Dear Fellow Children of God,
Last Monday I asked two friends to go ice-fishing with
me. However, one friend I invited had hurt
their back, and the other had a meeting at their child’s school. So I went fishing alone. Ultimately, my friends were fortunate they
did not accompany me on this “adventure.”
I drove west to fish for the first time this year and
stopped at a lake near Willow. As I
arrived, I saw a couple of men on snow machines pulling a device to make trails
behind their machines. I figured the
snow was deep after January’s big accumulation of snow. I loaded my gear on my sled and started
walking down the hill to the lake. It
didn’t take but a few steps to see why the men on the snow machines were
pulling the trail making device. You
see, as I stepped into the deep snow my feet pushed through to a deep layer of water. All that snow had caused overflow. The weight of the snow had pushed the ice
down and water lay on top of the ice.
But I’m pretty determined when it comes to fishing. So I found a place where someone else had
cleared the ice and started drilling a hole.
There was a hard layer of ice on top of the cleared spot, but I
discovered a foot or so of water under that first thin layer of ice. The water made drilling tricky, and as water
started swirling into my boots, I moved to a different spot and drilled again. The drill slowed down in the water and caught
on the ice. As the auger caught, I was
pushed back and I stumbled. The drill
fell on me and . . . I fell into the slush and the snow and the water with my
whole body. And now my boots were
totally full!
I pulled myself up, dripping wet. BUT I realized that only my feet were actually
cold. So . . . I finished drilling my
hole and fished for 2 hours. Finally,
after little luck fishing, I packed up my gear and walked back to the truck. I changed shoes, turned on the heater, and
drove home.
There are times my wife has surprised me by praising my
wisdom. But, on Monday Kathy, and a
number of others who heard this story, seriously questioned my wisdom, and my
safety. “What were you thinking?” Well, I like to fish, maybe even at times
when it doesn’t make sense.
I tell this story of my lack of wisdom, actually this
story of my foolishness, to point to the fact that all of us are foolish at
times. Actually, in worship last week we
heard what God tells us about foolishness and wisdom through St. Paul. “22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look
for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and
foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness
of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than
man's strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-25)
The
wisdom of God often seems difficult to accept.
For example, does God really mean it when he says, “Remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy?” Does God really
want me to obey my parents, to pray for my leaders? Does God know what He is asking when he calls
me to love my enemies? Does God really
mean that He intends for the gift of sex to be used in marriage between a man
and a woman? God’s direction is meant to
bless us and to help us live healthy lives, even though His wisdom sometimes
seems foolishness to us.
God’s
ultimate wisdom is the cross. 23 . . . .“Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we
preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of
God and the wisdom of God.”
How
could the cross be wisdom? The Greeks
wondered about the wisdom of a god who seemed to lose a battle, about a god who
would actually die. What kind of god
dies? The disciples had those same
questions, even more deeply, as they saw their Lord and their friend
executed. I have heard many questions
about the death of Jesus from people today.
It does seem foolish.
But “ . . . the foolishness of God is wiser than
man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.” God, the
Creator and Lord of the universe, the Author of life, humbled himself to take
our guilt upon Himself. We were lost and
dead because of our rebellion and sin, but God humbled Himself in love for us. Jesus left heaven and came to earth where He
died on the cross to forgive our sin.
God used the most humbling experience possible to defeat sin and death,
and to win life for us. When we could
not help or save ourselves, God acted in the wisdom of sacrificial love to save
us. Sometimes love doesn’t make
sense. But sacrificial love, the cross,
is the wisdom of God.
If I
invite you to go fishing with me, you might think twice before saying
“yes.” But, following God’s direction
and believing in His sacrificial love is always wise.
A Child of God, A Foolish Man seeking
the Wisdom of God,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S.
For the second week in a row – no fish.
Perhaps I was too distracted by wet clothes to catch the fish that did
bite.
P.P.S. My children will just add this story to their
list of reasons to laugh at Dad.
****
ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE
PASTOR’ - I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to
all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly
adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail
for the first time.) However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail,
please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this
message.
****
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