Holy Cross
1
Cor 1:18-25
9/14/25
I spent all the years I was in school developing skills to speak about
theology at a high level. There was the process in grade school, middle school,
and high school of building the vocabulary and grammar that is expected of an
educated person. In college, and then
seminary, and graduate school I learned the vocabulary, the content, and
history of theology. I learned how to present theological arguments in a persuasive
manner.
I have spent a great deal of time and effort learning to speak
about theology. I know the language to use that shows I am in general an
educated person. I know the vocabulary and references to make that signal to a
hearer trained in theology that I too am trained in theology and know what I am
talking about.
Of course the irony of all this is that theology does not exist for
its own sake. It exists for the sake of the Church – for the people who are the
Church. None of that theology does any
good if you can’t communicate it to people.
And so I don’t speak to you in the same way that I do when I am with
other pastors. Now you are an educated
audience and you have a good theological understanding in many areas, so it’s
not like I have to dumb things down completely. But for the sake of good
communication there are vocabulary, phrases, and references that I am not going
to use.
In the verse just before our text St. Paul says that Christ had
sent him “to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom,
lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” Paul freely admitted that
his language was not the kind that would impress people. He says in the next
chapter, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming
to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.”
The first century world was one in which the entire education
system was built around teaching rhetoric. People learned how to create and
arrange the points they were making, and to ornament their language. There were specific rules and techniques by
which this was done. Through the use of these a person could identify himself
as an educated person to others who were also educated.
However, Paul had not done that. He hadn’t done it because he had not been
trained in that way. Certainly, he was aware of some basic principles and
techniques, and we can see these in his letters. But he himself freely admitted
that this is not something he brought to the table. Paul had not been able to speak in these
ways, and he says that this is actually a good thing because it meant
there was nothing about his speech that distracted from its central content.
There could be no confusing the message with the manner in which it was
delivered.
Paul identifies that message in our text as “the word of the
cross.” He says in the next chapter, “For I decided to know nothing among you
except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
The crucifixion of Jesus – the cross – this is what Paul proclaimed in
Corinth.
After two thousand years of the message of the cross, it is hard
for us to understand what the proclamation of Christ crucified sounded like to
Paul’s world. The cross is a universal symbol of the Christian faith. The cross,
and crucifixes that include the body of Jesus on the cross, are everywhere in
our life. We see it at church and in our homes. We wear it as jewelry around
our neck.
But the cross in the Roman world was a symbol of weakness, shame,
and suffering. The Romans used it as an instrument of terror in the provinces.
Criminals died on the cross. They died in a way that was slow, painful, and
public. Even after death, the body was
left on the cross to be eaten by birds as a warning to all.
But Paul had come to Corinth and proclaimed that the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ was actually something completely different from what it appeared
to be. Yes, he had been tortured and
humiliated. Yes, he had died as a
criminal in the weakness and shame of death on a cross.
Yet while all this was completely true and had really happened, the
death of Christ was in fact God’s most powerful action to give us salvation. In chapter fifteen, Paul describes the
message that he had shared with the Corinthians. He wrote, “For I
delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ
died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.”
Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Paul told the Romans that “all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Created for fellowship with God, we are instead
people who break God’s law. We sin in thought, word, and deed. These sins are a rejection of God. They are
committed against God. As David says in the Psalms, “Against you, you
only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that
you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”
Paul proclaimed that Jesus was a man who had really died on the
cross. But he was more than just a man. He was the Son of God. As he told the
Galatians, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his
Son, born of woman.” As the One who is true God and true man, Christ
the sinless One had taken our sins as if they were his own. He had received God’s just judgment against
sin as he died on the cross. And now, through faith in Christ we are justified
before God – we are forgiven and innocent. Paul told the Romans that we are “justified by
his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
This was the word of the cross.
In our text, we see that Paul is under no illusions about what this
sounded like to the world. He says, “For
the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to
us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The Greek word translated as folly is based
on the root from which we get the word “moronic.” To the Greco-Roman world, the
word of the cross was moronic. It was
idiotic. It was stupid. Yet Paul says that for those who are being saved it is
the power of God.
The apostle describes in our text how the cross is God acting in
foolish ways to make fools of the world that refuses to believe in him. He
says, “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the
discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where 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? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did
not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we
preach to save those who believe.”
