March 5, 2024 

Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Daily Lectionary: Genesis 35:1-29, Mark 9:33-50

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Shame is pervasive, and many of us wrestle with it. Shame has strange ways of revealing itself, sometimes as anxiety, sometimes as anger, sometimes it looks like perfectionism and a need to please all the people around us. Shame is much more deeply rooted than simple embarrassment; instead of saying “I did something terrible” it says, “I am terrible.” Shame becomes tangled in our self-identity, driving how we see ourselves and how we see our place in the world. Those who experience shame imagine that no one could understand how bad they are, not the wise and strong of the world, and certainly not our God, because shame feels like a weakness, an earned disfigurement. 

In contrast there are the wise and strong of our age, people who seem to have it all together, who made all the right choices, who are shining examples of success and well-being. Paul tells us that God chose what is weak and foolish in the world to shame the wise and strong, because even they will inevitably run to the end of their own strength and wisdom, shocked to find it in fleeting supply. This is the true place of shame, the truly earned disfigurement is a life shaped by one’s own limited power and wisdom that leaves no place for the mercy of God. 

In response to our shame and weakness God’s mercy is inextricably poured out in abundance in countless ways. Here Saint Paul shows us that gospel-land is backwards-land. Let me say that again. Gospel-land is backwards-land. In the reign of Jesus, the world looks like the last being first, the first being last, the weak being strong, the rich sent away empty. In God’s economy the foolishness of Christmas and Easter conquer the seemingly insurmountable powers of death and hell. Jesus doesn’t conquer as we expect a king to conquer, instead He conquers as a helpless baby and a crucified victim. Today He conquers in a bit of water, bread and wine, His Word. It’s foolish to think these things could conquer a bingo game in a nursing home, much less the powers of sin and hell arrayed against us each day, yet this is the promise of our God. Our God takes the dead and makes them alive, He takes the shame of the cross and makes it a throne, He takes our shame and calls us beloved, He takes sinners and makes them saints.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

When the woes of life o’er take me,  Hopes deceive, and fears annoy

Never shall the cross forsake me;   Lo, it glows with peace and joy. (LSB 427:2)

-Deac. Eleanor Corrow, Higher Things Board Member and coordinator in LCMS Missionary Services. 

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

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