Stealing from the title of Dickens' book A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Watershed's story could be equally called A Tale of Two Wisdoms: God's Wisdom and Human Wisdom (1991-2015). I tell this story not in order to disparage the intellect or learning from a human point of view but rather to show how we might have used these two wisdoms incorrectly. Why and how wisdom gets expressed in our lives is what I have in mind.
Paul also had this in view when he wrote the first four chapters of his letter to the Corinthians. Wisdom wasn't working for them in their situation. I believe that we also have picked up the wrong end of the wisdom stick in our own setting. The season of Lent calls us to examine our patterns and habits, so a good look at Wisdom at Watershed might help us to move toward Easter by recognizing our need of instruction, correction and liberation in relation to Wisdom, one of our cherished community goals.
It is not that we have chosen the wrong courses of study or anything about our method of study (pedagogy) . Where I want to scratch our consciences addresses the question, "How does Wisdom function and what effect it has on our community life?" Just as in novels there are foreshadowings of things that are made perfectly clear in the climax of the story. Throughout our history we have had hints that something has been amiss in our view and use of wisdom. I think one of the clearest indications that we have used Wisdom incorrectly is that many people have accused us of elitism and a certain amount of arrogance. This is by no means the only feedback we've had for we have been also noted for being gifted in translating the gospel in ways that move people closer to faith, just as the Corinthians did as well. That is, you were made rich through him in everything: in all your communication and every kind of knowledge (1 Corinthians 1:5 CEB) Our stories are tales of two wisdoms; we have both the story of godly wisdom and human wisdom talking in tandem. But as I said we have had warnings.
Warning Bells
A warning that came very early in our history, under our Cornerstone name, was at a Friends of Cornerstone banquet. I remember a rather insightful critique of our group, which I completely blew off at the time. It was by Frank Sawatsky, Lydie's dad, who mentioned that the message of the Cross seemed to be missing in our presentation. More precisely, I think he said something about the saving "blood" of Christ. Likely Frank had in mind our lack of evangelistic enthusiasm — but he was on to something, I now recognize. Then and for many years thereafter our group repeatedly drew attention to our creativity, intelligence and uniqueness rather than to the wisdom of the cross. We have often been caught up in the style and form of our message but not the content itself.
I confess that I have often been caught up in our uniqueness and the fact that we are on the cutting edge of thinking. I also confess that one of the motives for doing so was to distinguish our group from other groups of Christians with expressions of faith that embarrassed me. Some people saw this and tried to let me know by suggesting that we were arrogant, prideful, or gnostic. Again I sort of blew this off as merely their judgmental attitudes, in some cases it might have been — but like Frank these critics were on to something. And it is that something that Paul the apostle unravels in todays text.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved. It is written in scripture: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the intelligence of the intelligent. Where are the wise? Where are the legal experts? Where are today's debaters? Hasn't God made the wisdom of the world foolish? In God's wisdom, he determined that the world wouldn't come to know him through its wisdom. Instead, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching. Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, which is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those who are called—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God's power and God's wisdom. This is because the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Look at your situation when you were called, brothers and sisters! By ordinary human standards not many were wise, not many were powerful, not many were from the upper class. But God chose what the world considers foolish to shame the wise. God chose what the world considers weak to shame the strong. And God chose what the world considers low-class and low-life—what is considered to be nothing—to reduce what is considered to be something to nothing. So no human being can brag in God's presence. It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus. He became wisdom from God for us. This means that he made us righteous and holy, and he delivered us. This is consistent with what was written: The one who brags should brag in the Lord!
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn't come preaching God's secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. I stood in front of you with weakness, fear, and a lot of shaking. My message and my preaching weren't presented with convincing wise words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. I did this so that your faith might not depend on the wisdom of people but on the power of God.
What we say is wisdom to people who are mature. It isn't a wisdom that comes from the present day or from today's leaders who are being reduced to nothing. (1 Corinthians 1:18–2:6 CEB)
What is the Corinthian/Watershed problem? How does the Corinthian story help us get the right handle on wisdom? They had many intellectual debates and discussions but we don't hear much about the details of their controversies here. They argued about lots of things. The letter lists some topics: resurrection, spiritual gifts, charismatic experiences, dietary laws.
Being unfamiliar with their background story, we might assume some things about Paul's treatment of wisdom in these verses. We might think that the problem is about an intellectually elite group proposing all kinds of odd interpretations of the gospel and how the spiritual life works. (Gnostics) On the surface, this way of seeing their situation might appear accurate. Until we see the use to which they were putting their ideas. I don't believe that they were debating ideas as ideas but were obsessed with a more direct and personal problem. They were a disempowered group of people. Paul describes them:
Consider, brothers/sisters, how you were called; not many of you are wise by human standards, not many influential, not many from noble families. (1 Corinthians 1:26 NJB)
Power Through Association
From these verses, you might assume that the Corinthians were low class slaves, lacking status. This is not the entire story. They were a mixed group mostly from lower classes but they had some blue-bloods among them as well. (Erastus, Stephanas, Gaius, Titius, Chloe, Pheobe) City council members and intellectuals were included. This community was influenced by the few powerful people among them. Culturally this was expressed in the patronage system which wove its influence into the Jesus community. They broke into factions around individuals. They did this not to know what was true but in order to gain associative power. Power through a patron, in their case, a spiritual patron with wisdom credentials. Power and status were the hidden factors behind the wisdom debates in Corinth.
