For the very first time in my lifetime, Easter is on April Fools Day, which presents the preacher with the perfect opportunity to point out the foolishness of it all.
The Apostle Paul outrageously asserts:
“The way of the cross is foolishness” to the world (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).
We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
We witnessed some of the foolishness last week. Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Savior of the World, arrives in the capital city, not on a powerful war horse, not on a white stallion, not in a royal entourage, but bouncing in on the back of a borrowed donkey.
I believe ne of the most troubling things about our faith is the attempt by the church to try to deny or even conceal the foolishness of the gospel. Ashamed of to be labeled a fool, there is this tendency to take the all of the foolishness that is inherent in the gospel and re-package it as just another brand of worldly wisdom, common sense, something on which all Americans easily accept and agree.
A recent survey by Bill McKibben reveals that three-quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.”[i] However, that statement is from deist Ben Franklin; not the Bible.[ii] In fact, “God helps those who help themselves” is one of the most unbiblical ideas. It is Jesus who made the dramatic counter assertion: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But, deep down we prefer Ben Franklin don’t we? Doesn’t sound so foolish.
Søren Kierkegaard, the great Danish theologian, writes: “Christianity has taken a giant stride into the absurd. Remove from Christianity its ability to shock, and it is altogether destroyed. It then becomes a tiny superficial thing, capable neither of inflicting deep wounds nor of healing them. It’s when the absurd starts to sound reasonable that we should begin to worry.” He goes on to name a few of Jesus’ shocking and foolish assertions: “Blessed are the meek; love your enemies; go and sell all you have and give it to the poor.”[iii]
Listen to some of the most popular preachers today. Christianity is not about absurdity; it’s about positive thinking. It’s about how to be successful and happy and satisfied and effective at home, at work and at play, in marriage, in friendships, and in business. There is no cross bearing. No Jesus bounding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. No foolishness. It’s no wonder the church today looks more like a country club than it does the living body of Christ.
Perhaps this tendency to rationalize the gospel has been with us since day one. Just listen to Mary and the way she rationalizes that first Easter morning when she saw that the stone had been removed.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple…and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb…
Of course this is what must have happened. Anyone with a lick of common sense can deduce this. It would be foolish to believe anything else!
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
A very reasonable thing to do in this situation.
As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white…
They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
“And I do not know…”
She almost confesses to her problem right there, that she “does not know,” but it becomes obvious she is still grounded in earthly wisdom, still constrained by common sense.
“I don’t know where they have laid him.”
“When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus
Of course it’s not Jesus. That would be absurd.
1Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener…
Of course he’s probably the gardener. That’s just good common sense.
She says to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
A rational request, a reasonable appeal.
But the good news is that the risen Christ is continually liberating us from the restrictions of rational thought, reasonable assertions, and all of the limitations of human reason!
The Risen Christ is continually breaking the restraints of common sense, pushing the boundaries of human logic. He is continually calling us out of the world that we have all figured out to live in a new realm that many would regard as foolish.
And notice how is does it. He breaks the barriers of worldly wisdom, the presuppositions that Mary has of what is going on in this world and not going on in this world, by calling her by name.
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
And for Mary, this is the moment she takes a great stride into the absurd, the moment her whole world is suddenly transformed. This is the moment Mary began walking by faith and not by sight.
In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes these words:
[Jesus] died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
The Apostle Paul is writing about a miraculous change that has been wrought in his life because of the change that has been wrought in the world through God in Jesus Christ.
Paul is saying that at one time he understood Christ with the wisdom of mortals—as a great teacher, a fine moral example.
But now he is able to see in the death and resurrection of Christ, a radical shift in the entire world. In Christ, a new age has been inaugurated. The whole world has changed. Just as God brought light out of darkness in creation, God has now recreated the world in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
This is what the great theologian Moltmann was trying to point out when he said,
“We have attempted to view the resurrection of Christ from the viewpoint of history. Perhaps the time has come for us to view history from the viewpoint of the resurrection!”
Paul was saying that when Jesus was raised from the dead, the whole world had shifted on its axis. All was made new.
This is exactly what happened to Mary when the risen Lord called her by name.
Mary recognizes the risen Christ, turns and says to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).
And Mary experienced a transformation that was so real, that she was compelled to announce it to the world: “I have seen the Lord!”
You know, it’s one thing to experience something that you know the whole world thinks is foolish. But it takes foolish to a whole other level when you go out and share that something with the world.
But that is just what people who have experienced the good news of Easter do.
That is why on this April 1, when some look at us gathered here, praying and singing, preaching and baptizing, and say that everything that we are doing here today only confirms their preconceptions that this day is a day for fools, we smile, and we respond: “You have no idea just how foolish we are!”
How foolish? You ask.
Oh, we’re foolish enough!
- We’re foolish enough to believe that the only life worth living is a life that is given away.
- We’re foolish enough to believe the Kingdom of God belongs to the poor.
- We’re foolish enough to believe those who hunger and thirst for justice will be filled.
- We’re foolish enough to believe the last shall be first.
- We’re foolish enough to believe that all things work together for the good.
- We’re foolish enough to believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
- We’re foolish enough to believe that this world can be a better place.
- We’re foolish enough to believe that character still counts, morality still matters, and honesty is still a virtue and all three are still possible.
And we are foolish enough to take foolish to whole other level!
- We’re foolish enough to love our neighbors as ourselves.
- We’re foolish enough to forgive seventy times seven.
- We’re foolish enough to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give the very shirt off our back.
- We’re foolish enough to feed the hungry, love an enemy, welcome a stranger, visit a prison, befriend the lonely.
- We’re foolish enough to stand up for the marginalized, defend the most vulnerable, and free the oppressed.
- We’re foolish enough to call a Muslim our brother.
- We’re foolish enough to believe that someone with Cerebral Palsy can run a marathon.
- We’re foolish enough to believe students can build an affordable house for a family who struggles to make ends meet.
- We’re foolish enough to get back up when life knocks us down.
- We’re foolish enough to never give up, never give in, and never give out.
- We’re foolish enough to believe that nothing can stop us, not even death.
Because, although it may seem absurd, Somebody loves us.
Somebody came and taught us to see the world in a brand new way.
Somebody picked up and carried a cross.
Somebody suffered.
Somebody gave all they had, even to the point of death.
Somebody arose from the grave.
And that same Somebody found us and called us by name.
[i]Bill McKibben, “The Christian Paradox,” Harpers Magazine, July 7, 2005.
[ii]Deism is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme natural God exists and created the physical universe, and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason and observation of the natural world. Deists generally reject the notion of supernatural revelation as a basis of truth or religious teaching.
Just Love 