Jesus Did It Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments for Christians - Kent M. Keith
Almost 30 years ago, at the age of 19, Kent Keith wrote the Paradoxical Commandments. He had no idea how great an impact these commands would make. They "have been used by business executives, government officials, nonprofit leaders, military cmmanders, religious leaders, university presidents, teachers, social workers, athletic coaches, and students" (152-153). The most compelling use was by Mother Teresa who posted the Paradoxical Commandments on the wall of her children's home in Calcutta. In this book, he illustrates each Paradoxical Commandment with Jesus and other characters from the Bible. Jesus used paradoxes to teach about the kingdom of God: for example, "the first will be last," "the humble shall be exalted," "the greatest shall be the servant," "he who loses his life shall find it." In order to live the right way in an upside-down world, one must embrace paradoxes. The Paradoxical Commandments provide accessible and inspiring direction in regard to living Jesus' paradoxes. "Each commandment begins with a statement of adversity. Each statement of adversity is really about difficulties or failures in the secular, commercial world - the world of 'success.' Each statement of adversity is followed by a positive commandment, which is really about our spiritual lives - loving and helping others, and doing what is right and good and true" (17). Jesus is the epitomy of one who faced adversity and continued to do what was right - at all costs, no matter what difficulties and suffering it brought him. Keith illustrates this with Good Friday: "But the story of Good Friday is not only about how the world treated Jesus; the story is also about how Jesus responded to the way he was treated. And his response was astonishing. It was breathtaking. In the face of cruelty and pain and hate, Jesus loved people anyway. He forgave people anyway. And he saved people anyway" (25). Loving people when they are difficult to love is the most important challenge we will ever face. There are many reasons not to do what is right and love them - but we must love them anyway. This tenacious commitment to love in spite of the consequences is at the heart of the Paradoxical Commandments!