Worth a Shot

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

-- 1 Corinthians 1:27

There’s recently been a lot in the news about measles, a highly-contagious — and sometimes fatal —disease that can be prevented by vaccination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that so far this year, there have been more than 900 confirmed individual cases in the U.S. across 26 states. 

Roll back the clock about 200 years, and one of the most feared threats to public health was smallpox — another powerful and sometimes fatal disease blamed by some historians as causing the downfall of the Aztec and Incan empires. But that changed in 1796 with Dr. Edward Jenner’s highly improbable experiment that eventually led to the scourge’s demise.

The breakthrough came after Dr. Jenner observed that milkmaids who caught cowpox (a similar but non-fatal disease) never caught deadly smallpox. The English physician then did the

unthinkable: he took matter from the hand of a milkmaid infected with cowpox and injected it into healthy 8-year-old James Phipps. Not surprisingly, the boy eventually contracted cowpox from this vaccination. But then came the second part of the experiment — one that logically should have killed the youngster. Forty-eight days after administering the first inoculation, Dr. Jenner injected James with smallpox, the same lethal disease that had wiped out millions over the previous centuries. But rather than suffering the predictable fate, the boy remained healthy. 

Dr. Jenner’s remarkable triumph over death, disease and disfigurement occurred despite the conventional wisdom of the time. His story also reminds us of other improbable victories — the remarkable ones God shows us by accomplishing his will though the most unlikely people, places and circumstances. For example, the Gospels reveal that Jesus’ first followers were anything but the cream of society. Some were lowly fishermen, one was a hated tax collector and another might today be described as a terrorist.

Jesus also chose Paul to spread God’s plan of salvation through both personal evangelism and the writing of much of the New Testament. And why was Paul an unlikely choice? Before Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus, Paul (then known as Saul) was a feared religious leader who specialized in hunting down and killing Christians!

Then there’s the most up-side-down choice of them all. Knowing that his people were doomed because of their sinfulness, God willingly chose to come to Earth in the form of a man (Jesus), live a perfect, sin-free life, and then die on a cross to pay the penalty we all deserve. Out of hate, fear and ignorance, the Creator was killed by his creation.

But the story ends with good news. Just days after his unjust crucifixion, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament’s ancient prophecies when God raised him from the dead — proof that he was indeed the Savior of mankind. And as improbable as it might seem, Jesus invites us today to accept this same power that raised him from the dead and use it to help establish God’s kingdom on Earth — one unlikely person at a time.