Those who believe in the folly of the cross are saved. Those who
reject it are damned as sinners by God’s judgment. Paul says, “For Jews demand signs and
Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to
Jews and folly to Gentiles.” To the Jew, a crucified Christ – a crucified
Messiah – was an oxymoron. It was by definition impossible. To the Greek, Christ crucified was moronic.
Yet in our text Paul goes on to add, “but to those who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Paul had once considered Christ crucified to
be a stumbling block. He thought Jesus
was a blasphemer who had been justly killed, and he sought to destroy the
Church.
But he had learned that God had vindicated Jesus and demonstrated
that he had been working through the cross of Christ. God did this by raising
Jesus from the dead. As he says in chapter fifteen: “For I delivered to
you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to
more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive,
though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to
all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also
to me.”
Holy Cross Day focuses our attention on the means by which God
redeemed us from sin. But the cross is
not only a description of how God redeemed us.
It provides the pattern for how God continues to deal with us now. Paul
says at the end of our text, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and
the weakness of God is stronger than men.” The cross shows us how God acts in
what look to be foolish and weak ways
That is what is happening right now. I am proclaiming the Gospel to
you – the word of the cross. These are just words from a man. They are words
that many ignore – there are far more people out there doing their own thing
this morning than there are in this and all the other churches combined. They
are words that even people who are congregation members can ignore as they
choose not to come to church and instead to do something else this
morning. By all appearances it is
foolish and weak.
That is what will happen just a little later in the service. I will
take bread and wine, and speak Jesus’ words over them in the Sacrament of the
Altar. The bread and wine won’t look any different. They won’t taste any
different. You won’t see droves of
people coming into the church to receive it. There are congregation members who
just didn’t bother be here today for it.
By all appearances it is foolish and weak.
But the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of
God is stronger than men. God works in the way of the cross. What seems to be foolish is the wisdom of
God. What seems to be weak is the power
of God. Through the preaching of the
Gospel – the word of the cross – the Spirit of Christ is delivering forgiveness
and sustaining faith. That is what is happening at this very moment.
What seems to be foolish is the wisdom of God. What seems to be weak is the power of
God. The bread and wine are not mere
bread and wine, but through the power of Christ’s word it is his true body and
blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins. Here the risen Lord is present in our midst
as he gives us the very price he paid for our forgiveness and salvation.
And the cross is also the pattern for our own lives. After Peter confessed that Jesus is the
Christ, our Lord said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find
it.”
It seems foolish and weak to accept suffering and loss in order to
believe in Jesus Christ and confess him before the world. Paul told the
Philippians, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ
you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.”
Because of faith in Christ we hold to God’s Word. We seek to live according to his will. We
share his will and ordering revealed in Scripture with others. We confess that
this is true and that we won’t live any other way.
As we live in the world today this comes at a cost – it brings the
cross. We saw this on Wednesday last week as Charlie Kirk was assassinated. We
have seen it as so many people have celebrated his death. Make no mistake. Charlie Kirk was killed
because he was a faithful Christian. He confessed Christ before the world. He said that Scripture is God’s Word and
authoritative revelation. Because of God’s Word he said that abortion is sin.
He rejected the entire LGBTQ agenda, and transgenderism and said that they are
wrong and contrary to God’s will. He said that sexual immorality and
pornography are wrong and destructive. He extolled marriage as the one flesh
union of man and woman. He spoke about the complementary differences of man and
woman, and emphasized the importance of family.
He was clear and direct about the threat of Islam.
People hated Charlie Kirk because of this. He was killed because of
this, and people have publicly rejoiced on social media about his death. But of
course, the things Kirk believed – the things I have just listed - are the same
things that we as Christians believe.
And that means they hate us too.
This is not surprising. Jesus
said it would be this way. He said, “If
the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” This is
the way of the cross.
But we walk this way knowing that Christ is the power of God and
the wisdom of God. In him we have already
have peace with God now, and we will share in his victory before all on the
Last Day. From prison, as Paul contemplated the possibility of his own death,
he went on to tell the Philippians, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because
of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake
I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order
that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of
my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in
Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain
the resurrection from the dead.”
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