Saved?

1 Corinthians 1:18-24

I have to admit it's been a while since I've been asked if I've been saved. You know what I mean: you're sitting on a park bench or doing some window shopping at the mall and some person randomly approaches you to ask, "Are you saved?" Maybe it's a good thing I haven't recently been approached in this way because my reaction may seem un-Christlike.

Usually, when one is asked that question it's followed by a long, sometimes demeaning conversation about how much of a sinner we are and how only Christ can save us from our sins. According to those who evangelize in this way the argument is that because we are sinners God will destroy us, either in this world or the next. The only way to ensure we aren't destroyed is to be saved.

In reading our passage today we can see how the idea of being saved comes partly from the writings of Paul. However, it is my belief that Paul is a misunderstood apostle.

The Greek word interpreted as "save" is sozo which is defined as keeping safe from danger. This makes sense as we see how Paul contrasts the word "save" with the word "perish". Paul is helping us understand that our understanding of the message of the cross can be the difference between a life filled with peace, joy, and love...or not.

In today's reading Paul confuses us (as Paul does in such a wonderful way) to the point where we can only ask, "What is he talking about?" But, I think that's the point. Paul wants us to know that Greeks, Jews, and Christians alike don't understand. He goes on to say that even those who proclaim to understand or have been trained to understand don't get it.

What is it they don't understand?

The message of the cross. Not the message of what happened after the cross. Not the message of what happens on the way to the cross. The message of the event at the cross is what Paul is trying to help us understand.

So, you ask, what is the message of the cross. I will never be the one to say I have the answer, so you have to listen to what I say. I will be the one to say to you this is what I believe, maybe it'll help you find what you believe.

While hanging on the cross Jesus never stopped loving and never stopped trying to bring people together in that love. Until his dying breath he taught that we need to take care of one another and he never stopped trying to bring people together. Jesus, hanging on the cross with a broken body, never had a broken spirit. He showed us what it meant to love your enemy as much as he showed us how to love God as we love one another and our self.

Until the moment Jesus passed from this earth he was, and still is, the embodiment of a love which tried to unify us all under one God. That, I believe, is what the message of the cross is.

Therefore, I believe the question evangelists ask shouldn't be "Are you saved?", rather it should be "Do you know the message of the cross?"