was a word of warning. Today such a message for us might be symbolized by an electric chair. Or perhaps when we think of the state's projection of power, we might think of prison bars, shackles, orange jumpsuits, and goggles. The Cross is how the state makes its power known.

That the Lord was executed on the Cross is a sign of weakness and shame. The Roman state made quick work of Jesus. He was publicly exposed, tortured as a criminal, mocked, and left to die in the elements. There was no way to hush it up; no way to spin it as something else. The Cross was a message of bitter defeat in the mouths of the early disciples.

So it is interesting here, when Paul encounters a Church given over to squabbling and power plays, that he would say that their whole salvation stems from the power of the Cross – and he doesn't apologize for that Cross. He doesn't use pretty language to make an ugly thing acceptable. He means the Cross in all its ugliness, the brutal instrument of Jesus' death, is the power of God for their salvation.

That is, it is only through the Cross that God shows them God's love. It is only through the Cross that the Holy Spirit moves among them, giving them gifts of expression, giving them faith, giving them love. And this is part of how God expresses God's power: in paradox. God expresses power in weakness; wisdom in foolishness; exaltation in in humility. And this is why Paul is writing the Corinthians. They don't get it. They're living as if the Cross weren't there at all. They're living in the Church as if it were any other organization. They are living as if they don't need God's power that saves.

How easy it is, once hearing the message of God, the call of God, to think that we're back in control – like we can carry on as we did before. Yet when we do we negate the power of the Cross.

The power of the Cross has changed our lives. The power of the Cross has brought the Church together. The power of this instrument of torture and death was transformed by the presence of Jesus. Jesus transformed this instrument of torture by his faithfulness. He was faithful to God in his life and teaching – restoring the poor and marginalized to a place in God's kingdom and a place among their fellow Israelites. Jesus transformed this method of state execution into the expression of God's love. God loves creation and humanity. As much as the state might try to get its way with violence, Jesus presence on the Cross demonstrates this violence for what it is: the failure to love others when they are different. On the Cross, Jesus shows the world how far God will go to love creation and to love humanity. God never resorts to violence or force.

The power of the Cross is a new life. The worst that humanity can do to silence dissent, to assert that might makes right, to keep people in line, afraid to act as if things could be otherwise, was attempted in crucifying Jesus. Violent humanity took its greatest power, the fear of death, of being exposed and being in pain and shamed, and Jesus turned that power on its head. The power of the Cross is finally that the power of the world is on its head. God's weakness triumphed over the world's strength; God's foolishness outwitted the craftiness and pragmatism of force – that worldly wisdom that says there's one way to play the game and don't rock the boat.

So if the Corinthians know this, what has lured them away from it? What has caused them to play the world's game? Well the whole thing is difficult to believe. God's foolishness and God's weakness are well and good for God, but they're uncomfortable when lived out among friends and family and business associates. And it's easy to think that encountering Christ is a one time experience. You do it once and that's all you need. Like getting a fix or a certificate – and then you go back to how things were. You said a prayer, you cried, you confessed and now it's back to what needs to be done. Paul makes this assessment of the Corinthians throughout the two letters. Paul makes this assessment, but he doesn't give up on them. Paul is tender with them. He calls them back.

Paul knows that the power of the Cross must be lived out every day. That God's love and faithfulness must be acted on each day. That the new creation needs to be re-imagined and walked into each day. Some days are better than others but each day the effort to love our neighbors, to exhibit our gratitude for God's faithfulness towards us, undertaken anew.

Over time, as we practice the wisdom of God's foolishness and the weakness of God's power, we'll discover what Paul knew and the Corinthians learned, that the power of the Cross is our passion.

The power of the Cross is there for us every day. When we lose our jobs; when we face the limits of life, we can be confident that God's love is with us. God's weakness, suffering the Cross instead of lashing out, establishing God's kingdom by force, shows us just how strong that weakness is: the weakness of the Cross goes all the way. There is nothing God will not do to love creation and the people he has called into being. And God's foolishness shows us how far God will go to confound our expectations – that God will not be predictable. God is so foolish that God welcomes all. God calls all kinds of people to the banquet table. The power of the Cross is God's generosity – the expenditure of God's abundance for us, for the world.

And it is all for us, individually and in the Church, if we will practice each day living in the power of the Cross. When we live according to the rules of the world, as Paul told the Corinthians, we empty the Cross of its power. But when we live in the power of the Cross, we really do live into the new creation that God has promised.