It Doesn’t Make Sense – And It Doesn’t Have To!

Who said that the Gospel made sense? Noah certainly didn’t, enduring constant mockery for building an ark in the desert. Neither did David, who took on the prize fighter of the Philistines with 5 small stones; nor Gideon’s 300 soldiers who defeated 130,000 enemy soldiers with the chaotic distraction of torches and drums; nor even the Israelite ‘army’ that marched around Jericho’s walls, singing in faith for their destruction. An unarmed, tongue-tied, eighty year-old Moses went to Pharaoh to demand the release of the Israelites, greatly doubting he would ever succeed. Paul sang hymns of praise to God after his body was severely beaten by those opposed to his God. Stephan prayed to God for the forgiveness of his enemies as they were busy stoning him to death. No, the gospel does not make sense. That is why I love Madeleine L’Engel’s conclusion about her faith in Christ: “We try to be too reasonable about what we believe. What I believe is not reasonable at all. In fact, it’s hilariously impossible. Possible things aren’t worth much. These crazy impossible things keep us going.”