Rev. Dr. Sarah R. Cordray

Rev. Dr. Sarah R. Cordray

Luther Memorial Church

June 25, 2017

1 Corinthians 1.23-31, Mark 15.33-39

Theology of the Cross

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.

Till my trophies at last I lay down. We are a people of trophies … a world of trophies … trophies of accomplishments, awards, and successes. We are a world of trophies that affirm the hard work our teams have done or the intense individual effort displayed. My family and I have trophies and medals just like most of you do … trophy for the Pinewood Derby, a medal for the swimming team, Nick’s three medals of running 19.2 miles in two days, and my first ever trophy of getting 2nd place in a 5k run for my age group. (Too bad there were only two of us in our age group.)These trophies, which are not bad in and of themselves, are earned through our blood, sweat, tears, and hours of hard practice and work. Yet these are the very trophies we are called to lay down.

We are called to lay them down—letting them go, so that our hands are opened to cling to the old rugged cross. Rather than clenching to our trophieswith our own effort, power, strength, and wisdom, we must lay them down in order to live as a disciple of the cross … as a church of the cross.

We are called to live as Martin Luther says in the theology of the cross … not the theology of glory. The theology of glory is what Luther countered against 500 years ago at the beginning of the reformation, when people could get a “trophy” of sorts when they bought indulgences to spring their loved ones or themselves out of purgatory. The theology of glory says you have the power and wisdom yourself to climb to happiness and success. You must gain your trophies in this life, as you need trophies of work, glory, power, and wisdom. This theology of glory is also the wisdom of the world, which says, “You’ve got your own life to lead. Your business is your business. Don’t get involved in others’ troubles. God helps those who help themselves. Safety and security for self first.” If you gain these trophies and if you take care of yourselves, then you will have peace and worth in this world.

Yet have you ever noticed what happens if you live this way … by a theology of glory? You become like a dog relentlessly chasing its own tail in order to gain more wealth, power, prestige, and trophies. A theology of glory leads you to a life trying to acquire more and more of whatever without finding peace or joy.

A wealthy businessman was horrified to see a fisherman sitting beside his boat, playing with a small child. “Why aren’t you out fishing?” asked the businessman. “Because I caught enough fish for one day,” replied the fisherman. “Why don’t you catch some more? You could earn extra money. Then with the extra money, you could buy a bigger boat, go into deeper waters, and catch more fish. Then you would make enough money to buy nylon nets. With the nets, you could catch even more fish and make more money. With that money you could own two boats, maybe three boats. Eventually you could have a whole fleet of boats and be rich like me.” “Then what would I do?” asked the fisherman. “Then” said the businessman, “you could really enjoy life.” The fisherman looked at the businessman quizzically and asked, “What do you think I am doing now?”[1]The fisherman discovered the joy and peace of life not in the trophies one can gain for oneself … the fisherman discovered the joy and peace of life in what so often is hidden in this world because we are always looking for the bigger and better … all that comes by living in a theology of glory.

The Corinthians are caught up in the bigger and better and all the glory that comes as well. After Paul shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, they Corinthiansare growing as others come to follow the way of Jesus Christ. In their times of growing, they begin to have growing pains, while having disputes that lead to divisions over who has the correct wisdom and knowledge … who has the appropriate power. Disputes lead to divisions … divisions lead to parties—some line up with Paul, others with Apollos, and some with Peter. Suddenly now Paul finds the Corinthians as a church focused on the theology of glory with only worldly wisdom to argue their case.

Which to their case, Paul recenters the cross, which got shoved to the side in the midst of their arguments of worldly wisdom. Paul calls them to lay their trophies down—trophies of power and wisdom. To them, this had to have felt like absolute foolishness because their world around them teaches them that they must have these trophies in order to come out on top … they must align with parties that have power so that they will win. But as Paul puts the cross right back in the center of their church—into the center of their lives, he tells them, “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than strength.” Paul calls them to live not a theology of glory wrapped up in trophies of this world, but in a theology of the cross wrapped up in the weakness and foolishness of God.

The theology of the cross, this basic core conviction of the Lutheran church we study today, is a countercultural way of life—an approach to knowing God not in the ways our world tells us to try. We are NOT called to live in a theology of glory—acquiring trophies of worth and peace where we think we are earning God’s favor; we ARE called to daily die to our own selves. We are called to lay our trophies down and cling to the old rugged cross—the very source of our lives. We cling to the cross in the promises given to us in our baptism that the old person that focuses on glory with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned. Join me in reading from the Small Catechism on page 1165 under roman numeral IV after the question, “What then is the significance of such a baptism with water?

It signifies that the old person in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and die through daily sorrow for sin and through repentance, and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

When you cling to the old rugged cross, that new person comes forth and rises up to live before God—not by what you’ve done, but by what God has done in Christ for you. When you cling to that old rugged cross, that new person is able to know God through the cross and Christ’s suffering and death. When that new person comes forth in you as you cling to the cross, all your notions of God and how God can be known are turned upside down. Knowledge of God is found not in human wisdom or logic, not in human powers or achievements, but through the foolishness of the cross. For when you come to know God through the cross, you see God. You see God with you and others in the small … in the children… in the weak … in the low and despised. You see God as you look to the cross where your savior hangs as join the centurion who says, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

In the old rugged Cross, stain'd with blood so divine
A wondrous beauty I see
For the dear Lamb of God, left his Glory above
To pardon and sanctify me

Through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, you see the beauty of God because you know that through death comes resurrection … through blood comes peace … through the rejected comes the one who accepts all … through a child comes the kingdom of God … through the small comes the greatness of God in this world.

Today, Luther Memorial, is our challenge as we meet together for our semi-annual meeting! Luther reminds us in no better time than this to keep the cross in our center … to lay our trophies down … and use not our worldly wisdom, but our knowledge in God – our knowledge that comes in the theology of the cross.

And all of God’s people say, “Amen!”

1

[1]