In 1874 Alexander Mackay wrote from Berlin to his sister: ‘Do not think me mad.’ He was contemplating becoming an engineering missionary. Innovators have often been treated as purveyors of madcap ideas. In the 18th century Jonas Hanway carried an umbrella and was reviled and derided by those who (thought they) knew better. Probably the engineers who thought of getting a helicopter up and running on the surface of Mars were regarded as cranks, followers of the cartoonist Heath Robinson.
There is, of course, another side to this. When the Duke of Newcastle complained that General Wolfe was a madman, King George II replied: ‘Mad, is he? Then I hope he will bite some of my other generals.’ We need the unconventional, the eccentric, the pioneers who take us back to first principle and upset convention. Amongst them we have to place Paul, who was indeed walking in the footsteps of his master.
If we go back to the New Testament documents we find Festus saying to Paul: ‘You’re mad.’ (Acts 26.24). Anybody who was anybody in the hierarchy of the Roman empire would have said the same. (Acts 26.24). It stood to reason. The way to get things done was to ensure people were organised. Coercion was the key. Dissent was pointless. It was also dangerous. Such thinking was pervasive. In Mark 3.21 we find Jesus’ family taking steps to control him. ‘He is out of his mind,’ they said.
Quite different is Paul’s extensive application to this issue in the opening chapter of 1 Corinthians. Like Erasmus many centuries later, Paul wrote in praise of folly. What he was arguing was not the merits of absurdity or trivialising. He was insisting on the need for true wisdom This, he said, could be found in those who responded in faith to the Gospel. As he looked at the rowdy behaviour of the believers in Corinth, he said that by choosing such people God had demolished the claims of mere human wisdom. In Christ was true wisdom. Indeed, he personified Christ crucified ss wisdom itself.
When we read about Jesus in the Gospels, we see a demonstration of unusual insight and understanding. We also see a reversal of commonly held values. No wonder the early believers were thought to be mad. King George, flippant as he may have been, was on to something. In each of our short lives we have the opportunity to come to terms with this approach to wisdom and to become proficient in its exercise in practical terms.
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A very deep discussion.
Thank you