Sunday, April 01, 2007

Foolishness

It feels a bit like an April Fool’s joke: The idea of a “Crucified Christ” is absurd. How can the death of one man in ancient history have any bearing on my life today? Christianity asks us to believe that a man called Jesus was killed by a minor Roman governor, and this shapes my relationship with God 2000 years later. Assuming of course that this man ever actually lived, and is not just an image borrowed from Egyptian religious narratives, or from Greek mythology.

St Paul wryly admits that “we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1 vs 23). And articulate bloggers like Eddie (F) at Edge of Faith candidly and very effectively point out the absurdity of the notion of Jesus leading us to God.

And yet….?
And yet I have discovered that the quirky foolishness of God is far more satisfying than the post-modern logic of a modern cynic. I am attracted to the idea of a God who chooses to seek me out. I am comforted by the belief that I am unconditionally loved by a Creative Being who is beyond my knowing. And I am inspired by the knowledge that this Godly foolishness is available to all people – irrespective of their wisdom or lack therof: inspired mainly because I am a deeply flawed, fragile, insecure, and often mistaken individual who finds comfort is a God who understands my foolishness.

I have no need of a God who perfectly executes the plans of life. Give me a God who indulges in the foolishness of loving broken people, and I am able to join this project. Out of my experience of being foolishly loved by God, I find the courage to love other foolish people too.

1 comment:

K said...

Man, you nailed it. The older I get, the more foolish it all seems but somehow my faith keeps growing to balance it out.

It seems to me that the most foolish part is the religions that have been built around Christ. Didn't he come to abolish the system that the religious leaders of his day had built? Now it appears that the 'church' has created another religious system that needs to be abolished.