Fools for Christ
We all want to look smart, knowledgeable and accomplished in the eyes of others. The religious leaders of Jesus’s day were no exception. They knew the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah from their reading and studying. The disciples also prided themselves on having the inside track and the up-to-date religious knowledge of the day, having been with Jesus as he prayed and taught and healed. Yet even they, the ones closest to Jesus as his time was at hand, were blind to his teachings about his coming suffering and death. On Easter morning, they could not hear the truth from those who believed. On Easter afternoon, the Emmaus disciples could not see who was right there beside them.
In this time of war and worldwide pandemic, are we so different from the religious leaders and disciples of Jesus’s day? Even if we don’t have everything figured out, are we too proud or too afraid to let go of the knowledge that we prize so much and simply look to the cross for God’s love and power and wisdom?
Lord, please help us to be foolish in the way that helps us jettison false knowledge, pride and ego. Help us to turn to the cross, with its unlikely, fantastic and outrageous message of hope, salvation and eternal life. Amen.
– Greg Smith, EFM alumnus
