Folly

"The word of the cross is the power of God to us who are being saved," 1 Corinthians 1:18.

Religious trinkets are OK, I suppose, given some contexts. Yet, people being saved by the word of the cross would not confuse trinkets with the power of God. Jesus' cross is no romantic hilltop silhouette against an evening sky. We know that, of course! But long ago and far away blurs the image. For modern sensibilities, a noose clears the sight. So the old hymn would sing: Must Jesus wear the noose for me, And all the world go free; No, there's a noose for everyone, And there's a noose me. Jarring, isn't it? Disgusting. Eyes turn away, embarrassed. Unlikely ever as home decor. Or of churches. But now we have big time context. The message of Jesus' cross takes the repulsive event our gut rightly abhors, and heralds our salvation through that folly.

And again, humbled, knees bent at Jesus' name, we marvel at God's capacity to take refuse and build heaven out of it. With a brother or sister today, we give thanks to God, and we declare his power, through repulsive shame, to save us.