Thursday, September 21, 2023  

---

Today’s Scripture Reading 
1 Corinthians 1:20–31

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (NRSV)

---

Reflection
When I was young, my sister broke her arm rollerblading. The doctors determined that they would need to rebreak the arm and set it so that it would heal properly. I remember being baffled that the doctors needed to break something more in order for it to heal.

The community to whom Paul is writing would have been similarly baffled by the crucifixion of Christ. Those who believed that gods do not dwell in people and those that believed that gods do not die would struggle with the idea that God would lower God’s self to live among humans. And then be executed as a pretender to the Roman throne. It would seem inconceivable that a death such as that was meant to bring salvation to the world.

Jesus’ life on earth challenged the generalities of the prevailing culture, and Paul challenges us to think critically about the assumptions we make about strength, wisdom, and power. Because sometimes you have to break something in order to make it better.

---

Prayer
Unexpected God, help me to have faith in things even when they seem backward or foolish. Help me to challenge my own understandings and to trust in the bigger picture. Amen.

---

Written by Katie Patterson, Manager of Worship and Youth Ministry Programs

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

Devotion index by date | I’d like to receive daily devotions by email