The Divine Scandal

Bread and Wine Reading: "The Divine Scandal", Emil Brunner

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1: 21-25
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

We live to climb—climbing the corporate ladder, climbing to the top, climbing the ladder of success, climbing every mountain, climbing toward God. We often measure our achievement and success not by whether we are happy or satisfied or even comfortable but by where we stand on the ladder relative to everyone else. The wisdom of the world tells us that that is the point of life and the wisdom of many of our theological understandings tells us that that is the point of faith—to climb, to end “up” in heaven, to ascend to God, to raise ourselves up above the mire of our humanity.

But the truth is that the Christian story is, as Paul said, a foolish one when told through the wisdom of the world. It is foolish because it is not one of climbing, of ascent, but rather one of descent. As Emil Brunner says, “in the Bible it is not we who find a way to God; it is God who comes to us.” That is the whole message of the Cross. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot climb or earn or even talk our way into heaven or into oneness with God or whatever that image holds for you. We cannot talk God into loving us for the simple reason that God already does. And God’s love is such that we are never left alone. When we are at the lowest rung of our human condition, God descends to us.

The traditional version of the Apostles’ Creed says that Jesus descended into hell. Most of the times we take that part out, worried that it might offend someone or that they might misunderstand. After all, what sense does it make for this God of our ascent to be in hell? That really would be the epitome of divine scandals. Our God is the God of heaven and earth. “But God,” as Brunner says, in [God’s] mercy shows us a different way. ‘You cannot come up to me, so I will come down to you.’ And God descends to us human beings.” But God does not merely come and touch the peak of our existence like some sort of teasing deity hoping we will grab hold. God goes farther than we dare to go, down into the bowels of our existence, descending into hell, entering our lives at the lowest possible point, hanging on the cross, then picking us up, and carrying us higher than we thought existed. And all for one reason: to bring us home, to bring us back to God. As Brunner said, “[God] has taken this upon [Godself] so that we may become free of it.”

It truly is a “Divine Scandal”. In fact, it is so in opposition to the world’s wisdom that we scarce can take it in. And so God waits patiently for us to surrender control that we might be carried to that place to which we cannot raise ourselves.

Discussion Questions:
1.) What does that mean for you to say that the Christian story is one of descent?
2.) Are you uncomfortable with the whole notion of Jesus descending into hell? Why or why not?
3.) Why do we struggle so much with God raising us? Why do we think that we must earn it or achieve it? Why do we need to climb?

So go forth with God, who carries you higher than you would ever dare to go!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli