Fools for Christ
Fools for Christ
“I don’t want people thinking I’m one of those annoying Christian fanatics.”
“I don’t want people to think I’m weird.”
“I don’t want to make people feel awkward around me”…
These are some of many excuses that you may have that stop you from spreading the Word of God. But don’t you think that the people with Christ thought he was a fool for many of the things He did and said? Think back to the time when Christ went to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead. The Bible says that the people “ridiculed Him” for saying that she was not dead but sleeping. What about the miracle of the five loaves and the two fish? What do you think the disciples were thinking when the Lord Jesus Christ said to distribute five loaves and two fish to feed over 5,000 people? To the world, the Lord Jesus looked foolish – even to the point of the Cross. All of our life we have been raised to “keep up our image”. What people think of us has become so important that we are even ashamed to speak about the One who was ridiculed for us. But, if we’re called to follow the example of our Savior, don’t you think it is more shameful to be ashamed to speak about Him?
It is said that when King David brought back the ark of God from the house of Obed Edom he “danced before the Lord with all his might” (2 Samuel 6:14). Later, when King David returned to his house, his wife Michal said to him, “ ‘How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself’” (2 Samuel 6:20). It is said that King David was a man after the heart of God. What do you think his reply was? Instead of feeling ashamed or embarrassed, he answered his wife saying, “ ‘It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore, I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight’” (2 Samuel 6:21-22). Even though he was the king of Israel, David was not ashamed to look undignified before the people, if it meant he was giving glory to the God who gave him his position as King.
Even the Apostles and the Disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ were not afraid to look like fools before the people for the sake of God. Christ even warned his disciples that they would be hated by the world. When writing to the Corinthians, Saint Paul wrote, “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake…being reviled we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the off scouring of all things until now” (1 Corinthians 4: 9-10, 12, 13). The disciples and the apostles left everything for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Paul writes that they were made a spectacle – like clowns in a circus. They were condemned, they were defamed, they were made as the filth of the world. However, none of this stopped them from continuing to joyously spread the Word of God to the entire world!
If King David, all of the disciples and the apostles, and even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself were not afraid to be fools for Christ, what should I be doing? Why am I afraid to be rejected by the world for the sake of spreading the Gospel? In the end of times what do you think will be the only thing that matters? Will it matter that you upheld your image in front of people? Will it matter that you became the CEO of the largest investment company? None of these things are going to matter. It will matter, however, if you had the courage to sacrifice your image before men for the sake of Christ.
So my brothers and sisters, let’s shout with St. Paul “We are FOOLS for CHRIST”S sake” (1Corinthians 4:10)!
