Those who had seen his power wondered why he seemed powerless at his greatest need. Those who saw his intelligence wondered how someone so smart could miscalculate so badly.
Both sides missed what Jesus and his Father were saying: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone, but if it dies, it produces many” (John 12:24). Not just his words, his very life is a parable.
It wasn’t just the people of Jesus’ day who had a problem with the Cross.
The people we speak to week after week have a problem with the Cross. Religious-minded people want miracles and power. Intellectually minded people want wisdom and truth.
What God offers us all is first the Cross. The earliest believers called the Cross “the wisdom of God and power of God” (I Corinthians 1:23-24). This is a stumbling block for us to consider today: that both his power and wisdom led him to the Cross. People prefer not to dwell on such things. After all, who respects suffering? When is the last time you spoke to your people about suffering?
You want to tell a story worth telling?
Try this one: Things are always darkest just before they go pitch black. And then, in the blackness of the truth—the truth that our own power or smarts are never enough—we discover that we need to rely solely on the promise of the Father.
Source: churchleaders.com
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