To the watching world it seemed God’s plan to rescue humankind had failed as Jesus died on the cross. The disciples on the road to Emmaus sadly said, ‘We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel’ (Luke 24:21). But, praise God, says Paul – what seemed a disastrous failure is in fact the power of God (v 18)! Even God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and his weakness is stronger than human strength.

In CS Lewis’ Narnia books, the White Witch called Aslan, the Christ figure, a fool for giving his life up for the sake of a traitor, but in the end she was proven even more foolish as she had failed to understand the power of Aslan’s sacrificial death. In the same way, those who have preconceived ideas of how God will act (like the Jews) or who try to gain salvation by intellect and reason (like the Greeks) thought that Jesus’ death as a criminal was foolish. But those who believe that Jesus died for their sins and put their trust in him, discover the wisdom and power of God. 

‘In the cross of Christ I glory, / towering o’er the wrecks of time; / all the light of sacred story / gathers round its head sublime.’¹

Believing in one, holy, transcendent God, Jews found the cross of Christ scandalous. Paul spoke of ‘the scandal of the cross’ (v 23, Greek scandalon; NIV ‘stumbling-block’).² Jesus said his death would ‘scandalise’ his disciples.³ Bible translators struggle to express the force of this word. The idea that the omnipotent, eternal God could die is outrageous, offensive, an obstruction, a stumbling block, an impediment to accepting the gospel. Christians presenting Christ to people of other faiths who believe in a supreme God meet this same obstacle today. 

To the ‘Greeks’ or ‘Gentiles’ (to the rational, secular mind), believing that Jesus’ death had eternal significance seems ‘foolishness’ (v 23, Greek moria). Can an intelligent person accept that God fathered a child with a Jewish teenager and this son was also God? Did this God-child die and rise again? Does believing this gain forgiveness of sin and eternal life with God? My atheist neighbour considers me rational and intelligent but is amazed at my naive credulity, believing myths from the past. Why can’t I listen to reason? Why? Because the power of the cross of Christ cannot be known through human wisdom. It is not scientifically verifiable. It is grasped only by faith.⁴

We cannot reduce salvation to doctrine, to theologies systematised by the human mind. God gave us the power of reason but it cannot save us. God also gave us his image,⁵ the capacity to know him beyond the limited capacity of human reason. Salvation does not depend upon codified beliefs – not even cherished convictions like the virgin birth or biblical inspiration or transubstantiation. The creeds matter, but they do not save us. Only the cross of Christ saves us.

‘… by thy Cross and Passion; by thy precious Death and Burial; by thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension … Good Lord, deliver us.’⁶ 

¹ John Bowring, 1792–1872  ² Gal 5:11  ³ Matt 26:31 (‘you will all fall away’, NIV)  ⁴ Heb 11:1  ⁵ Gen 1:26 ⁶ The Litany, Book of Common Prayer