Morning Reflection for December 8, 2010

We don’t like looking foolish. We get mad when someone makes a fool of us, and become upset with ourselves when we say or do something that makes us look like a fool. In general, we avoid doing anything that might be considered foolish by those around us because we want to avoid looking foolish.

This tendency is not a bad thing, as many foolish acts can lead to serious harm to ourselves and those around us. Unfortunately, there is a negative side this as well, as it can lead us to be more reserved about our faith in Jesus Christ. After all, we don’t want to look like one of those foolish, overzealous Christians. It should be enough to believe in Jesus, right?

Well, not exactly. To be a Christian is foolish in the eyes of the world, because we believe in a Savior who is God Himself, yet humbled Himself to become one of us lowly humans and was killed by being hung on a cross. Not only that, but we also believe that He rose from the dead and now lives bodily in Heaven. As St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians tells us, “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” (1 Cor 1:23) In our physical, material world, this is beyond foolishness, it’s insanity.

Even so, that is what we believe, and that foolish faith calls us to do more things that could be seen as foolish in the eyes of the world. In the Catholic Church, we have a list called the Corporal Works of Mercy which are actions commanded by Jesus Himself to His followers. Most of the Corporal Works come right from Jesus’ mouth in the Gospel of Matthew: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, and I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. […] As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:34-36, 40)

Clearly, just having a belief in Jesus isn’t enough, there are also demands by Our Lord for physical action. Of course, the physical actions are where we can look foolish, as someone could misinterpret our intentions. We might have to stand out in the crowd when we would much rather just blend in. We might even fail in our work, and fall flat on our face. Regardless, we are still called to be, in the words of St. Paul, “fools for Christ’s sake.” (1 Cor 4:10)

Of course, there’s one good reason why we would want to be fools for Christ: those who are foolish in the eyes of the world are open to the great joy, peace, and love from God our Heavenly Father. St. Paul reminds us that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men,” (1 Cor 1:25) and as the song I picked for this morning says, “That’s why I don’t care if I look like a fool.”

This morning’s song: Look Like a Fool, by Matt Maher