A large number of life's greatest blessings start out as stupid, moronic foolishness in the
eyes of many people. This was the case with Samuel Morse, a pastor's son and an artist who
left his art for a new idea. He thought that a message could be sent by means of electricity.
He labored for years in lonely obscurity living alone and cooking his own meals. After 4
years he had a working model of the telegraph. In 1837 he applied for a patent but nobody
was interested in such nonsense. He tried in England, France and Russia but foolishness was
not popular anywhere. He finally got the chance to demonstrate his contraption before
President Van Buren, his cabinet and leading scientist. They all too, considered it much ado
about nothing. For 5 years he labored to improve his instrument and finally got a grant
from congress to make an experimental line. It was considered such an idiotic project that
some congressman failed to get re-elected because they voted to support this lunatic fringe
idea. On May 24, 1844, the test was ready for sending a message from Washington to
Baltimore and back. A text of Scripture was sent and back came the historic reply, "What
hath God wrought!"
Morse the moron became more the genius over night and the world over he was famous
and honored. As a man of God, he gave all the glory to God. He said, "It is all of God. He
used me as His hand in all this. I am not indifferent to the rewards of earth and the praise of
fellow men, but I am more pleased with the fact that my Father in heaven has allowed me to
do something for Him and His world....unto God be all the glory."
The birth of the electronic age of communication was a gift of God to modern man. But
man in his supposed wisdom considered it pure foolishness until he saw it's valued
consequences. There are numerous examples of this in the realm of science and literature
and the arts. Many of the great hero of history were are first considered fools and unworthy
of serious thought. The greatest example of this in all of history is God himself. God's ways
are so different from the ways of human wisdom that when man first considers them they
seem like foolishness.
This may sound like radical language but it is not my choice for effect, it is the language of
Paul. The Greek word he used in I. Cor.1:25 for the foolishness of God is moron. This was
one of Paul's favorite words. It is used to all it's forms 23 times in the New Testament and 14
of that 23 are by Paul. All the other 9 are from the lips of Jesus. So Paul and Jesus are the
two New Testament authorities on the moronic foolishness of life. Paul is especially fond of
this word in this letter of First Corinthians, for of his 14 uses of the word, 10 of them are
right here in this one epistle.
Paul is so intent on the contrast between the foolishness of God and the wisdom of men
that he considers it an honor to be one of God's morons. In 4:10 he says, "We are fools for
Christ". He uses the word morons. In 318 he urges the Corinthians to become fools or
morons in order to be wise. Paul goes out of his way over and over again to stress that the
ways of God in the eyes of the worldly wise are just plain foolishness. Now what does all this
have to do with Christmas?
Christmas is the being of the foolishness and weakness of God that ended on the cross. The
resurrection was the great transition. It was the smartest thing God ever did through His
Son. It was wisdom and power. This was more like it for a God-sheer genius and awesome
power. But the story of Jesus in His birth to the cross-the Incarnation and the Crucifixion:
these were events of madness and folly. These were the foolishness and weakness of God.
The whole story of Jesus is going backwards and instead of from rags to riches, it is a
riches to rags story. The wisdom of the world says you move from weakness to power. The
goal of life is to get more not less. You labor and fight to climb higher in status and power.
You move from being poor to being rich. That is the flow of life, from less to more.
Now we come along with the story of an all powerful God with riches beyond the wildest
dreams of earthly men. He has infinite resources and yet He comes up with a plan whereby
He gives all of this up to become a baby who is so weak He has to be carried away or be killed
by Herod. The Son of God, equal with the Father, empties Himself of this equality and
becomes the child of a poor homeless couple in a podunk town, where they have no more
clout than the barn yard critters they are forced to sleep with. Give me a break! You call
this a plan? This is more ridiculous than the president of General Motors resigning to make
fries at a fast food restaurant. This more ridiculous than the president of the world bank
quitting to sell cool aid in front of his house. This is more ridiculous than the president of the
United States leaving office to make popsicle sticks. This is so incredibly ridiculous, Paul calls
it, the foolish of God.
It even gets worse. This tiny baby grows up to be a powerful man who is a channel of
God's power in the world. He moves people by His teaching and He moves mountains by His
miraculous power. Masses are fed with a lads lunch; storms are stilled; people by the
thousands are healed and some even raise from the dead. Maybe this story is going to make
sense after all. But no, He lets himself be taken to the cross and by narrow minded bigots
cruelly crucified. He could have called ten thousand angels, but He called no one. He died in
utter weakness. He had all that power and He never even lifted a finger to stop them. This is
more ridiculous than an elephant being brought to his knees by a butterfly. This is more
ridiculous than the United States being defeated by Cuba. This is so profoundly ridiculous,
Paul calls it the foolishness and weakness of God. Only God could make a plan so weak and
foolish pay off.
If God would have let us be advisors on the plan of salvation we would have told Him to
make a show of power. Send you son into the world on a great white stallion with a vast array
of angels. Take the world by storm and have every knee bow and every tongue confess that
He is Lord. God would have said, not a bad idea, but I'll save that for the Second Coming.
