Early in my ministry I did prison ministry for about five years. It was eye-opening, important, and terrifying at the same time. I visited a state prison with a death row one time and had to pass through metal detectors, metal doors, and intense security. Guards ushered me into a large open waiting area that spoked off into many different wings. Wide-eyed, I waited for hours to be called. Suddenly I spotted a SWAT team member go through an entryway that hadn’t opened before. Behind the door I could see a large chair with foot rests. Did I just see the electric chair? Why would it be in such a visible place? I couldn’t breathe. In a few minutes he returned in his newly polished boots. The “electric chair” was a shoe-shine perch. Foolish me!

The horror I felt at the very idea of the electric chair is exactly the idea that the Greeks and Jews had of the cross. Public executions by hanging a man on the cross were horrific. The cross became a symbol of deep shame, humiliation, and indecency. 

Paul understood that when he wrote these words to his church in Corinth. Corinth was one of the largest cities of the ancient world and was known for its wealth, prosperity, and growing business sector. It was also known for its debauchery, drunkenness, and loose sexual morals. Paul’s letter in 1 Corinthians is a response to reports he had received regarding some of the behavior in the church. 

In a series of contrasts, Paul draws out an argument to settle their disputes. God chose the foolish over the wise. God chose the weak over the strong. God chose the low class nothings over the affluent somethings. God chose life over death. So preaching Christ crucified is an act of foolishness that has to overcome people’s aversion to the cross. 

1 Corinthians 1 (Common English Bible)

¹⁸ The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved. ¹⁹ It is written in scripture: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the intelligence of the intelligent. ²⁰ Where are the wise? Where are the legal experts? Where are today’s debaters? Hasn’t God made the wisdom of the world foolish? ²¹ In God’s wisdom, he determined that the world wouldn’t come to know him through its wisdom. Instead, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching. ²² Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, which is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.²⁴ But to those who are called—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. ²⁵ This is because the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

²⁶ Look at your situation when you were called, brothers and sisters! By ordinary human standards not many were wise, not many were powerful, not many were from the upper class. ²⁷ But God chose what the world considers foolish to shame the wise. God chose what the world considers weak to shame the strong.²⁸ And God chose what the world considers low-class and low-life—what is considered to be nothing—to reduce what is considered to be something to nothing. ²⁹ So no human being can brag in God’s presence. ³⁰ It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus. He became wisdom from God for us. This means that he made us righteous and holy, and he delivered us. ³¹ This is consistent with what was written: The one who brags should brag in the Lord!

Paul once thought the cross was foolish. Nobody hated the cross more than Saul, until that glorious moment when God struck him down and struck him blind on the road to Damascus in Acts 9. Three days later he could see the glory of the cross and began preaching “foolishness” from that day. No wise scribe or debater could do what Jesus did on the cross. Paul preached that salvation is not the achievement of human cleverness or wisdom but is the eternal embrace of God’s great love and incomprehensible action at Calvary.

Are you foolish or wise? Are you willing to preach Christ crucified to a generation that wants signs and wisdom? Be a wise guy; people are dying to hear the good news.

Its a Sign