William G. McAtee
Second Presbyterian Church
Sermons: February 10, 2008

"A Fool’s Boast"

Introduction: Not long ago, our neighbor brought the youngest of her three children for us to watch over for an hour while she ran an errand. He was seated in his portable reclining carrier on the floor. I leaned over and looked down making funny faces at him; all of a sudden he began to laugh and mimic my every move. For a fleeting moment, I began to wonder what his world would be like when he gets to be my age; what dramatic changes would take place during the span of his life.

My Dad was born in a log cabin in Mississippi in 1889. It had no running water or electricity. That same year the first long distance power transmission line was strung up, 14 miles long from Willamette Falls to downtown Portland, Oregon. Dad died in 1958 of a clogged artery heart attack, less than a year after Russians launched Sputnik igniting the Space Race.

My Mother was born in a farmhouse in North Carolina in 1903, about the time Orville Wright’s first gas powered heavier-than-air-flight at Kitty Hawk. She died in 1998, about the time 77 year-old John Glenn returned to space for a second time aboard the space shuttle Discovery, 36 years after being the first American to orbit the moon.

I was born in little Mississippi Delta village in 1934, the year a practical radar apparatus was tested that gave the first x-ray photo of the entire body. * Friday’s Herald Leader had an ad saying, "Give your Valentine or yourself a CT heart screening scan, called Cardiac Calcium Scoring, that can detect evidence of serious coronary artery disease even when there are no symptoms." A Valentine’s Special -- $175, regularly $250!

My young friend is all of nine or so months old and so unassuming. All of a sudden I had this overwhelming feeling in the midst of his innocent joy that I wanted to make an apology to him; an apology for the awful mess we are leaving this world in as our legacy to him.

What could I possibly leave him with that would make his world better, more than a feeble apology? What must I do or say that he might choose to mimic?

+ + + + + + + + +

The lesson for this morning is set in the somewhat new city of Corinth, some twenty-five or so years after the life and death of Christ. The city had lain in ashes for over a hundred years after a Roman General burned it down in 146 B. C. As it rose from those ashes over the next century, it became a bustling crossroad, shipping port city of transportation and commerce. It developed into a literary and intellectual center for that part of the world. Nearby was the site of a "Super Bowl/Final Four/World Series" type athletic event known as the Isthmian Series. They went nuts over sports and athletes too!

It had few "fine old traditions" to dictate how things were to be done, so anything and everything was fair game. The place crawled with all sorts of religions, "some so degenerate that the Roman Government refused to grant them licenses. The people were mostly hard-boiled lovers of pleasure, materialists to the core, the last people in the world you would think capable of ‘spiritual’ understanding or living."

It was here in this first century urban city that Paul became the "organizing pastor" of a small Christian Church. Paul, a city man himself, knew the importance of the city. He knew that, as city people traveled the highways and seaways connected to the ends of the empire, they could carry the "Good News" of Christ with them if they so chose.

But this fledgling Christian community soon became compromised by the surrounding secular context and religious pluralism from without and divided by intramural jockeying for leadership from within. Caught up in these alien allegiances and partisan divisions, they forgot "whose they really were".

Addressing this situation, Paul wrote a shocking letter to try and bring order out of chaos. Its message was simple. "Christ crucified is ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God,’ and he is ‘our wisdom…and our redemption.’"  (I Cor. 1:24; 30)

What made this so shocking to those mid-first century Corinthians? How could this execution on a cross, this crucifixion, which had happened less than thirty years before, be so wise and redemptive? This was crazy to them. Why so?

First of all it was an execution of a "native" in a Roman province by official order. Roman conventional wisdom said this was something done only to slaves and barbarians. When Roman citizens and aristocrats got condemned to death, they were beheaded, not crucified. Then for Jews, anyone killed in this way was under the curse of God.

Also Paul was telling these Corinthians that Christ was not only the Son of God, and Lord of all, but that it was through his crucifixion that God’s grace and love became revealed and effective for them.

This was absolute foolishness to those worldly-wise Corinthians. This was no "Good News." They were smart enough to know that such a proposition would not fly with the Jews. The Jews were looking for a conquering, militant Messiah, not a defeated one. The Jews yearned for a royal king on a throne with all its pomp and circumstance, not a cursed man dripping blood on a cross — a stumbling-block. What Paul said was nothing more than a fool’s boast.

They knew Gentile Greeks would not buy it either. They were steeped in worldly philosophy and sophisticated ideas of the times. Even when they contemplated deity, their understanding made no room for a suffering god. An executed peasant could not possibly stand for a higher being or mean anything to these learned scions of culture — shear folly. What Paul said was nothing more than a fool’s boast.