Paul crushes their impulse to gain status by reminding them of who the majority of them actually were and then kicking the legs our from beneath this strategy of getting empowered through style, knowledge and eloquence. It seems downright cruel the way he does this!
Take a good look at how counter-intuitive (dumb) Paul's approach seems.
Since in the wisdom of God the world was unable to recognize God through wisdom, it was God's own pleasure to save believers through the folly of the gospel. While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, we are preaching a crucified Christ: to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, to the gentiles foolishness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is both the power of God and the wisdom of God.
God's folly is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:21–25 NJB)
Power From a Criminal?!
Paul is advising them to associate with a man on a pole, a criminal, not an eloquent intellectual or a wealthy, classy patron. Remember, they are looking for an esteem boost here and are being told that in order to increase their status or dignity they must appeal to a very weak patron. In order to graphically illustrate the personal effect of Paul's suggestion, fast-forward a century or so, to what this man on the pole might add to one's status.
Imagine walking along the Appian Way when you descend from the Roman suburbs, you see a very unartistic cartoon scratched upon a forum pillar in the Palatine Hill. Political cartoons are commonly scratched on the statues and city walls but this one is a religious cartoon, what Romans call graffito blasfemo. A child could have drawn this picture of a human like figure affixed to a cross possessing the head of a donkey. To the left is a young soldier-guard called Alexamenos with his hands making a praise gesture suggesting worship. Written in greek script, that contains spelling errors, is the caption: "Alexamenos worships his god." If you assume that the cartoonist was mocking the object of Alex's worship, you might also assume that like his god Alex himself is associated with an ass. Not to put too much of a fine point on it both Alexamenos and Jesus are being compared to crucified jack-asses.
Paul's comment about the foolishness of the moronic gospel, that is the greek word he uses, is that this Cross is the power of God, the victory of God. Not only is Paul using prophetic hyperbole here, he is doing so in a rather odd context, among people who love sophisticated language and eloquent delivery. He is saying this among those who are enamoured by poetic preachers like Apollos. He is saying this among those who have used human wisdom as an aide to bolster low self-esteem. He is telling them that God's way of empowerment comes with the association with the foolishness of the cross, with weakness and scandal. This association radically deconstructs their way of discerning wisdom and power. How can they have their faltering spirits lifted, their identity empowered, by such an association? Paul's assumption is that while this wisdom may not appear to be cutting edge in the Corinthian culture, this foolishness is the vanguard of a era, a cosmic era, a precursor of a creation that will utterly eclipse the status quo of this era.
… It isn't a wisdom that comes from the present day or from today's leaders who are being reduced to nothing. (1 Corinthians 2:6 CEB)
To take, truly grasp and appropriate the benefits of this powerful wisdom, you must embrace the God's foolishness (the Cross) as the wisdom and power of God. Who could do this? Only the humble, those who have come to know their place in the scheme of things.
It is not through identification with spiritual patrons but rather union with the poor patron Jesus and the wisdom available and revealed in him. His wisdom imparts transformative effects through the cross. Who is fortunate or blessed enough to grasp this wisdom? Like any good first century apocalyptic preacher, Paul establishes a dualism that cuts through and clarifies the way to the Creation. Those walking toward ruin and destruction are unable to see the wisdom of God, those walking the road of salvation not only see it but experience it's transforming effects.
In my minds-eye I see three groups trudging up Golgotha, a group of philosophers including the greats: Kant, Hegel, Foucault, the whole gang. I hear someone who points upward toward Jesus quip from the crowd …. "Explain that!" The man on the pole is irrational foolishness to the philosophers. Another group arrives from the local vicinity dressed in black and purple (Pharisees, Sadducees and a few frowning Zealots), they look up and say, "Same old, same old, another would be messiah! No miraculous sign of deliverance here, only a mocking sign from Caesar saying this is your King."
The Loving, Suffering Face of God
A third group comes. They look up and see the wisdom and power of God. They are a mixed crowd of all classes, religions and persuasions they are empowered by what they witness here. What they see is the extent of love and liberation; God's loving, suffering face disguised as a mangled criminal. They say this is what victory looks like and they declare themselves victors along with this man.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved. Indeed.
They are not deluded, they are reminded — that God has promised to wage war against the wisdom of the world. He has done it before in Israel's past; he does it now! Jeremiah and Isaiah have said as much:
Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23, 24
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Isaiah 29:14
This crucified man is the living representative of love, justice and righteousness. To the third group of bystanders, he is the delight and the future of God's love. The war against human patronage, against human wisdom, will be won in him. This is their confident good-news. For some of the Corinthians, enamoured by human wisdom, they might have been extremely threatening words.
