Dementia and Dignity - Pt 3

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:22-25 ESV).

The paradoxes of Scripture are always a little baffling. The Bible makes the clear assertion that, in God’s way of dealing with the world, he has elevated weakness to a place of extraordinary importance. Paul says it clearly in our reading today. One contemporary paraphrase declares, “The weakness of God is stronger than the power of man” (v. 25). The apostle means when Christ died in weakness and dishonor, he accomplished the greatest thing in the world. His death was the means to the ultimate victory. Later in this letter Paul refers to his own weakness as the best pathway for honoring the all-sufficiency of Christ in his life (cf. 1 Corinthians 12). Then he brings this weakness in connection with the dying process, and relates it to the resurrection, and says, “It [the human body] is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power (1 Corinthians 15:43). In other words, Paul is telling us that the weak, inglorious, demented shadow of a once-strong Christian in front of us is on the brink of glory and power. You need to go to nursing homes and think that way. These people are on the brink of glory and power. We must keep this continuity in mind between diminished powers of human beings here, and the spectacular powers they will have in the resurrection. This is so important. If we lose a sense of that continuity, we will assume that we are becoming less human rather than being on the brink of being gloriously superhuman. If the question is raised (because I did mention the word Christian), what about the unbeliever in the nursing home? The answer is, we never give up praying that they too might participate in that glorious destiny. This is what they could be. We’re not God; we do not determine anyone’s destiny. We treat people, we speak to people on earth in the hope of redemption and glory. I find it very satisfying and transformative to be very intentional when dealing with those who have dementia, or any disease of our frail human body, and remember that this life is only a small part of the ultimate goal of our God. We will never be like we are today. Even as these bodies die day by day, they are dying so that they can be comepletely changed for eternity to never die again!