The preaching of the cross is a "stumbling block"
to the Jews and "foolishness" to the Greeks, but to those being called it is both the "wisdom and
power of God" (I Corinthians 1:22-25)
The Jews were looking for miraculous signs of power to
which the Lord pointed them to the sign of the power of His resurrection (Matthew 12:38-40 cf. Romans 1:3-4)
The Greeks were always looking to hear "some new
thing" (Acts 17:21) to which Paul pointed them to the fact that the "times of this
ignorance" were past and that God has given the world the assurance of its judgment by the resurrection of
His Son (Acts 17:30-31)
God does NOT call the wise or the mighty (I Corinthians 1:26)
as can be seen in the call of John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-2), but there are exceptions such as the Apostle Paul who He literally
had to "knock off his horse" (Acts 21:39; Acts 22:3-10)
God chooses the weak and base things of this world to
confound and bring to nothing the high and mighty, so "that no flesh should glory in His presence" (I Corinthians 1:27-29)
This will be especially brought to pass when the Pseudo
Christ is replaced by the True Christ (Ezekiel 21:25-27)