Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time—1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Today, we jump back into our sequential reading of the first several chapters of 1 Corinthians. Two weeks ago, when we last read for this letter, the Holy Spirit was reminding us of the cross of Christ and how foolish it looks to many people. Today, he picks up with that same point.

When Saint Paul first founded the Church in Corinth, he wasn’t an impressive or persuasive speaker. He says he came in weakness and fear and much trembling. In his next letter for this group, he will even point out, “For some say, ‘Paul’s letters are demanding and forceful, but in person he is weak, and his speeches are worthless!’” (2 Corinthians 10:10). In person, it seems that there wasn’t much about Saint Paul that was impressive. The apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla even describes him as “Baldheaded, bowlegged, strongly built, a man small in size, with meeting eyebrows, with a rather large nose.” Saint Paul seemed happy about all this. He saw his role to preach Christ crucified and risen, and then let God do the work.

There is a lesson for each of us in Saint Paul’s example, which we frequently reminded his hearers to imitate. His job was to preach Jesus, whether or not people listened, whether or not they converted, whether or not they arrested him or stoned him, and whether or not he had impressive words or all the right answers. How many of us, when faced with an opportunity to share or explain our faith, feel weakness and fear and much trembling? We don’t feel equipped. We might not say it the right way. We don’t have all the answers. Let’s all take a page from Saint Paul’s playbook and just preach Jesus Christ, and then let God act. Even if we look a little foolish.

Remember that the cross of Christ looks more than a little foolish. Perhaps you’ve even wondered why God didn’t choose to redeem us another way. Remember that God chose bloody crucifixion to accomplish his goals. Chances are you and I won’t get crucified for our weak, frightened, and trembling attempts to share or explain the faith. But we might get laughed at a little. Someone might think we’re simple or haven’t read all the latest research on how science can explain the soul (or feel free to substitute your favorite preposterous scientistic claim here).

Yea, we might look a little silly sometimes. But isn’t that what love does? Love makes you do some crazy things, some foolish things. The foolishness of love is the power of God. So let’s all be just a little more foolish.