Paul and others struggled to relate a gospel developed in a Hebraic and Jewish-Christian environment to a Graeco-Roman Gentile world. For this they were persecuted. They fought internally over different recollections of biblical accounts and their meaning. **

The debate raged on for centuries, distorting the biblical witness of who this Christ was and is, confounding the foolishness. What does this foolishness say about the conventional wisdom of riches or power or fame or status or security? How could God reveal divine wisdom through the life and death story of a meager itinerant carpenter in a nebulous nook of the world, for us now 2000+ years ago?

For the wise in the ways of the world now in the 21^st century, as it was for those in the 1^st century, this mystery is no proof of anything. It is irrelevant, a total disconnect to "real" reality, a bunch of foolishness, a fool’s boast.

+ + + + + + + + +

In all reality this day we are facing crises of faith of unbelievable proportions. We are now living in a world where religious pluralism is front and center in ways we have never believed or recognized before. We are challenged to the core.

Until recently in our country, we Christians believed we had a corner on religion, something like Baskin-Robbins, we came in 31 different flavors. Worldly wisdom taught us to measure success or failure by the gain/loss bottom line of the numbers — members and dollars. If there were a loss, we simply cranked up evangelism or stewardship or leader recruitment programs. If there were a gain, we proudly ran the numbers out in annual reports and press releases.

Now we are discovering that this favored "corner market" mentality is being edged out by the "market share" mentality of religious pluralism. Competition among religions is not just limited to Catholicism or Protestantism or occasionally Judaism. But Islamism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, atheism, and countless other religious "isms" are clearly on the menu of choice. What does the worldly wisdom of competing for "our share of the market" do to our ego and our self-understanding?

Before we have been able to come to terms seriously with this new reality of religious pluralism, a much greater threat to our security has emerged. We have moved beyond competing religious worldviews. Religious fundamental extremists in all the world religions have evoked religion [or the lack thereof] to justify terror and violence against humanity and the earth on which we exist.

Mark Juergensmeyer, in his book Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence, wrote:

"Since . . . [2001], religious violence has erupted among right-wing Christians in the United States, angry Muslims and Jews in the Middle East, quarrelling Hindus and Muslims in South Asia, and indigenous religious communities in Africa and Indonesia. . . . Violent ideas and images are not the monopoly of any single religion. Virtually every major religious tradition -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist -- has served as resource for violent actors."

To that end, these zealots have moved to make over nation states in their own image and declared Armageddon and jihad against each other.

The crises is more than simply one of sincere faith, it is a stupendous crisis threatening, not just what we have held dear as a people, but the very existence of humanity itself. It’s a world gone mad over power and might and glory and domination and brute force and denial and you name it—everything worldly wisdom can conjure up.

+ + + + + + + + +

Back in January (1-13-08) on my afternoon walk I was listening to an interview on NPR of Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer-Prize winning author and journalist about her forthcoming novel, People of the Book. She built her fictitious story on the real life saga of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a rare illuminated Hebrew manuscript that survived from the 14^th century all the way into the 1990s. It was created in Muslim ruled medieval Spain when religious diversity, multi-ethnic interfaith acceptance was celebrated and tolerated.

She said it was a time when Christians provided the army, Muslims built the buildings and Jews provided the money to do both. In reality these three major monotheistic religions, all descendants of Abraham, co-operated by sharing the best that each had to offer. And then for some reason in the 15^th century under the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Spanish Inquisition erupted replacing tolerance with violent oppression, the likes of such made modern day waterboarding look like child’s play.

Beyond the intriguing story of how this manuscript survived attempts to destroy it during the Spanish Inquisition, the Nazi occupation of Sarajevo and later the ethnic cleansings there during the 1990s, Brooks points out that throughout history there seems to be an alternation between tolerance and violent oppression among these great religions. And today in 2008 we appear to be in that later cycle of violent oppression confirming Juergensmeyer’s observations about the global rise of religious violence. ***

+ + + + + + + + + +

What are we to do in the face of this stupendous crisis threatening the very existence of humanity itself? What can be done to turn the cycle back to a time when religious diversity, multi-ethnic interfaith acceptance are celebrated and tolerated?

Last October (10/13/2007), 138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals from every major Islamic country in the world sent a consensus communication to the Christian world entitled, "A Common Word between Us and You." Although it was not directly addressed to leaders of Judaism, it acknowledged that the Jewish Scripture contained the same Common Word in the Torah. In time they hoped that this third Abrahamic religion would be part of this dialogue on peace and justice with Muslims and Christians.

