Years ago, I was asked to baptize a couple’s baby. So I arranged a time when I could visit with the parents to talk about the meaning of Baptism. They greeted me at the door – the mom, the dad, and the then year-old boy – and escorted me into the big spacious living room. They directed me to sit on the couch, which I did, but just as I opened my mouth to speak, I was suddenly rendered speechless. There on the wall ahead of me, hanging above the mantle of the fireplace, was a huge, almost life-sized framed photograph of the mother – bare-chested – nursing the baby.

Now, I’ve seen photographic displays of mothers nursing babies and similar kinds of things in museums and art shows. And they have always struck me as being artistically beautiful. But this – this framed life-sized photograph – seemed so out of place, hanging there as the focal point in someone’s living room. I felt it was inappropriate. In fact, it was so inappropriate I could hardly keep my eyes off it.

What were they thinking when they hung that up there for all to see?

(Turn and look at the cross – long look)

What was God thinking?

Imagine for a moment that one of your children gets in trouble with the law. She or he goes to trial – is convicted – is sentenced to death in the electric chair.

The day of execution comes. The switch is thrown. Your child dies there in the electric chair.

Do you think you would go home and put up over your mantle for everyone to see a life-sized – or even bigger than life-sized – framed photograph of the electric chair – the very instrument of execution - upon which your child died?

(Turn and look at the cross)

WHAT was God thinking?

Our text from 1^st Corinthians begs us to ask that question. If the Good News of Jesus is – as Paul says – the “message of the cross” – what was God thinking by making the very tool of his son’s execution the focal point of our faith?

Now the passage of time has gilded over the message of the cross in our day. But in the day of St. Paul, crosses were not worn around necks, nor were they displayed on church altars. Crosses were shameful. Crosses were despised.

The cross was a symbol of horror. The cross was the executioner’s tool. The cross was where the Roman government took care of their enemies whether they were guilty or not.

The cross was where Jesus was murdered.

What was God thinking when God decided that the best way to reach out to humanity, the way to appeal to people to come to the way of faith was by proclaiming the message – of the CROSS?

Paul says in verse 22 that lots of people are like the Jewish people of his day who would be attracted to God by way of miraculous signs. If God would just throw out some miracle-dust upon the world and let everybody have their own little miracle, EVERYBODY would believe and come and follow.

And isn’t that how it is in our day? People love miracles and those who work miracles.

But, Paul says, God did not choose the way of miracles and signs to appeal to people.

Then Paul says that others are like the Greeks of that day who loved philosophy and wisdom. If only God would present some logical, philosophical rationale that intellects could buy into, LOTS of thinking people would give themselves to God.

And we have a lot of modern day folks who want explanations and teachings that make the intellectual case for following God.

But, 1^st Corinthians tells us, God did not choose the way of wisdom as his appeal to the human race.

What God chose, Paul says in verse 23, was “Christ crucified.” That is how God has chosen to appeal to us. And that, he says, is a stumbling-block to people who want the way of miracles, and it is foolishness to those who want the way of wisdom.

(turn to the cross and pause)

What was God thinking?

God chose as his appeal to the world something that is foolish, weak, lowly and despised. Why do you suppose God chose to hang the cross over the mantle of our faith?

Well, the truth is that, from the beginning, God has chosen the weak, the foolish and the despised things and people of this world to demonstrate the power of his love. The Marines Corps may say it wants a few good men and women. But the Bible shows us a God who enlists the most ragtag, rebellious, sinful, broken bunch of losers you ever met to help him build the kingdom of heaven. And at the center of that motley crew is a fellow by the name of Jesus who in the eyes of the world was the illegitimate kid of a promiscuous mother from a dysfunctional home, with no credentials and not even enough sense to defend himself against his enemies. He went around teaching stupid stuff, like needing to love your enemies, and forgiving those who sin against you, and turning the other cheek to those who strike you. He told people to be poor in spirit, and meek, and merciful – and to consider themselves lucky when others insult them for being so stupid. You will never be taught the way of Jesus at Harvard Business School, and you’ll never see it lived out in a corporate boardroom despite the lipservice businesspeople give it. The way of Jesus is an embarrassment to the way of strength, smarts, and success.

And in the end, you know, he got killed.

Jesus was foolish. He was weak. He was lowly. He was despised.

But he was CHOSEN.

Listen: “God chose what is foolish to confound the wise; God chose what is weak to shame the strong; God chose the lowly and despised so that no one may boast before him.”

And that is why the cross is at the center of the Church.

You see the Cross gives hope to people who are not numbered among the strong, the smart and the successful.

I have enjoyed sharing with you on several occasions about the night at Miss Jane DeFalco’s dancing school when Miss Jane called for a ladies’ choice. All us boys were lined up on one side of the hall, and all the girls on the other. Across the way, I could see my 6^th grade heart throb Maryann Sullivan. I winked over at her. She smiled. Miss Jane said, “Go.” And so the girls sprinted across the hall to select their dance partners.

As I watched Maryann coming toward me, everything turned to slow motion. She was loping through a field of wildflowers, a smile across her face, love in her eyes, long hair bouncing against her shoulders. Frank Sinatra suddenly appeared, singing “Strangers in the Night.” Scooby-dooby-do…

And as ol’ Blue Eyes sang, Maryann ran right past me and chose my friend Gary Thomas!

Sometime after I told that story, one of our church members came up to me and said, “You know, that story really touched my heart because when I was a girl I went to all the parties and all the school dances. But I was the girl who was never asked to dance. After a while, I didn’t even want to go anymore, but my parents made me. Little did they know how much it hurt to never be chosen.”

Another friend told me that as a boy growing up, he dreaded those times at school or in the neighborhood when they picked teams. “I was always the last one chosen,” he said, “and the side I ended up on seemed to groan when my name came up.”

There are a lot of lonely, left-out people in our world. Some can’t get enough food to feed their children. Some live in places where the water is polluted and disease is rampant. Some are victims of others who push them down. Others are victims of their own weakness and poor choices.

To the rest of the world, they are nameless nobodies. They are the weak, the lowly, the despised.

But to God, they are CHOSEN!

I think God knew when he put the cross at the center of our faith that those of us who are going through dark times when we feel powerless, and pushed to the sides, and trampled upon by life and by others need to have before us a constant reminder that we are loved, that our lives count for something, and that God will not abandon us to despair. And I think God knew that those of us who have been blessed with strength and success need a constant reminder that we are called to get down off our high horses and serve those God has CHOSEN as his own.

The cross, Paul writes, shames the strong.

You know, the worst thing about successful people is that we often delude ourselves into thinking we are self-made. And when people start thinking we are self-made, we start looking down at those who are not successful. It’s just human nature. “I succeeded. Why can’t you?” Successful people sometimes like to quote the Bible where it says, “God helps those who help themselves.” But as successful as we are, we often do not even know those words are not found in the Bible. It was not Jesus who said that. It was Ben Franklin who actually stole the phrase from a guy by the name of Algernon Sydney. Talk about “helping yourself!”

But listen: the truth is that none of us brought anything with us into this world, and none of us will take anything with us when we die. We are all born into this world as helpless creatures, utterly dependent upon others for our very survival. And we leave this world helpless, too, utterly dependent upon God for new life.

So the cross reminds us about our responsibility in between our birth and our death to take care of each other while we have life.

The cross CONNECTS us together – winners and losers – successes and failures – rich and poor – free and slave…

…and whenever we see a cross before us, we are face-to-face with the ultimate truth of life:

Only God’s love can make the world right.

As you look at the cross today, what do you discover about God?

What do you learn about yourself?

And what do you have to do when you leave this place today?