Reduced to Nothing

SCRIPTURE TEXT:  1 Corinthians 18, 26-31; Rev. Monte Marshall, Senior Pastor

Our situation this morning is ironic.  Two days ago, Donald J. Trump became the 45^th President of the United States of America.  He was already a man well-born and influential—a man of wealth and privilege—a man of celebrity and social standing.  He is now, arguably, the most powerful human being in the world—especially when power is measured by the military might at his disposal, the economic significance of our nation, and the president’s ability to impact people’s lives both at home and abroad.  

The inauguration of every president is meant to underscore the power and prestige of the office and the nation.  In fact, God’s name is invoked in a variety of ways to legitimize this power.  Last Friday, for instance, Donald Trump placed his hand upon not one, but two Bibles, and recited an oath prescribed by the United States Constitution.  He chose to end the oath, as most presidents preceding him have done, with the phrase, “so help me God.”[1] 

Well, I have no doubt that President Trump will need all the help from God he can get if he is to act for justice and peace in our nation and around the world.  And I’ll be praying for God to help him in these tasks.  But I won’t just be praying—I’ll also be acting by advocating for justice and peace, and doing all that I can to hold the president accountable when he falls short.  I hope all of you will do the same in the best tradition of prophetic ministry.  

But here’s the irony.  Thanks to this morning’s scripture reading from Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, we’re invited to embrace a counter-narrative that seeks to reduce to nothing all the inaugural hoopla—and everything else in our lives that resists God.

Paul articulates this counter-narrative as he writes to a divided church in Corinth.  He proclaims a gospel whose “message of the cross” strikes many as a “complete absurdity.”      

For biblical scholar, Walter Wink, many of these folks are simply caught in the grip of the Domination System whose “symbol is not the cross but a rod of iron.”[2]  In Wink’s view, “the Domination System usurps the revelation of God’s purposes for humanity in Jesus.  It is blasphemous.  It is idolatrous…. And it is immensely popular.”[3]  I would even suggest that many modern-day politicians, presidents included, are elected to office because they’re successful in playing this system and harnessing its popularity to bring them to power.      

For folks like these, the gospel is “absurd” because it epitomizes weakness and folly.  For folks like these, the highest value is placed on people who are well-born and privileged within the system.  The “cream of the crop” consists of those who know how to thrive within the system.  These are the ones considered wise, strong and influential. 

For everyone else, the valuation is lower.  I’m talking about people who are ridiculed, marginalized and ostracized within the system—people who are devalued, denigrated and demeaned by the system and those who run it.  I’m talking about people who are considered “nobodies” within the system—people who are written off as weak, foolish, lowborn and despised within the system.  I’m talking about people who are abused by the system and who suffer the most under the oppressive weight of the way things are.

A case in point:  Shane Claiborne tells this story of an Indonesian child who spoke at a rally against sweatshops overseas.  The child was a sweatshop worker.  Claiborne writes: “I listened as a child from Indonesia stood to share and pointed to the giant scar on his face.  ‘I got this scar when my master lashed me for not working hard enough.  When it began to bleed, he did not want me to stop working or to ruin the cloth in front of me, so he took a lighter and burned it shut.  I got this making stuff for you.’”  Claiborne asked himself: “How could I possibly follow Jesus and buy anything from that master?...Poverty had become personal..  And that messes with you.”[4]  

All too often, however, those who manage the Domination System don’t want to see the devastating results of their efforts.  Shane Claiborne also tells this story.  He writes: “There is a brilliant scene in Michael Moore’s documentary The Big One where Philip Knight, founder and former CEO of Nike, which has become notorious for its abuse of workers overseas, invites Moore to talk with him.  So Moore goes in to meet with Knight bearing gifts—two first-class tickets to Indonesia.  And he invites Knight to fly to Indonesia and simply walk through his factories.  Phil bursts out laughing and shakes his head, ‘No, no, not a chance.’  Moore tells him that he just wants to walk through and check out the operation, and then asks, ‘Have you ever been to see your factories where your shoes are made?  Have you ever been to Indonesia?’  Knight says, ‘No, and I am not going to go.’”  Claiborne notes that “These are the layers of separation that allow injustice to happen.”[5]  This is how the Domination System works.   

But for Paul—and for so many of us—it’s the gospel and its scandalous “absurdity,” that turns the Domination System upside down—that reduces the Domination System to nothing.  And this is God’s work.  Indeed, it’s this “absurd” gospel that reveals the power and wisdom of God working among us to bring life—to bring love—to bring justice—to bring peace.  It’s this “absurd” gospel that brings life liberated, saved and redeemed from the Domination System. 

I like the way Shane Claiborne puts it: “We have a God who enters the world through smallness—a baby refugee, a homeless rabbi, the lilies and the sparrows.  We have a God who values the little offering of a couple of coins from a widow over the megacharity of millionaires.  We have a God who speaks through little people—a stuttering spokesman named Moses; the stubborn donkey of Balaam; a lying brothel owner named Rahab; an adulterous king named David; a ragtag bunch of disciples who betrayed, doubted, and denied; and a converted terrorist named Paul.”[6] 

It seems to me that if we’re not careful, presidential inaugurations and other displays that seek to legitimize the power and wisdom of the current system, can easily distract us from the message of an “absurd” gospel that underscores the power and wisdom of God at work in a crucified Christ, and in the lifting up of the “nobodies” created by the Domination System.   

So do we see the irony in our situation this morning?  If it’s still not clear, let me try one more time.  Hold in mind last Friday’s presidential inauguration—the people involved, the swearing-in ceremony, the inaugural parade, the galas, and all the rest.  You might also recall the stories of a scarred Indonesian child and Philip Knight, founder and former CEO of Nike.  Then, listen one more time to Paul’s good news: “For the message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation, it is the power of God.  Consider your calling, sisters and brothers.  Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were influential and surely not many were well-born.  God chose those whom the world considers foolish to shame the wise, and singled out the weak of this world to shame the strong.  The world’s lowborn and despised, those who count for nothing, were chosen by God to reduce to nothing those where were something.  In this way no one should boast before God.  God has given you life in Christ Jesus and has made Jesus our wisdom, our justice, our sanctification and our redemption.  This is just as it is written, “Let the one who would boast, boast in our God.”  Here's to an “absurd” gospel!  Thanks be to God.  Amen.