Who’s Being Foolish?

Once upon a time, I was a child.  In my childhood, I loved to watch adults being foolish. There were some adults who acted foolishly all the time… adults I could easily identify because they had noses that were big and round… and bright red.  I knew that, if I saw an adult with a big red nose… a chalk-white face… big shoes… and baggy clothing… sooner or later I was going to laugh, because they were going to do something foolish… something that even a child would know not to do.  And somehow, I knew that, if I got close to these adults, my day would be better.  Being with them meant that I could laugh out loud… that I could act like the child I was… (in other words, be myself without any pretense). I might even receive a gift that would remind me of them and of the time I spent with them… for some of them blew up long narrow balloons that they would twist into the shape of animals… or funny hats… or flowers… balloon art that they would give to any child who stood close to them… who followed them… children whose lives would be blessed by being close to them.

                One of the markers of a deprived childhood is the lack of clowns.  For me, it was a childhood in Thailand where clowns are virtually unknown.  Clowns… and their antics… are distinctly counter-cultural in Thailand where the rules that govern human behavior in public places are very strict. There were no circuses in Thailand… no events where clowns make an appearance… so the only time that I ever saw clowns when I was growing up was on those rare visits to the United States.  Perhaps, that made them even more special to me… because glimpses of clowns… and their antics… were so rare.   Who are these people… the ones who are willing to put on theatrical makeup… and strange costumes… and do things that make children… and adults… laugh?   Why do our lips curl into a smile even before we see them do anything at all unusual?    Is it the promise of what we will see… what we know we will experience… that does it… or is it the wish that we could do foolish things… and get away with it… make others laugh… to exchange laughter for all that drags us down?

            We have all done foolish things… things that have made others laugh at us… and we did not always do those things for their entertainment.  Sometimes, the laughter is painful… humiliating… harmful.  Sometimes, it lives with us long after those who laughed at us have forgotten what caused the laughter to begin with.   I am not talking about those times.  I am talking about the people who deliberately choose to do foolish things… to act in foolish ways… to bring lightness and laughter to the lives of other people… lightness and laughter that heals… renews… restores… and gives hope.  Sometimes, we call these people clowns.  Sometimes, we call them Christians.

            Why would anyone choose to act in a way that others consider foolish?  I don’t know.  Why do adults choose to have children… knowing that this one act will complicate their lives for untold decades… not to mention dirty diapers… toys underfoot… broken or missing items in their homes… and money that disappears into a sinkhole of expenses… like extra food… clothing… college… and so on?   Fortunately, that particular foolish act is strongly supported by our culture… and we can find many others who will empathize with us as we move through the various stages of raising our children to adulthood.  But being a Christian… and acting like a Christian… is counter-cultural… and… except in rare small towns… it is not something for which we find strong support in our culture today.  It is more likely to bring laughter from those who believe that we are being foolish… foolish to love as Christians love… foolish to trust as Christians trust… foolish to do those things which identify us clearly as Christians… as clearly as big red noses identify clowns.

So, what is counter-cultural about being a Christian?   We believe in a savior who was born in obscurity in a stable… no less… to a poor carpenter and his teenage bride. That is hardly a beginning that will result in the fantastic conquests of powerful emperors like Genghis Kahn or Alexander the Great.  We believe in a savior who died on a cross… tortured and killed as a criminal for treason and sedition when he was barely thirty.  That ignoble end hardly emulates the great example of the father of our country, George Washington… who is remembered as a noble warrior and great president… nor is it the glorious martyrdom of Joan of Arc… or the quiet, noble dignity of the death of Socrates.   Nobody came to hear him gasp “It is finished” from the top of a garbage heap outside the city late on a Friday afternoon. Nobody really cared. There was no funeral procession… no military band… no weeping crowds… like those that accompanied Abraham Lincoln’s body to its burial place.  We believe in a book that tells us that “the meek will inherit the earth”… when we can clearly see that the meek don’t inherit anything.  The wealthy… the aggressive… the manipulative… and the obnoxious are far more likely to get ahead in life than the meek.  The meek are far more likely to go home early… with a pink slip and a pat on the head… and nothing in their hands.  And the meek… what are they supposed to do then?   Why, turn the other cheek, of course.   How counter-cultural can you get?   Why would anyone want to be a Christian?

            It is with these pictures of adults making fools of themselves… of adults doing things that look foolish… stupid… and ridiculous in our culture that we hear the Apostle Paul say that, as Christians, we are “fools for Christ.”  We are Christ’s clowns.  Throughout his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul writes about this theme of divine foolishness. He says, “The word of the cross is foolishness to those whose lives are falling apart, but to those who are being saved, the cross is the very power of God.” Other statements echo the same refrain: “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Has God not destroyed the wisdom of the wise?” Or, “God chose what is foolish in this world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in this world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised to accomplish his will.”

