MARK 16:1-8, I CORINTHIANS 1:18, 21; 3:19; 4:10-13 |FOOLS FOR CHRIST

FOOLS FOR CHRIST

MARK 16:1-8

I CORINTHIANS 1:18, 21; 3:19; 4:10-13

EASTER SUNRISE

HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY!  I BET YOU THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO SAY SOMETHING ELSE!

HAPPY EASTER, TOO!

GOD, IN HIS INFINITE WISDOM, HAS SEEN FIT TO ALIGN APRIL FOOL’S DAY AND EASTER THIS YEAR.

OBVIOUSLY, THIS ISN’T THE FIRST TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED, BUT I CANNOT REMEMBER IT HAPPENING BEFORE.

(SO, I LOOKED IT UP – AND THERE’S A GOOD REASON I CAN’T REMEMBER IT EVER HAPPENING BEFORE, AND THAT’S BECAUSE THE LAST TIME EASTER WAS ON APRIL FOOL’S DAY WAS 1956!  MY BIRTH YEAR, BUT NOT FOR A FEW MORE MONTHS!)

NOW, YOU MAY THINK I’M MAKING TOO BIG A DEAL OUT OF EASTER AND APRIL FOOL’S DAY COINCIDING;

AND I REALIZE THAT I AM RUNNING THE RISK OF PUTTING YOU OFF, WHAT WITH TALK OF FOOLS – NONE OF US LIKES TO BE CALLED A FOOL;

OR BE MADE A FOOL OF.

IT MAY EVEN BRING BACK BAD MEMORIES OF MR. T AND THE ROCKY MOVIES: “I PITY THE FOOL…”

BUT THE APOSTLE PAUL IS ON TO SOMETHING HERE…

WHY ELSE WOULD HE SPEAK OF OUR BEING FOOLS FOR CHRIST, AND THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD BEING WISER THAN THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD – NOT ONCE, NOT TWICE, BUT THREE TIMES IN HIS LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS?!

(RE-READ SOME OF THE VERSES)

“WE ARE FOOLS FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST…”

AND THEN PAUL MAKES ALL THESE COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE APOSTLES WHO HAVE BROUGH THE MESSAGE TO THE CORINTHIANS, AND WHERE THEY NOW ARE AS BELIEVERS IN CHRIST.

AND IT IS A HELPFUL REMINDER, WHEN PEOPLE THINK US THE FOOL FOR BEING PEOPLE OF FAITH.

HOW MANY OF YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, YOUR ACQUAINTANCES, WOULD THINK YOU A BIT STRANGE FOR GETTING UP THIS EARLY TO COME TO THIS SERVICE?

HOW MANY TIMES WHEN YOU SAY YOU’RE GOING TO CHURCH; OR HAVE SOMETHING TO DO AT YOUR CHURCH; OR TELL PEOPLE YOU CAN’T DO SOMETHING BECAUSE YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION AT YOUR CHURCH;

DO PEOPLE LOOK A LITTLE COCKEYED AT YOU?  MAKE YOU OUT TO BE THE FOOL?

AND, WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENS, WHEN WE, AS CHRISTIANS, ACT AS PAUL DESCRIBES HERE?

“WHEN REVILED, WE BLESS; WHEN PERSECUTED, WE ENDURE; WHEN SLANDERED, WE SPEAK KINDLY;” – SURELY PEOPLE THINK WE ACT THE FOOL, WHEN WE ACT IN THESE WAYS.

YET, WE HAVE THE CERTAINTY OF GOD’S PROMISES:

“FOR SINCE, IN THE WISDOM OF GOD, THE WORLD DID NOT KNOW GOD THROUGH WISDOM, GOD DECIDED, THROUGH THE FOOLISHNESS OF OUR PROCLAMATION – THAT IS, THE PROCLAMATION OF EASTER, OF THE GOSPEL, OF CHRIST – TO SAVE THOSE WHO BELIEVE.”

I DON’T WANT TO GO TOO LONG THIS MORNING, SO I LEAVE YOU WITH ANOTHER THOUGHT; AGAIN, SOMETHING, I DOUBT, IN A MILLION YEARS, YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT THIS MORNING.

AT SOME POINT OR ANOTHER, YOU PROBABLY LEARNED THE NAME OF THE ENGLISH POET, ALEXANDER POPE.

YOU MAY EVEN REMEMBER ONE OF HIS FIRST MAJOR WRITINGS, AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM.

AND THE REASON YOU MAY REMEMBER THIS PIECE IS BECAUSE ENGLISH LIT TEACHERS HAVE USED IT FOR YEARS AS AN EXAMPLE OF SOMETHING WRITTEN IN HEROIC COUPLETS (PAIRS OF ADJACENT RHYMING LINES OF IAMBIC PENTAMETER).

‘TIS HARD TO SAY, IF GREATER WANT OF SKILL

APPEAR IN WRITING OR IN JUDGING ILL

BUT, OF THE TWO, LESS DANGEROUS THE OFFENCE,

TO TIRE OUR PATIENCE, THEN MIS-LEAD OUR SENSE

SEE, I TOLD YOU, THIS WASN’T WHAT YOU WERE THINKING ABOUT WHEN YOU CAME HERE THIS MORNING – BUT YOU’LL SEE WHY I’M MENTIONING IT IN A MOMENT.

MY GUESS IS, AT THIS EARLY HOUR, WE MAY HAVE TO DIG DEEP, TO TRY TO REMEMBER ALEXANDER POPE, OR AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM, OR THE MEANING OF IAMBIC PENTAMETER…

BUT I WILL BET YOU – YOU WILL REMEMBER THREE FAMOUS LINES FROM THIS POEM:

“A LITTLE LEARNING IS A DANGEROUS THING…”

“FOOLS RUSH IN WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD…”

“TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE DIVINE.”

YOU SEE, AS FOOLS FOR CHRIST, WE ARE OFTEN THOSE WHO “RUSH IN WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD.”

AND, AS FOOLS FOR CHRIST, WE NOT ONLY KNOW “TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE DIVINE,” WE PRACTICE IT!

HOW FOOLISH IS THAT?!

AND WHAT WE’VE LEARNED, LITTLE OR MUCH, FROM THE WORLD, CAN’T HOLD A CANDLE TO THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD, WHICH IS WISER THAN THE WORLD’S WISDOM.

ON EASTER MORNING, JESUS TURNED EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THE WORLD, UPSIDE DOWN.  HE DEFEATED SIN, AND EVIL, AND DEATH!

HE TOOK THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD AND TURNED IT ON IT’S EAR!

HE FOOLISHLY PROCLAIMED THAT THE WORLD WAS WORTH SAVING, LAID DOWN HIS LIFE TO MAKE IT SO, AND WAS RAISED UP FROM DEATH TO PROVE IT!

“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 ALMIGHTY GOD.”

HAPPY EASTER!  AND HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

BY THE WAY, THE NEXT TIME THIS WILL HAPPEN, IS 2029; ELEVEN YEARS FROM NOW; AND THEN AGAIN IN ANOTHER ELEVEN YEARS IN 2040; AND THEN, NOT AGAIN, UNTIL 2108!