1 Corinthians 1:18-31
18 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. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong…
I’ve had the privilege of working alongside nurses and direct care aids in many different settings. I almost always come away from my observations of their work humbled and grateful. My mind turns to the nursing aid from Ghana, who gently and thoroughly cared for the needs of elderly patients while they hurled racist slurs and insults at her. I think about all the young staff members who went home with scratches and bruises rather than allow a combative patient to fall. I remember a young man, from Columbia, who spent months winning the trust of a frightened elder lady who was convinced he was going to sneak into her room one night to violate her.
Of course it’s not just in healthcare. I frequently see store clerks, wait staff, front office staff, teachers, coaches, and others who work with the public being lambasted, humiliated, and demeaned by those they’re diligently trying to serve.
Why do they put up with it?! We might say. Why don’t they fight back?! We might think and, in thinking so, believe them to be foolish and weak. Well, my friends, they are as foolish and weak as Jesus was on the cross.
Prayer: Lord God: Thank you for watching over the little ones. AMEN