26 August 2022

God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
From 1 Corinthians 1: 17-25 (NRSV)

St Paul has just been talking about the fact that preaching about the crucifixion is a massive problem to most people – to the Jewish people it was an obstacle, to the Greeks it was absolute madness. Paul sees this as evidence that God is not appealing just to the learned and clever – something Jesus had said himself. In a way, God is confronting those who pride themselves on being able to explain everything – especially those who used their knowledge to put others down.  As Paul says, God’s foolishness is infinitely greater that the greatest human wisdom and there is no human strength that can come even remotely close to any weakness in God.

• • Why was the crucifixion such a problem for people in the first and second centuries after Jesus?
  • When have you puzzled over something to do with faith? 

Think today about the greatest wisdom you have ever encountered – or the strongest person you have met. Then try to expand that into how great God’s wisdom and God’s strength must be.

Image – Christ Crucified 1632 Diego Velazquez