Sermon for Holy Cross Day: "The Foolishness of God"

 + Holy Cross Day – September 14^th, 2025 +

Numbers 21:4-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 12:20-33

Beautiful Savior Lutheran 

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”

 

So goes the wisdom of the world. And there’s some truth in that – knowing there’s a time for talk and a time for silence. And yet, it seems that when it comes to the words and ways of God, he is neither content to remain silent, nor is he afraid of doing things and acting in ways that we, and this fallen world, find utterly foolish.

 

Holy Cross day, which the church remembers and celebrates today, is one of those kinds of days. A day where we declare and confess and rejoice with St. Paul in the power and promise of God’s seemingly foolish ways.

 

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 

But the holy cross that bore Christ crucified is not the first time God has done things and acted in ways that seem foolish in the eyes of man.

 

Remember Noah. YHWH told Noah to do something that looked absurd and crazy and foolish in the eyes of his fellow man. Build an ark. And YHWH told Noah, “I will save you and your family by wood and water and my promise.”

 

the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

Remember father Abraham and Sarah. God made a promise to these nonagenarians. A promise that sounded as wild and absurd and foolish as they come. YHWH promised that from Abraham’s old age – Hebrews says he was as good as dead - and Sarah’s barren womb, would be born a promised son.

 

the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

Remember Moses and Israel. YHWH made them a promise. A promise that looked and sounded foolish: take this bronze serpent. Hoist it on a pole. Stick it up in the air for all to see. And whoever looks on this promise of YHWH is saved. 

 

the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

Remember David. YHWH took him from the fields, the lowest and last son of Jesse. YHWH made him king; his anointed one. YHWH crowned him with glory and honor – all of it unearned and undeserved. YHWH made David a promise, a promise that sounds absurd and impossible and downright foolish. “From your family tree, David, from the rotten, stump of Jesse, a shoot will grow. A branch will sprout. And His kingdom and reign will endure forever.

 

the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

Remember the one to whom all of the patriarchs and prophets and faithful kings of Old Testament point. Remember Jesus. Here is the greater Noah who brings us rest by the wood of his cross and the water of your baptism and rescues you in his holy ark of the church. Here is the greater Isaac that comes from that seemingly foolish birth of Isaac. Here is the one greater than Moses who himself is lifted up on the cross for all to see, and for to save. Here is the Anointed One; David’s son and David’s Lord, the Son of David, Son of Man, Son of God. YHWH in the flesh. 

 

Remember Jesus’ birth. Born of a Virgin. In the little town of Bethlehem. In a feeding trough. Wrapped in ragged cloths. Bearing our humanity in utter humility. Surrounded by shepherds. Creatures of his creation. The Creator nestled in and surrounded by his creatures. By wood. Stone. Straw. and dirt.

 

To the eyes of man, this all sounds and seems utterly foolish. But in the eyes of God, it’s glorious. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

And now, for a moment, remember a time when you acted or thought or lived foolishly. When you lived as if God and your neighbor and your husband or wife or children did not matter, and as if you mattered most. When you spoke words you can’t take back. Or when you were silent and could have spoken. A time when you were afraid, anxious, and so full of despair and darkness you wondered, “how could God ever love or save a fool like me?”

 

And then… remember this. That the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

Remember and  rejoice… for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 

Remember what the church remembers today…that holy cross, Jesus became your weakness and mine. On that holy cross Jesus became the fool, died a foolish looking death to save you and me from our folly. On that holy cross, God’s Son, his only Son, was crucified for you. On that holy cross of wood God revealed his great wisdom. In the pain that Jesus bore on that holy cross, is the power of your salvation. And in the foolish and weak and humble death of Jesus you and I find amazing grace that saves a fool like you and me.

 

Today we also remember and rejoice that God still works that way. Christ gives us His word spoken by fellow sinners that opens heaven. He pours plain water that floods you with forgiveness. He breaks ordinary bread and fills a cup of wine that feeds and satisfies us in the wilderness with Jesus’ body and blood. 

 

This is no fool’s errand. Remember. Rejoice. And rest in this promise. the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 

 

A blessed Holy Cross Day to each of you…

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.