|
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” 2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon us all, 3 Every one has proved faithless; 4 Have they no knowledge, 5 See how they tremble with fear, 6 Their aim is to confound the plans of the afflicted, 7 Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come out of Zion! This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We’ll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen. |
What kind of fool am I?
Time to talk about foolishness, prompted by the first verse of the psalm heard in church yesterday (See above).
Centuries before Jesus showed up on the scene, the psalmist noted the foolishness of saying there is no God. We may think that atheism is some modern invention, the contribution of Nietszche or more recently Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris or Christopher Hitchens. But a long time ago, the psalmist noted people who saw a world devoid of divine engagement. According to the psalmist, that’s a kind of foolishness.
It’s a point of view that intelligent people have taken, a point of view reasonably prompted by the cruelty we see around us. As a specific way to look at the world, it is a choice each one of us can make. Theists might say God has given us that as free will. As Einstein (no fool he) said: You can look at the world as if nothing is miracle or as if everything is miracle.
Lest I wax all judgmental about atheists, I confess that while I swim in the stream of believers, committed to a life of faith, I am often a functional atheist. I often run my life as if God does not exist, as if God is not engaged in my life, as if I’m not accountable to God, as if my life does not unfold in the presence of the Holy One. A friend gave me a postcard which says: “Hey God, let me pencil you in on Sunday morning,” as if to say that the rest of the week is my own. Mindful of the psalmist, we might say that is a foolish way to live.
There’s another side to biblical foolishness. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul gets into an interesting discussion about the foolishness of God. He writes: “For the message about 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, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to save those who believe.” (I Corinthians 1:18-21) Paul goes on to say that God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom. (1:25)
Elsewhere in this letter to the rambunctious Corinthian church, Paul talks about being a fool for Christ. (I Corinthians 4:10) Let’s be clear: St. Paul often seems fairly impressed with his own intellectual gifts. No shortage of ego strength with this apostle. But he notes repeatedly that he gives that all up to fulfill his call. I suspect people around him (professors, clergy colleagues, family, his therapist) thought he’d gone off the deep end. In many ways, the path Paul chose (or perhaps was chosen for him by grace) made little sense.
Jesus’ relatives thought the same kind of thing about Jesus.
Maybe in your own life, your decision to follow a life of faith may seem foolish. A friend who decided to go to seminary had dinner with rich relatives who tried to talk him out of it. The uncle, a successful businessman, began his pitch by saying: “Seminary? There’s no money in that.” It was clear he thought that such a career path was foolish. I grew up hearing about an evangelical missionary named Jim Elliott who lost his life taking the gospel to remote parts of South America. His wife wrote a book about him. The book included this prescient quote from her husband: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Maybe you have days when you think pursuing a life of faith makes no sense. Maybe you feel that way this morning. Mark Twain said that faith is believing in what everyone knows is not so. But depending on what kind of fool you choose to be this week, perhaps you can join St. Paul in affirming that while the message of the cross may seem foolish to some, for us it represents “the power of God.” It represents the love of God. Maybe in the end we’re just fools for love.
–Jay Sidebotham