The summary statement of its message began:

"Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population. Without peace and justice between these two religious communities, there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians.

"The basis for this peace and understanding already exists. It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God, and love of the neighbour. These principles are found over and over again in the sacred texts of Islam and Christianity. The Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and the necessity of love of the neighbour is thus the common ground between Islam and Christianity."

It went on to say:

"Finding common ground between Muslims and Christians is not simply a matter for polite ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders. Christianity and Islam are the largest and second largest religions in the world and in history. Christians and Muslims reportedly make up over a third and over a fifth of humanity respectively. Together they make up more than 55% of the world’s population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. With the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world’s inhabitants. Thus our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake." ****

Though there is difference in the details, nevertheless there is a common word between Islam, Christianity and Judaism that offers a starting point to reclaim the cycle when religious diversity, multi-ethnic interfaith acceptance are celebrated and tolerated, therefore making the future of the world a safer place. To that end, it is imperative that Muslims, Christians and Jews must be faithful to this common word as God commanded each of us in order to thwart the violence of all religious fundamental extremists.

+ + + + + + + + + +

This is a tall order. What do we, in our own way as Christians who trust in the God of Abraham, have to offer to this interfaith cause of world peace? What can we individually or collectively here at Second Presbyterian do that could possibly make a difference in the face of the sheer insanity and violence that threatens our future and the future of my little friend? Can faithfulness to a common word by even a majority of one really make a difference?

Is there something found in a fool’s boasts that Paul uttered to the fearful and threatened Christian community at Corinth that had become compromised by the surrounding secular context and religious pluralism of the day? Paul’s message of a fool’s boasts was simple. "Christ crucified is ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God,’ and he is ‘our wisdom…and our redemption.’" (I Cor. 1:24; 30) Do we dare believe such foolishness?

If so, how does that fool’s boast translate into something tangible that we can live out in concrete and practical ways so we can be faithful to a common word along with the other religions who also put their trust in the God of Abraham? We may struggle to reconcile the real theological dilemma of our God-Christ belief that puts us in conflict with some of the beliefs of the other two religions. But one point where there is no conflict: a common word -- love of One God and love of neighbor. Listen to what Jesus radically taught by what he said and what he did that translates that common word into a fool’s boast:

--Be servant of all, for all are invited to the table; welcome the outcast; forbid not the children nor cause them to stumble; the last shall be first; bless the poor.

A FOOL’S BOAST!

--Cure the sick, comfort the sorrowing, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; bless the mourners.

A FOOL’S BOAST!

--Sell what you have and give it generously away in secret; you cannot serve God and riches; bless the meek.

A FOOL’S BOAST!

--Defend the defenseless, the widows and orphans; feed the hungry; forgive seventy times seven; bless the merciful.

A FOOL’S BOAST!

--Love your enemies; turn the other cheek; pray in secret for those who persecute you and say all manner of evil against your for my sake; bless the peacemakers.

A FOOL’S BOAST!

--Seek the security only God can give; worry not about your life, what you will eat or drink, or your body, what you will wear; strive first for God’s Kingdom; bless the righteous.

A FOOL’S BOAST!

--Take up your cross and follow me; those who find their life will loose it, those who loose their life -- even family and friends -- for my sake will find it; bless the pure in heart.

A FOOL’S BOAST! THIS IS RADICAL!! *****

What could we possibly leave our children with that would make their world better, more than a feeble apology? What must we do or say that they might choose to mimic?

RADICAL THOUGH IT MAY BE, THIS IS WHAT WE MUST DO TO LEAVE OUR CHILDREN A PEACEFUL WORLD -- BE FAITHFUL TO A FOOL’S BOASTS, EVEN IF IT IS ONLY BY A MAJORITY OF ONE!

Understanding the radical sweeping changes in faith and behavior Jesus pointed to are not all that difficult to understand. We make no apology for our belief that through Christ we come to know and experience God’s grace. Putting that fool’s boast in a common word into practice by faith as a thankful response to the One God’s grace is the challenge, but that is what we are called to do. God bless us fools for trying! Here’s to you, my little friend.

___________________________________
         *Background material on 1889, 1903, 1934, 1998 selected from entries in Wikipedia
       **Background on "I Corinthians" from Laymen’s Bible Commentary, Volume 21
    ***Additional background information on People of the Book from www.geraldinebrooks.com/people.html
  ****Background on "A Common Word" from www.acommonword.com/
*****Adapted from McAtee’s "Dreams, Where Have You Gone," p. 389

Preached at Second Presbyterian Church, Lexington, Kentucky, February 10, 2008
McAtee © 2008      Reprinted with permission      All Rights Reserved