It's not that my sermons don't have titles; they all do. It's just a matter of timing. The bulletin is prepared and printed on Thursday and the sermon is written on Saturday. Between Thursday and Saturday, my mind might change. The sermon in my mind on Thursday and to which I affix a title may not be the sermon I write on Saturday and preach the next day.

So, in order not to confuse or mislead you, I quit putting sermon titles in the bulletin.

The title of this sermon, just so you will know is, Foolishness. Foolishness.

Whether this sermon is about foolishness or whether it ends up, itself, being just so much foolishness, I'll let you decide.

This morning's reading from First Corinthians begins with Paul saying that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to those who are being saved, that message, the message about the cross, is the power of God.

Well, I don't know. Paul seems to be saying that there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who are perishing and those who are being saved. I don't know. You know the saying: There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who think there are only two kinds of people in the world and those who don't.

To support his claim that the cross is foolishness to those perishing and the power of God to those being saved, Paul flips open that big, black Bible he always carries with him, flips it open to the prophet Isaiah, to the twenty-ninth chapter, to the last part of verse fourteen. Paul says, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

Well, it always makes me nervous when preachers start flipping from one part of the Bible to another, so I checked it out. My Bible reads a little differently, but the meaning seems the same: The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden. Hmm. Seems to check out OK.

But I thought, since I was back there in the Old Testament anyway, I thought I might read the first part of that verse, verse fourteen.

I read it and verse thirteen, too. I read these verses keeping in mind that Paul is talking about the message of the cross. To some, it is foolishness. To others, it is the power of God.

I read them for you now, Isaiah twenty-nine, verses thirteen and fourteen:

The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote; so I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing. Shocking and amazing. It's what it says. It goes on: The wisdom of the wise shall perish, and so forth.

And, well, I don't know, do you? I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing. And the cross, is it foolishness or is it the power of God? Foolishness or power?

Amazing things, things shocking and amazing. Shock and amazement. OK. Shock and awe. I think the meaning is pretty much the same, don't you?

Shock and awe. And we have all seen a demonstration this past week. Need I describe the low thumps and the sudden flashes? Precise explosions at one target after another. And a thousand of them. Shock and awe.

Power. That, my friends, that is power. Am I wrong? That is power.

I don't know, do you? Kind of makes me wonder, What in the world is Paul talking about?

Power. The power of God. The message of the cross? The message of the cross is the power of God, says Paul, and is a stumbling block to the Jews, he adds.

Jews living in Judea and Jerusalem, living under the oppressive thumb of the Roman Empire, longing, longing to be set free from the power of Rome.

What are they supposed to believe, that some hick from up north, from Galilee, from Nazareth, no less-And, Can anything good come out of Nazareth?-that some hick from up north hanging from a cross, naked, is . . . This is power? This is the power of God? Hmmph. Tell that to the Romans, say the Jews.

The message of the cross is the power of God, says the Apostle, and is foolishness to the Gentiles, he adds.

Foolishness to the Gentiles, indeed. The Romans had had enough of his foolishness, his tomfoolery. Tolerant to a point, then they crush him between thumb and forefinger. They nail him up. They kill him.

And that is power, is it not? Hmmph, say the Romans, the Gentiles, the power of the cross. We'll show you what the power of the cross is. Bang. A hammer on a nail. That's power, say the Gentiles.

Well, it is, isn't it? That is power. And what we saw on television this past week, that is power the likes of which has never been seen.

Watching this display of power, I felt a tug, my heart wavered for a moment.

Thou shall not kill. Well, they are being very careful, very precise, trying their dead level best to avoid collateral damage, to avoid killing noncombatants, trying not to kill.

Blessed are the peacemakers. Sure, and that's what we are trying to do over there, trying to free the people over there from tyranny. Surely they've suffered enough and should have a chance to live in peace.

Love your enemies. Well, there again, those people aren't our enemies. It is this regime that we are fighting, not the people. This regime, this thing, is the enemy, not the people. And if this regime would just surrender, we wouldn't . . .

The power of God. And, my God, the power. The likes of which has never been seen. Shocking and amazing. Maybe. Maybe God. Maybe God is using this p . . .

How dare I? How could I even dare think it? Even for a moment. To think that what I was seeing is the power of . . .

You shall have no other gods before me, is the command. Is the command and the promise. You shall have no other gods.

And God choosing what is foolish to shame the wise. Shocking. And choosing what is weak in the world to shame the strong. Amazing.

Jesus on the cross is the power of God. Shocking and amazing.

The power of God, who brings princes to naught and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing, according to the prophet Isaiah. The everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

The power of God, who gives power to the faint, who strengthens the powerless, who raises Jesus Christ from the dead.

How could I? How could I dare, even for a moment? O, lead me not into temptation. O, deliver me.

The title of this sermon now ending is Foolishness. Foolishness.

And, as I said earlier, whether or not what I have said is just so much foolishness, I'll let you decide.

But you must. Decide. Decide you must.

The Apostle Paul saying that there are only two kinds of people in the world, now you must decide.

Only two kinds of people, there are those who are perishing for whom the message of the cross is foolishness and there are those being saved for whom the message of the cross is the power of God.

Neal Kentch, Corydon Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
and Salem United Church of Christ,
March 23, 2003