How We Walk
We ask ourselves, which of those three groups do we stand in? Paul has brilliantly answered this by saying that it depends how we walk, where we put our feet. The answer to the question is not a done deal. It can't be answered by one altar call or one act of covenant. It is about a process whose outcome lies in the future. It is a daily decision to trust one or the other of patronages human wisdom or God's wisdom in the apparent foolishness of the cross. Paul assures the Corinthians that when they associate with God's wisdom and power they will discover themselves liberated. It is the only association that matters! Paul the Apostle is convinced that there is no such thing as wisdom apart from a covenant relationship with God (righteousness) that leads to discipleship (sanctification) made possible by God's act of delivering us from slavery (redemption) through the cross.
He became wisdom from God for us. This means that he made us righteous and holy, and he delivered us. This is consistent with what was written: The one who brags should brag in the Lord!
Paul through reminding them of who they were in Christ assures them that they have a spiritual edge on making the right decision daily. They, like Jesus, come to realize salvation in a state of weakness, vulnerability and dependence on God's work not their own, or a rich or wise patron's.
Flash forward to our Tale of Two Wisdoms and ask the questions how we can grasp the wisdom stick the way that Paul has taught the Corinthians.
He asked them to take a look at who they were. By doing this he is revealing their motivations for seeking and gaining wisdom. I would say that most of us come from relatively lowly backgrounds, not slaves but working blue collar or rural, middle-class, evangelicals bordering on fundamentalist-literalistic backgrounds.
There is a sense in which as a group we have felt disempowered, socially dislocated and in need of a dignity boost. We have had a tendency to break into factions, just like the Corinthians. Beguiled by promise of empowerment through association with the cream of the crop is as popular for us as for them. " I am of George Shillington, Carl Ridd, Henry Krahn, I am of N.T. Wright, I am of Rohr, I am of Jurgen Moltmann, I am of Karl Barth, Brian McLaren, Paul Patterson (or not of)…" fill in the blanks. "I am doctrinally pure, I am emergent, I am aesthetically worshipful, I am an Anabaptist, I am an urban contemplative." There are fine ideals in these perspectives but I think for the most part when we deconstruct our motives, we associate with these names and groupings in order to identify ourselves in a relatively positive and associative way. Paul, like any good post-modern, deconstructs this story dragging our motivations out by the heels.
Once uncovered, we realize that like the Corinthians we have become schismatic, grasping for self importance through association with our ideas or our gifts, speech gifts in particular. We could however use any gift to establish our need for power. We could use social justice, spirituality, psychological awareness, or anything to do this. Unfortunately, anything but the cross of Christ, the foolishness of God! One of the commentators (Richard Hays) I used in this presentation cracks open the point when he says,
Wherever we find Christian faith presented in slick, high-tech, high gloss images, as though it were a product to be marketed, we should ask ourselves immediately whether the gospel that is being proclaimed here is the word of the cross or whether it is some form of human boasting through image manipulation.
This image creation doesn't have to be commercial slickness, it can equally be radical, left-wing, alternative, communitarian, socialist, anarchist or any variety of image used for associative power. If the effect of our wisdom empties the power of the cross of Christ and draws attention away from the transformation God is accomplishing through the cross, we will experience schism and disunity.
The fact that we have recently experienced a lack of covenantal unity speaks to where we have been looking for power, wisdom and liberation. Collectively focusing on Christ's cross — not our inferiorities or our superiorities and the illusionary pecking-order, allows us to grasp the wisdom stick correctly. We may even be able to not focus on the significance of our contribution but to celebrate what God has done.
Called to Devotion
Paul reminds exactly what God has done. He has waged war against associative patronage power through human wisdom of all stripes. He has revealed the extent of his love and victory in the cross of Christ and it's transforming power. God has not called into our community because of our brilliance or those we think bright but rather God in his grace brought us together, in a very creative and novel way, more through a desire for a deeper more devotional call than an intellectual one. We have been called from our poverty of spirit. We heard the call of the Wisdom of the cross in the Gospel of Christ rather than wisdom of human glory. In many of our cases, we were just a bunch of angry, mixed up, inferior people longing for self-esteem through sophisticated knowledge but, thank God, finding hope and transformation in the cross.
When God establishes this wisdom in us, we will come to apprehend that
It is by him that you exist in Christ Jesus, who for us was made wisdom from God, and saving justice and holiness and redemption. (1 Corinthians 1:30 NJB)
Moving away from factions and our clinging to human perspectives, appearances and techniques as the antidote to inferiority, will enable us to enter the reconstructed life of faith together, in the unity of a common mind transformed by the powerful wisdom of God in the foolishness of the cross. All our efforts, all the wisdom we can gather from human insight, whether our attempts at kindness or our mutual understanding or our intentional covenant, these need to take second place to God's wisdom revealed in the crucified and risen Christ. My prayer is that we will grasp this wisdom and steadily walk on the road toward salvation.