Christ crucified

For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. – 1 Corinthians 1.22-25

To those who have never put their faith in Christ it must seem like one of the most illogical things possible. Paul uses the Jews and the Greeks of his time, but we could use any group of people to illustrate this passage. People like to see something or figure it out. The Jews wanted to see something tangible and the Greeks liked to try and figure it out.  People want the same today.

To the Jews the crucified Christ was a stumbling block. For many of them the one they saw as Messiah had been nailed to the cross as a criminal. To the Greeks this well-spoken Teacher had died and His followers accepted it and made it integral to their teaching. That didn’t make any sense.

But faith overlooks what we see. It is faith in the unseen. Faith overcomes man’s perception of wisdom. Faith leads us to preach Christ crucified because it is the power of God and it is the wisdom of God. God’s foolishness is wiser than man’s greatest wisdom. God weakness is stronger than any of man’s strength.

To those who trust Christ it makes perfect sense – it is all a matter of perspective.