Paul, in this letter to the church in Corinth, understands the believers’ confusion about Jesus’ death and what it means for his followers. To some, the proclamation of a crucified messiah is at best a mistake and at worst blasphemy. For others, a god simply could not be killed by mere mortals. It would be offensive to think otherwise.

“Nothing about this makes sense,” my friend said as he ordered the peanut butter-bacon burger at a local diner. “Peanut butter belongs with bananas or jelly, not ketchup,” he continued before inexplicably ordering it anyway. The burger arrived steaming hot, an opaque brown glaze coating the burger patty. My friend took a bite, and his eyes transmitted a single message: It was good.

The ingredients were all present for Jesus to fit a particular understanding of messiah or god. He was a great teacher and leader. He performed miracles. He inspired the masses. The only thing standing in the way was the thick, sticky coating of a cross that made no sense in the rest of the recipe.

That is the difficulty of believing the gospel. Everything about it sounds good if we think only of the parts we like; however, there is so much more than what we like. Paul knew his audiences would be tempted either to take only what they wanted or to throw everything out; and yet, the most crucial part of the gospel is the part we do not readily understand.

Sometimes none of this makes sense, and that is okay. Just trust that the truth is in there.