Episode 592: - The Foolish Cross - Voices in my Head (the Rick Lee James Podcast)

Welcome back to Voices in My Head. As always, I'm your host, Rick Lee James. I'm so glad you're here with me again this week. Uh, it's another week where I'm actually going to be delivering a message to you. Uh, this one is somewhat unique because, uh, I'm going to be delivering this message tomorrow in our chapel service at the hospital where I work at in Springfield, Ohio. So this is sort of the test, but I'll be actually releasing it today, a day before it comes out. So if I feel like it goes well enough, then I will plan on using it tomorrow in our chapel service. But I was inspired to write this message by seeing the crosses that hang in each of the rooms in our hospital, and there'll be more about that in the sermon, but it's called the Mercy Cross, and they're not crucifixes exactly, but we are a Catholic hospital and the Mercy Cross hangs in every room. So that is what the inspiration is for this message today. And so I'm going to be talking about the Foolish Cross, the Power, and the Scars. And I'm currently— by the way, if I sound a little out of breath or you hear noise in the background, it's because I'm I am out early in the morning. It's 5:24 AM and I've just finished a morning jog, a light one. Yesterday was my 48th birthday and I had a pretty hard run and kind of overdid it on a hot, humid morning. So today I just did a couple very slow miles and now I'm doing a walk where I'm going to be doing this sermon. So here we go. So I'm going to start with the scripture today, 1 Corinthians 1. 18-25. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the very power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the smooth debater or the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know him. God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews. It actually says a skandalon, a scandal to the Jews, and folly or foolishness to the Gentiles. But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. We as a society, maybe even as a world, are used to the cross. We see people wearing them on their necklaces. It's stitched into altar cloths at churches. People wear them on their shirts, on their jeans. And here in the hospital, every hospital room, at least every hospital room that I'm aware of, there is a cross that quietly hangs on the wall. But in Paul's day, the cross was not a decoration. It was a Roman execution device. It was public. It was brutal. It was designed to humiliate those who were hung upon it. So imagine walking into a patient's room and instead of a cross hanging there, you saw an old rugged electric chair or a framed picture of a lethal injection syringe or a a picture of a firing squad or a hangman's noose across from the bed where you could stare at it. Because that's where we have our crosses hanging on the walls of the hospital so patients can see them. Now imagine if we sang songs like, so I'll cherish the old rugged electric chair till my trophies at last I lay down. In the firing squad, in the firing squad will I glory ever. It's jarring, isn't it? May even feel offensive. And that is exactly the point. The cross was Rome's way of saying, we own you, we control you, and when we're done with you, no one will remember you with honor. And yet Paul dares to say, "To us who are being saved, it is the power of God." So let's be honest. We prefer winners. We like our leaders to be polished and strong and untouchable. Not publicly tortured, not humiliated. For the Jews of Paul's day, it was skandalous. To associate anyone with the cross. Even scripture says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." For the Greeks and the Romans, it was absurd. Why follow a man who couldn't save himself? Stanley Hauerwas puts it bluntly. The cross is not a sign of the church's quiet, suffering submission to the powers that be. But rather the church's revolutionary participation in the victory of the cross over those powers. The cross stands as God's and our eternal no to the powers of death, as well as God's eternal yes to humanity. That's from the book Resident Aliens with Stanley Hauerwas and William Willeman. The cross is not a passive surrender. It's an act of resistance to everything in this world that thrives on fear, control, and death. And so here's the shock. God chooses the most humiliating, torturous death imaginable as the very means of salvation for the universe. Harawas again, he says, "The good news of the cross is that death and fear of death has been defeated." Death, or at least the fear of death, is the motor behind the powers that were defeated at the crucifixion. If death is the engine that drives the world's empires, the cross is where God takes the keys out of the ignition. And when Jesus walks out of the tomb, death isn't just weakened, it's disarmed, it's defeated. We don't just get comfort, we get courage. Now, this is a Catholic hospital where I serve, where I'm speaking from as I deliver this sermon to the chapel. Well, in the Catholic tradition, they don't hide the suffering of Jesus. They display it on the crucifix. The crucifix shows the body of Christ, the wounds, the marks of love. Why? Because Easter did not erase the scars. The risen Christ still bears the scars on his body, and those scars are his victory mark. Here in this hospital where I serve, every patient room has a cross. It's not a decoration, it is a declaration. I wanna say that again. It's not a decoration, it is a declaration. God has been here where we are. God knows our pain. God is not afraid of your wounds. If we believe the cross is actually victory, then we can live without fear of what death can take from us. When death takes our lives from us, Christ takes our lives from death. And when you see the cross, When you stare at the one on your hospital wall in your quiet moments, or when you see them out on the street with someone wearing them on their clothes, on their necklaces, when you see them in church, wherever you may see a cross, remember the Savior who transformed it from an instrument of death and torture into a symbol of hope. And life. The cross says no place of pain is beyond the reach of God. The cross says no shame is beyond God's grace. The cross says no way does death get the final word. So cling to it, even though it is a scandal to the Jews, even though it is folly to the Gentiles, to the Greeks, because to those of us who are being saved, it is the very power of God. So I invite you this morning, or this afternoon, or evening, whenever you are listening to this, I invite you if you're in a safe place, to close your eyes as I close. If you're not in a hospital room, then please picture yourself maybe in a hospital room right now. Smell the smells of the hospital. Hear the beeps and the alerts in the distance or perhaps right beside you. Feel the things that a body feels when it is receiving treatment. Notice the taste, the moisture, or maybe the dryness of your mouth. And feel the feelings that you are feeling, whatever they are. Just feel them. Anxiety, fear, loneliness, isolation, boredom. Empathy, compassion, maybe joy, maybe gratitude. Maybe you've received good news today. Maybe you know surgery is coming. Maybe it's a triple bypass. Maybe something else life-changing, and the air feels heavy with uncertainty. Whatever you're feeling, whatever's happening in your life, just take a moment to feel whatever it is that you're feeling right now. Now, whether you are literally watching on camera today and are in a room with a cross on the wall whether you are imagining a space where a cross is. Look at that cross hanging on the wall. It's not far away. It's right there in the room with you. It's right in front of you. And see Jesus there, not distant. Not untouched, but fully present on your cross, fully present with you, whatever you are suffering and whatever you are bearing today. And hear his voice as he looks at you and says, "I have been here. I have known what it is to be vulnerable." to place myself in the hands of others. Hear his voice telling you, "You are not alone." And notice your heart. Ask yourself, "What am I most afraid of right now? Is it the surgery, the recovery, the unknown?" Hold that fear in your hands for a moment. And touch the scars. Imagine you're holding the nail-scarred hand of the risen Christ. Feel the nail marks in his palms, just as he invited Thomas to do. The scars are still there in his hands, and there is healing power in those wounds. He understands. He knows you. He is with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. A bruised reed he will not break. A smoldering wick he will not snuff out. And pray. Crucified and risen Lord, You know the beeping monitors, the cold surgical tables, the IV poles, the whispered prayers before anesthesia. You have entered the places where we fear the most, and you have filled them with your presence. Give us courage to trust you with our bodies, our futures, and our lives. Amen. Thank you again for listening to Voices in My Head. God bless you all. I hope you have a wonderful week. Keep looking at the cross. As always, I'm your host, Rick Lee James. I'll be back next time, and I do want to encourage you to listen to my other podcasts. We have some old ones from Welcome to the Neighborhood, a Mr. Rogers tribute podcast, and some new ones coming out from Truth, Justice, and the Way, Superman and Spirituality podcast with my co-host David Dalton. God bless you. Have a wonderful day.