We, as Christians, are called to be fools for Christ. In fact, throughout the New Testament, we discover this divine madness about God. We discover that God acts like a clown… that the Lord of the Universe acts like a fool… that his words and his actions seem unreasonable… irresponsible… impractical… and downright foolish… foolish, because no sane person in our culture would say those things or act that way and expect to get ahead in life.    Feed your enemies when they are hungry? Pray for those who abuse, degrade, and persecute you?  Give the person who steals your coat another article of clothing as well?  Walk an extra mile to help someone else achieve their goal? Give your last nickel to the church? Leave ninety-nine good, healthy sheep to look for one that is lost?  Rejoice… even celebrate… the death of a friend?  Are you nuts?

One of the dangers of being in church as often as I am is that it all starts to make sense. I speak of the Christian faith so casually and effortlessly that I begin to think, “Fine thing, this Christianity. Makes good sense.” And then I find myself believing all sorts of things inside these walls that I would never believe in the outside world.  The reality is, as Kierkegaard said, “Christianity has taken a giant stride into the absurd.”   To believe in Christ… to be a Christian is not normal… it is crazy.  It is absolutely insane.  In fact, Thornton Wilder wrote a comedy entitled “Heaven’s My Destination” about a man who tried to live a Christian life in the United States.  The results were predictably disastrous.  He causes a run on the bank by refusing to accept the interest rate on his savings account because he does not believe in usury.  The other customers, overhearing his argument with the teller, think that there is something wrong at the bank and begin demanding their money.  The implication of Wilder’s story is that attempting to adhere to Jesus’ teaching in the Beatitudes results in either comedy or tragedy, depending upon your sense of irony.  Whatever it is, it is not normal… it’s absurd. 

But, as Kierkegaard said, if you “remove from Christianity its ability to shock… it is altogether destroyed. It then becomes a tiny superficial thing, capable neither of inflicting deep wounds nor of healing them.”  As the Apostle Paul is trying to say to us today, it is its very insanity that gives it its power.  We preach Christ crucified… not because we glorify a criminal… the criminal life… or torture… or capital punishment… but because the man who hung on that cross embodied a new kind of life… a new kind of wisdom… and a new kind of power.  Paul says that the Jews were looking for signs… and the Greeks for wisdom.  Today, we would be drawn in by a slick ad campaign…a death-defying stunt… newspaper headlines… or someone with enough money to pull us out of the financial mess we are in.  Jesus offers none of those things.  Instead, he offers a life that embodies love… a love that gives beyond giving… a love that lives beyond living.  It is a love that… if we try to live it… will demand all that we have to give.  It will break us… so that the love inside will be poured out into the lives of those around us… good and bad… enemy and friend… until there is nothing left.   It is a love that will confront all the pretentions of this world… and all of its images of greatness… of wisdom… of success.  It will bring us no honor and no glory… but will instead make us the neighborhood patsy… the butt of people’s jokes… and the focus of their ridicule and scorn.  It will leave us on a garbage heap with nothing we can claim as our own… derided by many… ignored by most… forgotten by all but a handful.

So, why would anyone want to be a Christian?   Perhaps, for the same reasons that people want to be clowns… to touch the hearts of those who are hurting… to bring a smile to the faces of those who carry too heavy a burden in life… to brighten someone’s day. Perhaps, hearing others laugh out loud… accepting others as they are… allowing others to be themselves without any pretense… perhaps giving them a gift that would remind them of the one whose life is reflected in all that we do… is enough of a reward for us to choose to be fools for Christ. I am talking about the people who deliberately choose to do these foolish things… to act in foolish ways… to bring lightness and laughter to the lives of other people… lightness and laughter that heals… renews… restores… and gives hope.  Sometimes, we call these people clowns.  Sometimes, we call them Christians.

By far, the clowns I have most admired are rodeo clowns.  Yes, they dress up in funny clothes… and they wear funny make-up… and they run around the arena doing funny things that make people laugh… but behind all their actions is a purpose… and that purpose is to save lives.  As any of you who have seen those clowns in action know, their primary purpose is to distract a dangerous bull from the rider who has just fallen off his back.  Their role in the arena is to do a variety of foolish things in order to attract the attention of this bull… it is actually to draw the danger to themselves… so that the rider can escape death.  What rodeo clowns do is insane!  They voluntarily enter the arena and put themselves in harm’s way… And… doing crazy things that invoke the laughter… the ridicule… of others… they save lives.  They save lives… by doing things that others consider foolish… and by being willing to give their own lives for someone else.

By that definition, wouldn’t that make Jesus the ultimate rodeo clown?   If we followed him… wouldn’t we be clowns as well?   Is that absurd… to aspire to be a clown?  I can think of no greater honor in my life that to be a clown for Christ.  Can you? Amen.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25