Who is God? A Quote by Carl Carretto

“That God is beautiful is no secret. It is written on every flower, on the sea and on the mountains. That God is immense is no secret. All you have to do is look at the universe . . . what is the secret? Here it is: God is a crucified God. God is the God who allows himself to be defeated, God is the God who has revealed himself in the poor. God is the God who has washed my feet, God is Jesus of Nazareth. We are not accustomed to a God like this.” Carlo Carretto

The wisdom and power of this quote is breathtaking. It isn’t the wisdom or power of man, though. It is the wisdom and power of God as demonstrated in the foolishness of the cross.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews ask for signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to abolish things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18-29