CHRIST Did Not Send Me To Baptize

"For CHRIST did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim HIS gospel.  And not with beautiful words!  That would be like getting rid of the cross of CHRIST.  The language of the cross remains nonsense for those who are lost.  Yet for us who are saved, it is the power of GOD, as Scripture says: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and make fail the foresight of the foresighted.  Masters of human wisdom, educated people, philosophers, you have no reply!  And the wisdom of this world?  GOD let it fail.

At first, GOD spoke the language of wisdom, and the world did not know GOD through wisdom.  Then GOD thought of saving the believers, through the foolishness that we preach.

The Jews ask for miracles and the Greeks for a higher knowledge, while we proclaim a crucified Messiah.  For the Jews, what a great scandal!  And for the Greeks, what nonsense!  But HE is CHRIST, the power of GOD, and the wisdom of GOD, for those called by GOD among both Jews and Greeks.

In reality, the "foolishness" of GOD is wiser than humans, and the "weakness" of GOD is stronger than humans." - 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 

The Folly Of The Cross

(CHRIST did not send me to baptize.  When the Church is fully absorbed in its own problems, Paul reminds them of their mission: Is our first concern to preach the Gospel, or to dispute for the posts of guides and ministers of the community?

Even if these Christians in Corinth are not great "intellectuals," as good Greeks that they are, they enjoy fine discourses and want to be seen as cultured persons.  Empire people are in search of esoteric doctrines and some people in the Church see in faith the means of acceding to a higher knowledge.  So Paul will tell them that all Christian wisdom is contained in the cross.

That would be like getting rid of the cross of CHRIST.  The cross should be present in the message we preach and in the way we preach it.

Moreover in evangelization it will always cost us to work with poor resources in a world subject to media.  We need to count on the grace of GOD because we are weak and without titles of prestige.  It will cost us to remind our communities of the poverty of JESUS and to be criticized by those who are well off in the world.)

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