View From the Vicarage
‘Fools for Christ?’
April 1st is here again and with it All
Fools Day but what lies behind this unusual event? Well its origins may lie in
several pagan festivals. For instance there was the Roman end of winter orgy
‘Hilaria’, and the Celtic celebration when the god Lud cured the curse of
demons by spraying them with a brew of crushed insects in water! There is also
the story of Persephone. In this Greek myth she was snatched away by Pluto, the
god of the underworld, from her mother the corn spirit Ceres who followed the
trail of Persephone’s indignant shrieks across the land to no avail – the
original ‘fool’s errand’!
Or there again, All Fools may simply be the
day
commemorating Christ being mocked and tormented before his crucifixion (Luke 23:32 – 43, Matthew 27: 32 -43).
Whatever the background, at noon the foolery must cease!
But in the New Testament we meet two other
sorts of ‘fool’. There is the fool whose foolishness is seen not simply in the rejection of
wisdom but particularly in the rejection of the source of all wisdom, God
Himself (Psalm 14:1, Romans 1:18 -32). In fact, it was the failure of Jesus’
disciples to understand that the death and resurrection of Christ had been
foretold by the prophets which led the risen Jesus to say, ’How foolish you
are’ (Luke 24:25), because as he had said to the religious leaders, “You are
wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew
22).
However, there is yet another sort of ‘fool’
in the Bible and this is the ‘fool’ whose life has been transformed by Jesus. Saint Paul, one of the ancient world’s
greatest thinkers, could later speak of himself as a Fool for Christ (1
Corinthians 4:10) once he had encountered the risen Christ on the road to
Damascus (Acts 9). For it was this life changing experience which then impelled
him (2 Corinthians 5:14) to preach Christ crucified and to live for Christ
(1Corinthians 1).
So who might be a fool today? Well we are all
conscious of times when we have acted foolishly. We have said or done things we later
regret, we have allowed ourselves to be fooled by others, or we know we have
acted unwisely. None of us are perfect!
But if it’s true that Jesus Christ is ‘the
power and wisdom of God’ (1 Corinthians 1:24)
then surely the wisest thing would be to listen to what he has to say. And what
God requires and desires is this: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as you love
yourself.” Or as another translation puts it, “Love the Lord your God with all
your passion and prayer and intelligence. Love others as well as you love
yourself” (Matthew 22 - The Message).
For after all, said Jesus, “Why do you call me
‘Lord, Lord’ and yet don’t do what I tell you? Anyone who hears my words and does not
obey them is like a man who built his house without laying a foundation; when
the flood hit that house it fell at once – and what a terrible crash that was!”
(Luke 6) So, if you want to build your life on sure foundations listen to Christ
even if others may think you are a Fool for Christ!
Charles
