For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” - 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." One of the common strategies for politicians when they are being attacked is to engage in 'mud slinging' - Find any issue-old, weak or untrue but plausible-and accuse your opponent publicly and repeatedly so that the truth and the justice is obscured by the 'filth'.
And in an environment of many 'gods'-each god had a full bag of muck to sling around, arguments to show the weakness, foolishness and stupidity of opposing deities so that their faithful adherents could rest confident in the superiority of their beliefs. When Christianity came on the scene, they pulled out their book of the ridiculous that they'd been using on the Jews, dusted it off and retooled it for Jesus. They threw out their old skepticism about the unbelievable "invisible God" and exchanged it for ridicule of the crucified Messiah.
Crucifixion wasn't just about a painful death. but it was also shameful. And if the gods of the pagan world wanted anything, it was preeminence and glory. Most wise. Most powerful.
Here were the Christians celebrating a loser--not just a failed human being but an executed god who didn't really accomplish much, wandered in the back corners of the empire, betrayed or abandoned by his followers and then disappeared. So they dismissed Jesus as irrelevant, to join other religious figures on the trash heap of history.
But it was in this anonymity and the weakness that God worked his miracle. Why? So that “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” Everyone was searching for wisdom and power--how to control the world. In Jesus, God showed them different and in doing so, he also gave them a glimpse of his real character--the God who let himself be confined in a limited body and killed because he loved the people.
Sometimes I think I have an idea about how God works and what he's going to do in the situation. I get this idea by first tossing out all of the bad ideas and the ideas which have obvious flaws. My solution often comes down to getting more influence and power and intelligence and smarts. Then I read passages like this and realize that I'm probably looking in the wrong place because I am discounting God who does his best work in people and situations where only he is the solution.
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