Did you ever look at a passage of scripture and wonder, what could this mean?  Like 1 Corinthians 1:18; "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."  Why would St. Paul call the message of the cross; the gospel that Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins, foolishness?  Especially when you consider how much he wrote about it; wouldn't he want people to read his writings? So, wouldn't it make sense to have protray the message as wise, not foolish?  Look at televangelists; look at that guy, I won't name him but his name rhymes with Oel Josteen who has no cross on his "set", but has exactly that a "set", a slick and appealing, wise-looking, world-friendly stage from which to preach and gain followers.   He definitely is onto something; if we moderate the message, more people will flock to us!  The Kinks said it best back in the early 1980s; "Give the People What They Want!"

Or at least convince them that they want what you're giving them.

In a passage of scripture like this, context is everything.  Just before this, Paul points out divisions in the church; who is following and giving their loyalty to whom.  Paul distances himself from his followers by saying that he didn't preach fancy words to gain followers; he didn't come to baptize or gain influential supporters; but to preach the plain simply, hard to accept, foolish truth of the gospel that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, was killed by His "worshippers" to offer grace and mercy and reconciliation to all who would come by faith.  He avoided the "popularity game" because to do so would "empty the cross of its power"; in other words, use fancy words and influence and the glory goes to you or your words, preach the scandal of the cross and the glory for souls saved can go only one place; to God!

In the verses following this, Paul reinforces that point is saying that the Jewish people looked for signs, Greek people want philosophy and wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified which is appealing to neither!  God chooses the foolishness of the world to expose worldly wisdom for what it is; nothing without God!  That if God were to do something foolish, it would cease to be foolish!  It would put wisdom to shame.  In fact, by working through such foolishness, God insures that the glory can go to God and God alone.

I fancy myself a preacher.  My former church and I went through a process aimed at seeking out and developing our growing edges.  As part of that, we met in small cluster groups in which we revealed what the main instrument of the process (a survey) revealed about our weakest characteristic (passionate spirituality).  The we asked them to anonymously give 2-3 reasons that they felt were barriers to our passionate spirituality.  A small but cohesive group of participants wrote things like; "Ridiculous sermons about fantastical things that have no basis in reality."  or, "Too much of a negative focus on sin/sinning and the need for forgiveness."  Others couldn't disagree more; they rated the preaching as Christ-centered, Biblically-based and relevant.

If the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing and the power of God to those who are being saved; what was going on in that instance?