Scripture: 1st Corinthians 2:1-2
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
Thought for the Day: For Paul, the cross is a terribly complicated and confusing concept. It was, most definitely, the greatest stumbling block for him even after his transformative experience on the road to Damascus. Some suggest that he spent as many as 15 years between the Damascus Road experience and his first missionary journey. This period of time was used to contemplate and reflect on what the cross meant. The information we have about this time period is not very specific, but as we learned in the previous chapter, “we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1:23). Paul was one who found the idea of Christ’s crucifixion to be a stumbling block, yet it eventually became for him a window through which he glimpsed the wisdom of God. This divine wisdom does not follow what we might call common sense, for it suggests that the saving one of God was killed and this sacrificial act helps us to understand the mystery of God’s love. Love does not fit the categories of human wisdom, but it does provide us insight into just how far God is willing to go for the sake of humanity. Paul looks at the Corinthian community through the event of the cross, the expression of unconditional and redemptive love, and it allows him to see the community’s potential despite its failures and self-centeredness.
Prayer: Make me to see, O Merciful God, the unconventional approach you took in the cross. Allow it to be for me a lens through which I view others, not seeing their shortcomings and mistakes, but the goodness and potential that love reveals. Amen.
TOMORROW’S SERMON
Don’t say, “I belong to Bruce”
1st Corinthians 1:9-13
