Today is April Fools’ Day. I’m not planning on using my site to propagate any sort of prank or joke. In fact, on this week’s episode of The Christian Nerd Podcast Ron and I shared our aversion for April Fools’ Day pranks. Not because we don’t like a good joke, but because they’re usually pretty lame.
When I hear the word “fool” I often think about a court jester. I also think about all the students I worked with over the years who constantly made foolish decisions.
“Why did you climb on the roof of the chapel?” “I don’t know.”
“Why did you take off your seat belt and crawl underneath the back seat of the van when I was driving?” “I don’t know.”
“Why do you walk back to our dorm room dripping wet instead of drying off in the shower?” “I don’t know.”
These are all actual conversations I had during my years as a youth pastor responding to the foolish behavior of students.
No one wants to be a fool; I would hate to be known as a foolish person. However God seems to celebrate the fools, and not just on April 1.
In 1 Corinthians 1:27 Paul writes, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
Earlier in the passage Paul writes, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
So at least as far as the cross is concerned, we should embrace foolishness. The Bible is filled with passages about avoiding actual foolishness, but the foolishness of the cross is something that we should celebrate.
I do have a hard time, though, embracing the foolishness of the cross. There are plenty of people in my life who don’t know about Jesus and couldn’t care less about him. To them, the cross is complete foolishness, which means that my entire life is centered on foolishness. I suppose they just find my foolish commitment quaint at best and culturally destructive at worst.
I really don’t understand, though, people who have walked away from Christ. I have friends who were wholeheartedly committed to the foolishness of the cross, but then chose to walk away. I feel that someone like that would have absolutely zero respect for someone like me, who still loves Jesus and is happily a cross fool. If I had followed Jesus but decided the entirety of Christianity was a farce, it’d be difficult for me to respect those who still called themselves Christians.
I suppose I’ve created a false dichotomy where people either follow Jesus or are actively working against his kingdom. Most people probably just think, “If it works for them, good for them.”
The foolishness of the cross works for me because it works for everybody. We just need to accept that little bit of foolishness and trust that we will see the power of God in our lives.
How do you do with being a fool?
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