Today’s first reading from St. Paul is part of a cohesive thought that he has been building upon since the beginning of this 1st Letter to the Corinthians (which began with Friday’s readings and continues for about three weeks.) It all began after Paul left the Corinth community for new evangelizing opportunities. He received a letter from a believer named Chloe who reports problems in the community: there is quarreling in the community all carried on in the name of “wisdom” and some associated boasting about who possessed wisdom and the exact nature of the wisdom.

We are picking up the conversation-in-progress, but the fundamental question is “are you choosing the Wisdom of men or the Wisdom of the Cross” (1:18–2:5)? St. Paul makes it clear that the Cross is not something to which one may add human wisdom and thereby make it superior; rather, the cross stands in absolute, uncompromising contradiction to human wisdom. Key points he makes along the way to our reading

• God’s folly: a crucified Messiah (1:18–25) – here he argues, with OT support, that what God had always intended and had foretold in the prophets, he has now accomplished through the crucifixion: He has brought an end to human self-sufficiency.
• God’s folly: the Corinthian believers (1:26–31) – To further his argument that the gospel he preached stands in direct contradiction to human expectations about God, Paul turns from the content of the gospel to the existence of the Corinthians themselves as believers. Not from the world’s “beautiful people,” but from the lower classes, the “nobodies,” God chose those who for the most part would make up his new people. Thus they themselves evidence the foolishness of God that confounds the wise.

…which brings us to today’s readings

• God’s folly: Paul’s preaching (2:1–5) –  It is not just the folly of a crucified Savior, or choosing the Corinthian “nobodies,” but God chose to use Paul, an evangelist who lack the sophisticated debating skills with which people are enamored. Thus, not only the means (the cross) and the people (the church in Corinth), but also the preacher (Paul) declare that God is in the process of overturning the world’s systems

It all reminds me of elementary school and the teacher has appointed you one of the “captains” of that day’s recess dodgeball game. You get to choose your first teammate. The wisdom of dodgeball says to select the quickest able to dodge the best thrown ball and who also possesses the arm of a major league fastball pitcher.  St. Paul is saying God chose the kid with the thick glasses always needing to be pushed back on their nose, who does not possess any natural athletic skills, and is likely to wonder why someone is throwing a ball at him rather than dodging.  Such a choice is folly.

Image credit: Saint Paul Writing His Epistles |attributed to Valentin de Boulogne | Houston Museum of Fine Arts| PD-US

Source: Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987) part of The New International Commentary on the New Testament series.