Who's the fool?

Good News Reflection
Friday of the 21st Week of Ordinary Time
August 27, 2010

Today's Readings:
1 Cor 1:17-25
Ps 33:1-2,4-5,10-11
Matt. 25:1-13
http://www.usccb.org/nab/082710.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_08_27.mp3

Who's the fool?

Christianity is absurd! It's the opposite of everything that makes sense. St. Paul says in today's first reading that the message of the cross is "foolishness" (in some translations, "complete absurdity") and a "stumbling block." How often have you looked foolish for doing what God asks you to do? How often have you hesitated because you felt foolish?

The Bible is full of foolish nonsense. Peter was foolish enough to tell Jesus that he'd like to walk on water, and he sank only when he tried to understand what was happening.

And how do you think the Virgin Mary felt when the angel told her she'd become pregnant with the Messiah without ever "knowing" a man? She knew enough about biology to wonder, "How can this be?" But unlike Peter, she did not sink away from the absurdities of God.

And oh my, what about the cross? How in the world could the destruction of one man's life and ministry bring about good results? How could carrying our own crosses be good? How in the world, indeed! The wisdom of this world is, in reality, just folly.

What's the most absurd thing going on in your life right now? What is God doing that makes no sense at all? Ahhh, the fun of living in absurdity. What an adventure!

Remember what Jesus tells us in today's Gospel reading. The truly foolish folks are those who don't expect God to do the unexpected. The foolish bridesmaids thought the groom would arrive before they ran out of oil in their lamps. They thought they understood the situation, and when they discovered that the groom was going to be absurdly late, they scratched their heads in confusion and scrambled to find more oil.

Notice that they ran off to the store AFTER the groom's arrival was announced. Talk about idiocy!

Oh the foolishness of the cross! Jesus was nailed by those who did not want to accept the truths he taught, but they could not silence his ability to make a difference. Although not everyone he died for has been changed by it, the rest of us have benefitted eternally.

We cannot trust our logic. We cannot trust our perception or our understanding of the situations we face or the work that God calls us to do. Those of us who want to have a good grasp of God's thought processes had better quit now, before the brain hits foolishness overload and crashes like a computer that has too many programs running at the same time.

The sooner we accept the absurdity of being a Christian, the sooner we will discover that living the risky adventures of holiness is much, much better than a safe life of sound logic and easy decisions.

So, get ready for anything! Fill your lamp with plenty of oil right now, while it's still illogical.

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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