We all are looking for God to fit into what our preconceived notions should be, but God does things his own way. Not in rebellion to our ideas, but in love and security within himself.
In the first century, for Jews they wanted to see a miraculous sign. God needed to be powerful. The echoes of the Israelites being mightily delivered from the land of Egypt and passing through the Red Sea were always on their mind. God needed to be mighty and glorious.
For the Gentiles, they pursued what they thought was “wisdom.” Was it intellectually deep, powerful, and something of the sages for the ages. The more wise it sounded, the better. It was all about ideas, philosophy, and theory. The West was built on this culture and it is still a trapping.
So in comes God with the plan of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ. This was anathema to both Jews and Gentiles.
For the Jews, where is the power of the cross? How can getting killed in the most humiliating way that the Torah says is a curse be power? In fact, it is the very opposite of power. One could not get lower or more degraded or more humiliated than at the cross.
And for the Gentiles, how was the cross wise? It was anything but wise. Getting yourself killed was absolute foolishness. And what wisdom is there in being killed in the form of a criminal? That’s just stupid. Not wise.
God up in heaven is smiling.
For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the intelligence of the intelligent I will reject.” (1 Cor 1:19).
The cross actually is the power of God. It is not just a curse of any man, but when God in flesh took on the curse, it broke the power of sin. Death no longer has a hold on humanity for those who put their faith in him. And if they wanted power, they got it even more in the resurrection.
The cross is actually wisdom as well. In fact, it is one the most wise acts of all eternity. That God would humble himself so low, to lift man so high. As one has pointed out, the problem of evil, the cry for justice, the necessity of love, and the need for forgiveness were all met out at the cross. Life’s biggest questions were all answered at the cross.
Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? God has turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense, hasn’t he? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe through the nonsense of our preaching. Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach the Messiah crucified. He is a stumbling block to Jews and nonsense to gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the Messiah is God’s power and God’s wisdom. For God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
It is why the cross is so contested. Everyone who is not of God will try to speak against or discredit the cross and resurrection. But for God, it is the central place of human history (Daniel 9:26-27). It is the point that all the Scriptures looked to in the Old Testament, and the event that all the New Testament writers build upon.
If you don’t understand the cross, learn more.
If you are not preaching the cross, repent.
If you need the saving grace that happened at the cross, call upon Him.