but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles
1 Corinthians 1:23
You couldn't make it up. That God would send a Saviour to a rebellious people doesn't make natural sense. He should come to destroy us, but he came to save us. He did so by humbling himself to death, even death on a cross.
For religious people, they like to think they have a high view of God. The idea that He would humble himself to be crucified for our sins is anathema to them. But by stumbling over the cross of Christ, they are falling away from the only way they can be reconciled, sinners, to a holy God.
For irreligious people, the idea that God exists or is knowable is foolish. They believe they're fine as they are and don't need a crucified man to reconcile them to an angry God. But by exchanging the unfathomable glory of God for their own flawed understanding, they are the real fools.
The cross turns everything upside down. Moral people become hypocrites. Intellectuals become fools. The cross exposes us for who we are. I pray that if you're religious or irreligious, that you'd become a grateful God glorifier for his grace to you in Christ.
"Lord God, I will glory in the cross, which doesn't just reveal sin in all its ugliness, but also that the price for our sin has been paid. Don't let me stumble or dismiss my salvation as foolish, but always to cling to my crucified Christ. In His name, amen"
