"Fools for Christ"

I Corinthians 1:18-25

A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley

April 1, 2001

University Baptist Church

Minneapolis, MN

How many of you got April fooled today? The day is still young. At our house we like to pay with things like alarm clocks. Growing up we used to eat our meals out of order. Who says you can’t have cereal for dinner anyway?

Jim Ketcham generously provided me with a whole lot of humorous material for this April Fool’s Sunday. I found this one especially intriguing: You might be a Minnesotan if:

You measure distance in minutes.

People from other states love to hear you say words with "o" in them.

You can list all of the Dales.

You know what "uff-da" means and how to use it properly.

You’ve licked frozen metal.

You have gone trick or treating in three feet of snow.

When you talk about the "opener" you are not talking about cans.

You wear shorts when it’s 50 degrees outside in March, but bundle up and complain in August when it gets below 60.

This sermon is about holy fools. This sermon is about being a fool for Christ. This sermon is about our ministry and our very lives. Read I Cor.1:20-25.

...Writes The Apostle Paul to the people in Corinth. The city of Corinth, you know, was a pretty crazy place. People from all walks of life worked and lived there. There was no central ethos. Most of the people had been there for less than a generation. And it is to that diverse, stumbling, warring community of fragile believers that Paul addresses this letter. People from their business of commerce and their world travels knew all about the ways of the world. We would assume that they knew about Philosophy, and wisdom. But they were still missing the boat on what Christianity was all about. God's wisdom is foolishness to the world.

As they got a bit closer to God’s foolishness, I bet their little house-church was scoffed at. I bet they were taunted, I bet they really took it on the chin for being foolish.

But I want to know how they made it through all of that. How did they stay connected with the foolishiness of God? How did they put aside their worldly wisdom and become fools for Christ? Partly, I believe, because they followed Paul who was convicted by Christ and never the same again.

Paul knew what it was like to be called a fool. Paul knew what it was like to BE a fool. He wasn't quite as foolish as say Elijah who walked around dressed like a caveman performing miracles. Paul wasn't quite as foolish as Ezekiel who kept having visions of wheels in and among wheels turning this way and that way up in the middle of the air. Paul was a different kind of fool.

At one time, he was an establishment sort of guy. He liked to have everything neat and in order. He saw the world was run by strict laws and he sought to follow them to the tee. It did not matter if the laws were just or not, it just mattered that they were the laws. These days, it would be nice if our government officials simply followed the laws of the land instead of trying to make a mockery of our legal system and our Constitution.

But somewhere on the road to Damascus, Paul had to let go of his strict adherence to scripture. He had to let go of his doctrinal determinism. He had to let go of his propensity to judge others. Paul had to give all of this up, because he got a little taste of the lunacy of Christianity.

You remember the story. Paul, a Pharisee was walking to Damascus having just officiated over the stoning of Stephen. When suddenly, a bright light shone upon him and blinded him. Many people are so caught up in their holier than thou wisdom that they are blinded to the needs and desires of others. This goes for people on both ends of the political and religious spectrum.

Paul, in a moment of uncommon wisdom shouted, "Who are you?" Paul humbled himself and bowed to a wisdom higher than his own.

"I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." From that moment on, Paul knew that the people in Jerusalem about whom he had laughed for their outrageous and courageous witness were proclaiming the truth about Jesus Christ. After years of training and repentance, Paul began to also preach in the name of Christ. He began to preach that we must love one another. He began to preach that we must not judge one another. He began to embrace the outsider, the poor, the marginalized. And he also found joy. He sang and danced Greek dance, broke bread with former enemies. He reveled in the new life he had as a foolish Christian. And just like those before him, he was called crazy, misguided, maladjusted, in need of some serious Biblical repentance.

"Paul was foolish," they scoffed in the board rooms of the Pharisaic council, "to give up his luxurious life in order to preach foolishness. Doesn't he know that to do such is to get thrown into prison and to be perhaps put to death."

I Corinthians 1:18 says, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God." My friends, Paul knew exactly that. He knew the consequences of his actions. He also knew that the only Christian way was the way of the cross. Standing up for Christ, being Christ’s hands and feet often entails persecution, misunderstanding and in extreme cases, death. That is Paul’s foolishness that is stronger than all of our wisdom. Paul was proud to be called a fool for Christ. Perhaps we could be, too.

Let us remember that some of our greatest leaders were called fools. Ben Franklin was called a fool for flying that kite in that lightening storm in order to prove his theory about electricity. Leonardo Di Vinci was called a fool for inventing the helicopter centuries before it was to be used as a military gunship. George Washington was called a fool for leading a revolution against the powerful British empire. Harriet Tubman was called a fool for risking her life to free slaves. The suffragists and abolitionists were called fools for advocating for equal rights for all people. Naderites are called fools because of their belief in the ban of not only soft money but hard money in campaigns. They believe that democracy might even be worth a try.

Walter Wink says that the wisdom of this world is the domination system. The foolishness we are called to embrace is antithetical to that system. It is standing up to that system that makes us fools and outcasts in the eyes of the world and beloved in the eyes of God.

These days, welcoming and affirming churches are considered foolish as we dare to say that God loves all people regardless of their sexual orientation.

Sisters and brothers, if you are called a fool for justice's sake, then you are in good company.

"Stop acting the fool," we hear folks tell especially our young people:

"THIS FOOLISHNESS IS GOING TO GET YOU IN TROUBLE,"

I bet those were the words of Jesus' family when they saw him stand up in the temple proclaiming the scripture of Isaiah to be fulfilled. "The Spirit of the LROD is upon me because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, to set the captives free and to proclaim the year of God’s favor."

"Jesus, now, why don't you just stop this foolishness and let's go home. This is neither the time nor the place for such behavior." But, my friends, this is the time and the place for foolish behavior.

I call upon you to be foolish in the eyes of the world. This does not mean for you to be happy-go-lucky and lackadaisical. I mean that you are to be considered foolish in the eyes of the world. That means taking a risk on behalf of God’s people. Daring to work on repairing the breach between warring parties. It doesn’t make you popular. It makes you a holy fool.

John Sundquist, the Executive Director of the ABC International Ministries said a few biennials ago:

How about on this April Fools weekend, embracing the foolishness of Christ? The lunacy of love? Perhaps during these last two weeks of LENT, we can look at the world the eyes of one who is called a fool. Perhaps we can see the world, or our corner of it, through Christ’s eyes. Perhaps as we pray and reflect about that perspective, we will be called upon to act just a bit foolishly.

As foolish Christians, we find ourselves, thankfully out of step with the masses. We are constantly singing a different tune, energized by an unseen electricity, and empowered by a Spirit which knows no bounds. Our zeal for God-centered justice is called by some, fanaticism. Our willingness to be inclusive of all parts of the human family is quite mad. This fanaticism. This unbalanced passion. This zeal. This foolishness comes from the truly foolish one whom we follow. For this foolish one is the rock upon which the church is built. This foolish one used the foolishness and the harshness and the absurdity of the cross to claim a whole new vision. This foolish one calls on us during this Lenten journey to pick up our own cross and follow. This foolish one’s foolishness is greater than our greatest wisdom.

And our foolish posture on behalf of others will say more than any words which are said from this or any other pulpit or platform. Let me close with one statement from St. Francis of Assisi: "Preach all the time. If necessary, use words." Sisters and brothers, if we do that, we may just be called fools for Christ.

That is the stand of Christians. That is who we are.

Fools of Christ Arise and live your creed to be foolish followers who march to the tune of the lunacy of love. Another thing that brings salvation in this world and the next.

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