Sermon: “Foolishness and Wisdom”

15 March 2009

Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)

Third Sunday of Lent
March 15, 2009

“Foolishness and Wisdom”

1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Mark 4:35-41

Prayer:   “May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our minds and hearts here together be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.”

This Lenten season, we’re exploring the way of the cross that Jesus calls us to take.  For many of us, I know, that sounds a lot like setting out onto a big, restless sea in a very small and possibly leaky boat – as the disciples did that night in Galilee when Jesus calmed the storm.  But I assure you that what at first may sound to you like foolishness is truly the wisdom of God – and the source of our new life in Christ Jesus that Paul writes about in his first letter to the Corinthians. 

Just think about those disciples who got into the little boat with Jesus at the end of a long day to cross the lake, with the wind picking up under dark and threatening skies.  Remember this was BEFORE anyone knew he could calm a storm.  Wouldn’t you have been tempted to say, “Um, Lord, might not it be wise to take the land route tonight?” or “How about we kind of hug the shore, Lord, and go around that way?  Straight across seems to me, I mean under these present conditions, maybe just the tiniest bit foolish.”

But Jesus not only leads them out there to the middle of the lake and the heart of the storm, he goes to sleep in the stern of the boat and STAYS asleep, even as the storm increases to the point they’re taking on water.  That’s certainly not a sailing strategy that one would expect from a professional sea captain.  To his experienced fisher-disciples who DID know what they were doing on the water, it must have seemed foolish or at least a little irresponsible.  It made them more than just a little bit unsettled and uncomfortable.  “Jesus, wake up!  Do you not care that we are perishing?” We could say, as Paul does, that Jesus’s focus on faith instead of human effort – his emphasis on prayer and rest instead of heroic action – destroys “the wisdom of the wise” and thwarts “the discernment of the discerning.” These were experienced fishermen, after all – they were no fools. 

And yet, they followed – and though we read that they left the crowds behind – in Bible study this week Bob Lambert noticed something I’d never seen before in this story, several other boats followed them.  Who were those people?  I have to wonder.  Who were those other followers who risked their fool necks that dark and stormy night on the lake?  I think they were disciples like us – not the sainted original 12 disciples who knew Jesus in the flesh, but those who were just beginning to believe and follow on sheer faith.  Those were some reckless sailors, who must have looked pretty foolish to the crowds who stayed behind on shore, but now we know they made the wise choice to follow Jesus.  They put their complete trust, their very lives, into his care. 

Theirs was not “toe in the water” faith, but “get soaking wet and hold on for your life” kind of faith.  This is the faith tradition we follow, fellow Pilgrims.  This is the kind of faith Sir Francis Drake called for in this prayer from 1577:  “Disturb us, O Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves; when our dreams have come true, because we dreamed too little.  We arrived safely, because we sailed too close to shore.…Disturb us, O Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wilder seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.  We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.”

We Congregationalists never have hugged the shore or played it safe.  We are the few, the proud… the Pilgrims.  Our ancestors in faith were refugees running for their lives.  And yet, somehow God gave them the courage to get on a tiny ship and cross the stormy Atlantic for this shore where they founded a new nation, a beacon of religious freedom to the world.  It was a Congregational Church that hosted the Boston Tea Party.

Again and again, we have accepted the challenge from Jesus to choose “what is foolish in the world to shame the wise,” as Paul says.  Jesus scholar Marcus Borg identifies this as our Christian call to overturn what the world accepts as “conventional wisdom.”  This very church sent out the first missionaries to Hawaii on their small boat in 1819 – which suffered through months and months of rough and terrible seas before reaching land.  The First Congregational Church of South Butler, NY, ordained the first woman pastor, Antoinette Brown, in 1853.  We Congregationalists fought for the abolition of slavery and a hundred years later for civil rights for all people of color.  Now we are “open and affirming,” in support of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ – the first mainline church to take such a courageous stand.  There are many Christians, both within and without our denomination, who would call us “fools” – but Paul says, with resounding certainty, “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  …  For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (1 Cor. 1:20, 25)

With 20-20 hindsight, our choices do seem to have been the right ones, although we forget how many people opposed those causes as hopeless or foolish, or both.  There were many who doubted anyone would succeed – as I’ve said before, I still remember one time in my church growing up, our mission committee had one of those potlucks with a guest speaker.  And he was this professor from the University, who rode his bike to church that day, to talk about how it was a part of our call as Christians to care about the environment.  And after he sat down, so many grown-ups far wiser than me were all talking at our table, saying, “What a dreamer!  This will NEVER catch on – it’s sheer lunacy.”  And you know what wild idea he was proposing for our church?  Recycling!  Don’t forget to drop your bulletin in the recycling box by the door as you leave…

Some of those same people said the same thing about our church’s involvement in the Civil Rights movement.  And yet, we followed the example of Jesus, despite our own human doubts and weakness, and ventured out onto uncharted seas, for the sake of those even weaker than us who needed our help.  Remember what Paul said?  “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth….God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.”  When weak and flawed human disciples like us are able to accomplish great things, in spite of our weaknesses and doubts, despite our struggles and disagreement with one another, it really does prove the power of God to work through us.

And one last thought:  Even when in our brokenness we are forced onto the way of the cross we can show forth the power and wisdom of God.  Because sometimes we get shoved out into deep and stormy waters somewhat against our will: we get a cancer diagnosis, a loved one gets sick or dies, our parents divorce or move, we lose a job, we discover we are addicted and start a 12-step program.  Or maybe our house burns down.  I’ll never forget that hot October Sunday back in 1990 when my Northern California congregation was just coming out of 10 am worship as the great Oakland Hills fire was beginning to smolder in the distance.  By the next morning, some 25 families in my church had lost their homes.  As you can imagine, our community was devastated.  No one knew what to say to them, or what to do.  But as they got over the initial shock and started to rebuild their lives, we were surprised that instead of being depressed, these fire victims seemed to have more genuine joy and faith than the rest of us.  They had passed through the heart of the storm with the help of Jesus and had emerged stronger than ever.

So would only a fool choose the way of the cross?  Perhaps.  I wouldn’t suggest anyone go home and torch your house in order to strengthen your faith.  But in these challenging economic times, it must give us courage to know that others have weathered far worse storms than these – and if we can be wise and steady enough keep Jesus in our sights, and place our trust in him, we will be safe in our foolish little boats of faith and make it safely over to the other side. 

Thanks be to God for this Good News.  Amen.

 


1 Corinthians 1:18-31

18For 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. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. 26Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Mark 4:35-41

35On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”


 

 

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