This week, the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and written by Jonathan Landry Cruse. Use coupon code DDS25 at prpbooks.com for 50% off Paradox People.
G. K. Chesterton once imagined what an alien—“a mathematical creature from the moon”—might deduce if it were to analyze the human body. It would immediately conclude that man is essentially a mirror of himself. He has two eyes, two arms, two legs, and so on. Even in dissection, the alien would discover twin lobes of the brain. But just when it was ready to set down as law that man has everything in duplicate, it would find a heart on the left, but none on the right. “Just where he most felt right, he would be wrong.” Chesterton’s point is that truth is often “illogical”—that reality demands complexity if we are to interpret it properly.
This is even more so when it comes to understanding the truths of the Christian faith and what it means to live them out. At the heart of Christian doctrine is the greatest contradiction of all: Through weakness and death, Christ secured complete victory over his enemies and paved the way for eternal life for his people. That upside-down doctrine informs our practice, which is likewise counterintuitive. The way to attain ultimate blessing is by accepting weakness and suffering in this life. As Paul would say, when we are weak, then we are strong (2 Cor. 12:10). Dare you believe it? Or, like me, are you prone—whether by fear or frustration—to pursue another path to happiness and wholeness?
If that’s the case, you need to return to a study of the genius of the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are a most helpful corrective when we think about what the good life actually is and what it means to live for Christ in the world today. They present the blessed life as the life of paradox: where meekness and victory can exist side-by-side, as can tears and comfort, hunger and satisfaction, persecution and joy. As Jesus presents this character study of those who dwell in his kingdom, he does not try to reconcile opposites or dilute differences but holds them both with equal force. He is not embarrassed to speak of poverty of spirit, nor hesitant to promise the kingdom of heaven. He asserts them both and thus reminds us of something we are prone to forget: God’s best blessings come in reversals.
At the heart of Christian doctrine is the greatest contradiction of all: Through weakness and death, Christ secured complete victory over his enemies and paved the way for eternal life for his people.
Yes, Christianity is marked by seeming weakness at every turn: We are sufferers and mourners, prone to persecution and contempt by the world around us. And if one were analyzing Christianity based solely on what is visible to the naked eye, one might conclude that the Christian is the most pitiable of all people. But, as with Chesterton’s “creature from the moon,” just when the observer is most certain they are right, they are wrong. Probe beneath the surface, and there—surprise of all surprises—you will not find misery but blessing, not despair but joy.
The paradoxes of Christianity are not contradictions to be explained away but mysteries to be embraced. For in Christ—as the Beatitudes remind us—what seems like loss becomes gain, what looks like weakness becomes strength, and what appears as death opens into life everlasting.