The first coming of my son will be as a helpless baby in an obscure stable where only a few of
the world's most uninfluential people will be informed.
Most of us would say don't bother to call me the next time you are looking for advice.
What foolishness, we would mutter as we walked out of the council chambers of heaven. The
least He could do is to start His Son off as a grown man like He did with Adam. To start Him
off as a baby is foolishness. At least give Him to respectable family and not to a poor
carpenter who will never be able to give Him the things He deserves. The whole plan is
absurd, we would conclude, and we would be right. That is why Paul calls it the foolishness of
God.
God was choosing to send His only begotten Son into the feeble body of an infant. He
would need the constant care and protection of His parents. He would need help to learn His
ABC's and how to build a fence and study the Bible. He who made the universe would need to
be taught how to make a bird house. He who is the embodiment of all truth and wisdom
would need to be taught how to spell His name. The true story of Christmas is incredible.
Man cannot invent a story that is more incredible. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. But
you can count on this, when God does what seems foolish it will in the end be an amazingly
clever plan to overcome evil and achieve the salvation of man. So let's look closer at the
foolishness of Christmas and see just how wise it really is.
The foolishness of God is very simply the foolishness of love. True love tends to be foolish
for it takes risks. The costly ointment that Mary poured on Jesus was considered a
scandalous waste and act of sheer folly. But Jesus saw it for what it was, and act of love. Was
it foolish? Of course it was, but it was the foolishness of love that is wiser than the wisdom of
men who do not love.
Love does crazy things. I risked my life once just to keep a date with Lavonne. I took off
in a terrible storm to drive the 20 miles to her house. It took so long to get there, they were
all in bed and I didn't want to disturb anyone. It was to bad a snow storm to go home again so
I decided to sleep in the car. Fortunately for me, Lavonne's father saw the car in the
driveway and came out to invite me in for the night. Everyone thought I was an idiot for
doing such a foolish thing, and I was. Do you think I would have so stupid if I had not loved
her?
Somewhere along the line we almost always do something moronic for the ones we love.
Love and foolishness often go together. God is love and therefore there has to be, by the very
nature of love, some foolishness in God. The difference is God's foolishness is always based
on wisdom that assures the final result will be victory for good. The foolishness of man often
gives evil the victory.
It is probably foolish to compare the story of Christmas and the story of the cross to see
which was the most radical example of God's foolishness. But as I did, I at first assumed that
the cross was the ultimate in foolishness. What could be more foolish than submitting to the
power of death? But as I thought more, I could see that the birth of Jesus could, in fact, be
even more radical than His death. On the cross Jesus had a choice and He could have saved
Himself. As a baby, Jesus had no choice. He had reduced Himself to a level where He was
completely dependent upon others for His survival. By being born as a baby He gave up all
control and submitted Himself to the ultimate in limitations.
The foolishness of Christmas is the foolishness of love and the foolishness of love is the
choice of self-limitation. Jesus had it all but He gave up equality with God to take on the
limitations of human flesh. He was rich but He became poor for us. If you want to see love,
look for one who will choose a self-limitation for your benefit. There is no love without the
choice of limitations. Even God cannot love without the cost of self-limitation. That is what
Christmas and the cross is all about. They are about the limits God is willing take on Himself
for our salvation.
If we will not give up something for another person, we do not love that person. Love is a
choice to give up some of my time, some of my energy, some of my money or some other
resource for the benefit of that other. Paul in Phil. 2 is stressing that Christians love one
another and then he gives us the essence of what that means in verse 4: "Each of you should
look not only to you own interest, but also to the interests of others." In other words, if you
are totally self-centered and not interested in others needs, you are not loving. Love is a
choice to limit self interest so as to take on the interests of others. If God was not love there
would be no Christmas, for there would be no such foolishness as the Son of God taking on
human flesh. This is the greatest limitation of one's person and power in all of history. That
is why the Christmas story is the greatest love story of all time. Love has to care and take on
limitations or it would not be love. Love has to be foolish in this way and take on risks or it
will cease to be. God cannot be Love and not take some foolish risks for those whom He loves.
If there was no foolishness of Christmas and the Cross, we could do nothing about it, but
God would not be Love. God could not leave men lost and headed for hell with no hope of
salvation for that would be a denial of His very nature. But the sacrifice of love seems foolish
to the non-loving. Because your neighbor does not love your child he may think it foolish to
lavish your hard earned money on their pleasure. Because your neighbor does not love your
favorite tree or plant they may consider it foolish that you spend all the time you do watering
it and caring for it. Anything thing or anyone you love sacrificially will seem stupid to those
who do not share your love. That is the point of God's foolishness. It is not foolish to God
nor to those whom He loves. It is only foolish to the worldly wise who do not understand love.
The greater the limitation one puts on ones self, the greater the love. The Incarnation and
Crucifiction are the greatest limitations conceivable for the Person of God. Thus, they reveal
the greatest love conceivable and therefore the greatest conceivable foolishness to the worldly
wise. God so loved the world that He gave His Son and therefore, God's love is the foolishness
of Christmas.
