The Un-Series: Week 1 Day 3
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (ESV)
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly 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, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
The story leading to Jesus is filled with example after example of losers: lastborn sons, widows, criminals, and an unwed mother. It’s the same reason King Herod wanted Jesus killed, religious authorities eventually succeeded, and thirty years later, Emperor Nero persecuted followers of Christ. Systems of power are changed from the bottom; those at the top are there because they excel in perpetuating that system. We can see then, how the message of a world transformed is best understood by those least incentivised to keep everything the same.
Even in His own ministry, among his closest followers, Jesus had to frequently correct this desire to perpetuate the same structure. The disciples asked about who would sit at his right hand in the new kingdom, pushed away young children who bothered them, and took up weapons to fight off enemies. The world Jesus gave to us belongs to the servants, encourages fellowship with young and curious minds, and tells us to put down the sword and pick up a cross.
We are resistant to change, particularly when we are succeeding. It’s human nature to replicate actions that provide safety and security for ourselves and the ones we love. Those same instincts, however, compel us to amass wealth, status, and power until we become the kind of people who turn away from the call to compassionate sacrifice.
The Gospel has always been an unusual thing, something easy to lose sight of when we’re not looking straight at it; something we don’t recognize anymore when we try to reshape it to fit comfortably into the life the world offers instead of altering ourselves to fit into the life God has for us. We can’t orchestrate victory on God’s behalf, but we can join the victory through Christ that God planned by choosing to lose the world and surrender to the selfless love of Christ.