27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
What is shame? Shame is the robbing of your internal awareness that you are made in the image of God, stealing the value that God has placed in you, the stripping of strength drawn from that knowledge. God has a way of employing surprising methods in an effort to get us to focus on Him. God is able to use the opposite to disarm and humble, foolish to shame the wise, weakness to shame the strong. I think of the childhood mystery stories where the paperclip was the key clue to the murder, and only the kid was able to put it together. When the kid figures it out and explains to the adults how it really happened, the adults are in awe of the kid’s abilities. Substitutionary death was viewed as a foolish concept in the ancient world. How could someone die in my place? Such a demeaning idea to the Greeks, the culture that conquered the world. Certainly the answer to human need is found in education, government, the collective will of the people. If we just work together, we can overcome all the problems we face. (Sounds familiar doesn’t it in this election season!) On the other hand death by crucifixion indicated powerlessness, separation from God, being the object of God’s displeasure. How could God ever use that to accomplish His purpose? If shame comes from not recognizing our inherent value because we are ‘made in His image’, then what would happen if we did recognize that image, its value and power? Life!
The Arnold Journey 