February 22  1^st Sunday in Lent 1 Corinthians 1.18-31

¹⁸ For people who are stumbling toward ruin, the message of the cross is nothing but a tall tale for fools by a fool. But for those of us who are already experiencing the reality of being rescued and made right, it is nothing short of God’s power. ¹⁹ This is why the Scripture says: I will put an end to the wisdom of the so-called wise, and I will invalidate the insight of your so-called experts.

²⁰ So now, where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the skilled debater, the best of your time? Step up, if you dare. Hasn’t God made fools out of those who count on the wisdom of this rebellious, broken world? ²¹ For in God’s deep wisdom, He made it so that the world could not even begin to comprehend Him through its own style of wisdom; in fact, God took immense pleasure in rescuing people of faith through the foolishness of the message we preach. ²² It seems the Jews are always asking for signs and the Greeks are always on the prowl for wisdom. ²³ But we tell a different story. We proclaim a crucified Jesus, God’s Anointed. For Jews this is scandalous, for outsiders this is moronic, ²⁴ but for those of us living out God’s call—regardless of our Jewish or Greek heritage—we know the Anointed embodies God’s dynamic power and God’s deep wisdom. ²⁵ You can count on this: God’s foolishness will always be wiser than mere human wisdom, and God’s weakness will always be stronger than mere human strength.

²⁶ Look carefully at your call, brothers and sisters. By human standards, not many of you are deemed to be wise. Not many are considered powerful. Not many of you come from royalty, right? ²⁷ But celebrate this: God selected the world’s foolish to bring shame upon those who think they are wise; likewise, He selected the world’s weak to bring disgrace upon those who think they are strong. ²⁸ God selected the common and the castoff, whatever lacks status, so He could invalidate the claims of those who think those things are significant. ²⁹ So it makes no sense for any person to boast in God’s presence. ³⁰ Instead, credit God with your new situation: you are united with Jesus the Anointed. He is God’s wisdom for us and more. He is our righteousness and holiness and redemption. ³¹ As the Scripture says: “If someone wants to boast, he should boast in the Lord.”