I don't want Jesus to call me a fool

There is a soft and soppy Jesus floating around who never has a difficult word for anyone. That is not the real Jesus. He is Someone who can use strong words: one is fool. Twice he uses it for anyone; twice he uses it for the religious people; and twice he uses it for his own followers.

There are three Greek words Jesus used for a fool in the Gospels. One is moros, which means dull, sluggish, sometimes morally worthless; another is aphron, which literally means without reason, an inability to perceive the reality of things; and finally anoetos which means an unworthy lack of understanding.

 Anyone

 In Matthew 7: 26. Jesus likens anyone who does not obey his teaching to someone who builds their house on sand. So, rightly, he calls them fools (moros). Such a house cannot stand the storms of life.

Then there is the warning for anyone about the man who built larger barns thinking he could chillax. ‘But God said to him ‘You fool, this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ Here the word for fool is aphron. The man was unable to understand obvious reality: that he could die at any time, and so the sensible thing to do was to make sure he was rich towards God, not for himself. (Luke 12: 13- 21).

 The Religious

Jesus has two connected reasons for calling some religious people fools. The connection is both to do with not being able to see perceptively. One was for thinking that in dealing with God it was only the outward appearance that mattered. He called the Pharisees fools for cleansing the outside of the cup and ignoring the filth inside their hearts. (Luke 11:40) The word here is aphrones, the adjective for aphron. To think that God only sees our outward appearance and does not see what is going on inside our hearts is ‘without reason’, it is not understanding reality, it is foolish.

The other was for not focussing on the root of where divine authority lies. The Pharisees taught that authority rested with the gold of the temple, not with the temple itself. For this Jesus calls them fools (Matthew 23:16). The word moros is used. Jesus is rebuking them for lazy thinking, for not being willing to go to the source of authority. Without the temple, the sanctuary, the altar the gold is nothing. It’s just bling. It is God’s presence in the temple (now the gathering of believers, especially around the table of Holy Communion) that brings authority, not anything we bring into the temple.

Committed Christians

Finally Jesus calls his own followers fools – twice. The bridesmaids were waiting for the groom. They are followers, signed up believers. But they did not make sure their lamps were full of oil and when the groom eventually arrived they had to go and buy oil. So they were late for the celebration. The door was shut. They knocked, but this message came back from the groom, ‘I don’t know you.’ They are the foolish bridesmaids, the word here again is connected to moros (Matthew 25:2) They were sluggish, they did not think things through.

Jesus also calls the two disciples on the road to Emmaus fools. They have explained to Jesus what had happened in Jerusalem, ending with the report of the empty tomb from the women. There was probably a pause. And then Jesus starts to speak, and the first thing he does is to call them fools: ‘Oh, how foolish you are…’. (Luke 24: 25) The word here is anoetos, not as bad as moros or aphon, but still a strong word to use for two of his own faithful followers.

Why the word fool for Cleopas and his friend? The answer follows immediately: ‘How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared’. Jesus calls his followers foolish if they do not believe the Scriptures.

 I don’t want Jesus to call me a fool

 It is surely wise to give the anaemic, sugary Jesus a wide berth and deal with reality. We are going to meet Someone who is ready to call us a fool – whatever prayers we have prayed, however many religious meetings we have been to, however many people see us as being a ‘committed’ Christian.

Rather than just assume all is well, there is no harm running through these six verses where Jesus uses the word fool to make sure the same word does not fall on us.

 So -

Making sure that we are acting on what He teaches in the Sermon on the Mount (fleeing anger, lust, infidelity, loose talking, revenge and judging others; loving all, even our enemies; giving; praying; and trusting that God is a good Father)

Making sure we are mainly investing in the Kingdom of God (giving to the poor, the work of the church) so when our soul is required from us we have no regrets about wasting money on the fleeting pleasures of life.

Making sure we never dare enter God’s presence with a cheesy hallelujah smile on our faces when our heats are seething with sin we have not repented of.

Making sure we never think it is the outward smoothness of a religious organisation or church that brings any authority, but we keep a single-minded focus on the cross and resurrection of Christ, the only place where there is divine authority.

Making sure that we are filled with the Holy Spirit 24/7, always ready to meet Christ, whether it be when we go to sleep in this body, or when He returns and this present age is ended.

And finally, making sure that we do not just read the Scriptures, but we believe the Scriptures. That we are not ‘slow of heart to believe’. Yes, there is much we do not understand, but let us have no doubt about what was central in the story of the two followers from Emmaus and what is central in the Christian Scriptures: the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is foolishness for the world, but, according to the Bible, this is the wisdom of God.