A Preposterous Descent
The only thing more preposterous than the Incarnation is the cross. That God would become a man was bad enough, that God would go so low as to be crucified by men, that was unthinkable.
We track this descent in Philippians 2 bibrefphilippians2. Jesus was equal with God, but took the form of a servant and went through the must humbling of sacrifices, “even death on a cross.”
To the Corinthians Paul addressed the two typical responses. To the Jew the cross was a scandal, and to the Gentile the cross was foolishness.
Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22–24 bibref1corinthians1 bibref1corinthians1v22 bibref1corinthians1v23 bibref1corinthians1v24 ESV)
From a religious angle, He who was supposed to be all-righteous wouldn’t put Himself in the cursed position. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t what God would do.
From a philosophical angle, He who was supposed to be all-powerful wouldn’t succumb to the despised position. It didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t what God would do.
But in Jesus God showed the wisdom of the world to be foolish. In the gospel we have the power of God to salvation. In the true Christmas and true cross we have true life, and we boast in the Lord. Our communion with Christ is the best crazy there is.