A “Foolish” God

Passages: Is. 3:16-4:1; 1 Corinth. 1:25-30; Matt. 18:10-14
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Եսայ. Գ 16-Դ 1; Ա Կորնց. Ա 25-30; Մատ. ԺԸ 10-14

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

I hated being picked last in school! Whether it was for teams, partners, co-op work, person to sit next too, etc. Being picked last never felt good. However, around the age of 12-13 when I grew to be both taller, and broader, whenever we had tag o war, football, or any other competition where being bigger and stronger was needed, I was often one of the first ones to be picked. This felt good. To be wanted and to have the qualities that made me feel important was pleasing. The truth is we all want to be wanted; no one wants to be picked last. That is why we tell our children and ourselves that hard work, commitment, and many other qualities are needed if we want to be first, if we want to be successful. Be stronger, be bigger, be smarter; read more, lift more, practice more; sacrifice, overcome and don’t give up. Yet, what is missing from those qualities my dears? Foolishness!

Now, you may be surprised that I would say foolishness is a good quality. As much as we all want to feel good and wanted, no one wants to be made to look foolish. But to understand what foolishness I am referring to, we need to look at St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, 1:25 “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” The word foolish that St. Paul here is using comes from the Greek μωρός (mōrós). In fact, we use this word in English as well, moron, as a derogative term meaning slow, dull, foolish, stupid. How could St. Paul be calling God foolish or stupid? I am sure if we wanted, we could all think of and describe a stupid or foolish person and the lack of qualities they have; what makes them undesirable. In the same way we can list qualities that make a person desirable. Yet, what St. Paul is indicating here is understood from the verses before this reading, “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”

In other words my dears, for as brilliant as the Greek philosophers were, (remember this is being written to the Corinthians, a Greek city) as wise, strong and regardless of the good qualities they had, they struggled with understanding God. And the Jewish people, who are called the chosen people, even with all the signs and wonders, even though the witnessed Christ’s miracles, they did not recognize God. What this shows us my dears, is yes, the qualities that we strive to teach our kids, such as hard work, strength, wisdom and dedication, qualities we aim to have and which we would use to describe a successful person, as great as those are, what about the qualities of God? Qualities that this world calls foolish and weakness. Compassion, empathy, mercy, forgiveness, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. What St. Paul describes as the Fruit of the Spirit in the letter to the Galatians. What about those qualities? How much importance do we give to those? Vs. survival of the fittest, power of the sword vs. power of the merciful pen?

Today’s society tells us to be stronger, faster, smarter; live with no regrets; take action; take what is yours; etc. It is why people disregard the Word of God. It is why Christianity and God are seen as weakness and stupidity. For example, yesterday’s heinous act of shooting at former president Trump was just that. Loss of self-control, anger, fear, and vengeance. What was far more disturbing was some of the comments I heard people making on social media and elsewhere about how it’s too bad the bullet wasn’t a few inches closer, or too bad the shooter missed. Regardless of Trump or Biden, left or right, black or white, Armenian or not, how disgusting that today we justify the quality of anger over what God teaches us. That is why St. Paul says, God chooses the foolish; not the strongest, not the “so-called” wisest, or most successful. But those that the world would reject and pick last. 

Our value, the qualities of life we should strive for my dear brothers and sisters, are the qualities we see by Christ on the Cross: Humility, compassion, love; forgiveness, mercy and self-control. At His Crucifixion, the Jewish leaders, ridiculed Jesus to save himself. They thought their wisdom made Jesus to look like a fool and weak.  Christ, the Son of God, could easily have gotten revenge. In fact, He says this when He was being betrayed, and Peter draws his sword, Jesus responds with, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? (Mtt. 26:52-53) Yet, it is by the foolishness of this world that God saved us. My dears, Christ dying on the cross is not connected to how successful we think we are, how accomplished this world defines us as, or whether we are picked first or last. Christ came to die for all of us equally; to love us and heal us equally.  Which is why Christ in the Gospel today compares children and sheep to one another.

First, He says, to not “despise one of these little ones” because “the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” And continues to speak about how the shepherd goes out to find his one lost sheep because “it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” My dears, we are the little ones, we are the lost sheep; like children we desire the love of our Heavenly Father; and like the sheep, we have lost our direction, our purpose and what really matters in the end. Yes, be smarter, stronger, faster, hard-working, and committed. But also do not neglect the qualities of our Heavenly Father, compassion, mercy, meekness, love, humility, peace and self-control. Even if the world tell us those are worthless and weak, by learning and living with these qualities, we begin to grow and understand how as children we are called to be like our Father in Heaven. We learn that God always chooses us, He is not here to reject us for another. And if we find ourselves, lost, afraid, unsure and feeling unwanted, we know God comes looking for us all.

Therefore, let us pray for the Divine Wisdom and understanding that though we might be foolish to the world but by faith we recognize who God is. Through repentance, reading the Scriptures and living His commandments we will be worthy to be a child of God, Amen!