Utter Foolishness
(Free Version)- The Fourth Sunday After Epiphany, Micah 6:1-8; 1 Corinthians 1:18-21; Matthew 5:1-12
It is still not too late to to sign up for our new year discount on paid subscriptions which we are running through the 30th. Our paid tiers provide a much more in-depth look at the readings every week.
This week’s readings can be found here.
We are continuing today in the season of Epiphany. To say that the Christian life is full of challenges is an understatement. The gospel is a constant challenge to the other narratives we believe. We are a people who have set our face to follow in the way of Jesus, but it is very easy for us to quickly find ourselves serving something else, losing our footing on the journey.
In J.R.R. Tokien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo recalls an old saying from Bilbo. “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” It often feels this way for the Christian, and perhaps for the human. After my alarm goes off, I am doing pretty good by the time I get dressed, get ready, and prepare my coffee. But it is not too long into my day before I am selfish, I lack trust in God and I’ve trusted in the wrong thing.
What happens when I find myself in such a place? What happens when I am lost? The good news is that God is always revealing Godself to us. God shows up on our journey, ever comforting and ever challenging.
I often get swept off my feet, distracted by the plethora methods, means, and visions of “the good life” offered by the old world. I often look for the quick fix.
In this sense, I feel the weight of our Old Testament reading (Micah 6:1-8). In light of their sin, God’s people are reminded of their history. They are the people who have been brought out of Egypt, redeemed from slavery. We, as God’s people, are part of a salvation-history, which points us to the resurrection. We are a resurrection-people, and our behavior often does not fit with that story. What can save us from such behavior? What can we do to make up for it? The good news is that the Lord himself is our salvation. Our calling is not complicated. We know what is good: live rightly, goodly, walk in humility. All of these have to do, not with a dramatic sacrifice, but with a posture before God. It is he who saves us.
I also am a lot like the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:18-31); perhaps you are too. I look for a sign, I look for the shortest path to victory. Or I chase after the shiny object that’s right in front of me. I often measure other people by their gifting, their charisma, or how well they have done for themselves in this life. I’m sure such a view of the world is enticing for all of us. It is difficult to embrace the hidden life to which Paul points the church.
Unlike the world’s definition of the good life, the Christian’s view of the world looks, not like “killing it,” but like utter defeat. It is a stumbling block for some and a silliness to others.
To me, and to all of us, there is good news. The stories of our world are illusory and untrue. We are not defined by our worldly successes, there is no “quick fix” to restoration. God plays by a different set of rules. It is only on the other side of the cross that we discover that God’s foolishness is wiser than wisdom itself. God’s weakness is stronger than strength itself.
The Message translation says, in the first few verses of our gospel reading,
You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”
You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”
You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.”
You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.”
This is good news. The answer is not pulling ourselves up by our moral bootstraps. The answer is not found in fixing, controlling, or manipulating. The answer is found in letting God do what God does, in trusting the One who has flipped the world upside-down. Hope is found in the one who walks the road of the disgraced, the crying, and the damned, revealing that God has been with them all along.