On Foolishness

There is a church that is spending all day today having four church services in which they are planning to provide every child with a gift and every family with a turkey. Everyone is invited and everyone gets something. The process is going to cost the church over ten thousand dollars and as churches go, it is not incredibly large. This means that just about every person in that church is making a significant sacrifice to put the four services together.

Conventional wisdom would say they are being utterly foolish. People in the community who hear about the program could just show up, take their turkey and ignore whatever message is given during the service. Then, they would go home and never show their faces again, one turkey up and still not actually poor. Analysts would likely say that members of the church are just giving their money up and getting nothing in return.

And yet, isn't it that kind of sacrifice we're called to give?

We're supposed to proved for the poor, the widows and the fatherless, without the expectation that we might be repaid someday. In general, that equation means we're risking our own well-being, what many people would consider foolish. It's that kind of sacrifice that the young rich ruler was unable to make when Jesus told him to sell everything and follow. He just couldn't give up everything with no promise of getting anything back. In his eyes, that would have been foolish.

The thing is, we do get it back:

Is there any such foolishness that the Lord cannot redeem - he who chose fishermen to be his disciples, who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, who let himself be betrayed by one of his schose, who thought it would be a good idea to die on a cross in order to destroy death? All of this has been so dwelt upon, so reasoned out, so studied and analyzed, memorized and categorized, that at times it no longer seems strange. But I tell you it's mad, utterly and completely. There is no reason in it, except that it works.

By giving up our earthly posessions to follow God's command to help others, we are, in fact, storing up our treasures in heaven. We're seeking the Kingdom of God instead of the things of the world, which by the world is foolishness, but by the Kingdom is very wise. It is only foolishness that is born of hope that can be considered wise.

God doesn't need us to take care of the poor, the widows and the fatherless. He could do it himself. Having used foolishness to redeem the world, [Jesus] has not yet given up on that method. He has the power to wipe every tear from our eyes, but he chooses instead to wait for us to wipe the tears from each other's eyes.

This year, as we remember the foolishness of Jesus giving up his throne to become a human baby, let's do our best to follow in His foolish footsteps. God doesn't necessarily require everyone to give up everything, but promises that if we do, He'll provide for our every need. We just have trust that He'll keep that promise and revise our definition of need.

-Quotes in italics taken from Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues by Mark Eddy Smith