A divine mystery is a truth that is so profound it cannot be discovered through unaided human reason. It must be divinely revealed. And once the truth is revealed, the mystery is not removed, but rather, it remains. For the mystery, once revealed, remains a mystery.

The deeper we explore divine mysteries, the greater they become. We cannot exhaust divine mysteries because they are, by definition, beyond human comprehension. We speak of divine mysteries through the language of paradox. A paradox consists of two truths that, when laid side by side, appear to contradict. However, upon further reflection, they prove to be compatible, and open up a whole new dimension of truth. The truths do not contradict one another, but rather, compete with one another, creating a tension that allows us to embrace the "whole truth".

The Christian faith consists of a whole host of sacred mysteries - mysteries that are best spoken of through the language of paradox. For example, we hold to the mystery of the Trinity (God is one and three), the mystery of the incarnation (Jesus is fully divine and fully human), the mystery of grace (we are saved by grace and yet called to work out our salvation through works of faith, hope, and love), the mystery of humanity (we are both material and immaterial beings), and the mystery of holiness (we are both saint and sinner - indeed, only saints know they are sinners).

Because the Christian faith is saturated in divine mystery, the challenge of the Christian life is not to intellectually know the mysteries (which is impossible), but rather, to indwell - to live or abide in - the mysteries. We indwell divine mysteries through the practice of "living paradoxes".

Living Paradoxes - Not Walking Contradictions

Early in my marriage, my wife said something to me that I'll never forget. She said to me, "Rich, you are a walking contradiction."

She meant it as a compliment, but it could easily be heard in a negative light. However, I understood exactly what she meant. She was commenting on how such extreme and unusual opposites meet in my life. For example:

• I love deep theology and profound philosophy, but I also love cartoons and superheroes.
• I enjoy profound dramas that shed light on the human condition, but I also delight in monster movies (which also, in my opinion, shed light on the human condition, especially in regard to our fears).
• I love complex and moving classical music and the haunting refrains of religious chant, but I also love rock music.
• I am deeply moved by ancient religious rituals, but at the same time, I'm completely informal in my personality, shunning formality at every opportunity.

As you can see, I am in many ways a "walking contradiction." My wife's evaluation was completely correct. There are qualities that meet in me that you wouldn't ever expect to exist in the same person. But the combination of these contrasting qualities makes me uniquely who I am. (And my guess is that you share the same spectrum of interesting combinations of profundities and trivialities.)

Living paradoxes is much different than a walking contradiction, although they both share similar features. One can be a "walking contradiction" without a desire to indwell divine mysteries. Many people's lives are filled with inherent "contradictions" - extremes that don't appear compatible - and yet, not all people choose to practice the paradoxes of the Christian life. Indeed, choosing to practice the paradoxes of the faith brings inherent conflicts and challenges - it introduces more questions and problems than answers and solutions. Brennan Manning speaks of this experience in his own life:

When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games.[1]

Brennan Manning experiences these paradoxes because of his desire to inhabit God's mysteries. The tensions in his life arise from his desire to know Christ in the mystery of salvation. Perhaps the greatest mystery of all is that which Jesus preached - the gospel, the mystery of the kingdom.

The Countercultural Kingdom

Jesus' message was consistent throughout his earthly ministry: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven (the revolution of God) is at hand (that is, it is invading our present world)." This is the good news Jesus preached. He called his followers to respond to this good news in the following way: "If anyone will come after me, let that one deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."

We are kingdom people. We live in a fallen world that has experienced the dawn of God's coming kingdom. The light has broken through the darkness and - because of Jesus' resurrection - the day is at hand.

But it is always darkest before the dawn. We follow the light in a dark world. We live in a world still caught in the grip of sin, decay, and death. The world is upside-down, and the invading kingdom of God is putting things right-side-up.

Unfortunately, the world does not view it this way. To an upside-down world, it is the kingdom of God that appears upside-down - abnormal, foolish, and downright silly to the secular mind.

Jesus gives us a glimpse of God's upside-down-yet-right-side-up kingdom in his beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:3-12)

Notice the many paradoxes of the kingdom contained in Jesus' beatitudes. In the beatitudes, Jesus speaks of "wealthy paupers, happy mourners, unaggressive conquerors, lusting saints, self-enriching benefactors, realistic visionaries, militant pacifists, and winning losers."[2]

Clearly, the beatitudes do not describe how the present world works.

But this is the way God's kingdom is!

The kingdom of God is countercultural in every way. It challenges our present perceptions and calls us to a new vision of God's world.

Paradox: Counter-Intuitive Truth

Just as the mystery of God's kingdom is countercultural, the practice of living the paradoxes of God's kingdom is counter-intuitive. The truth appears upside-down in an upside-down world, for it is rooted in redemptive realities that transcend this present world and its systems.

Following are a few of the paradoxes of the New Testament:

• The humble will be exalted. "Those who humble themselves will be exalted and those who exalt themselves will be humbled." (Luke 14:11). Those who are full of themselves have no room for God. It is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom. The recognition that "God is God and I am not" is the foundational starting place to kingdom living.
• We lose our life to find it. "Those who find their life will lose it and those who lose themselves for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). Egocentrism prevents us from giving ourselves to others. We must die to self in order to live for God - and others.
• Slavery leads to freedom. Paul teaches that that those who "have been freed from sin become slaves of righteousness." (Romans 6:18; 1 Corinthians 7:22)
• The foolish are wise. "If any one among you think that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise." (1 Corinthians 3:18; cf. 4:10)
• The poor are rich. "Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom." (James 2:5)
• The weak are strong. After a long struggle with God over a painful trial, Paul concludes that "when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10)
• We die to live. We are "always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:10)
• We give to receive. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)
• The first are last and the last are first. "The last shall be first, and the first last" (Matthew 20:16). "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all." (Mark 9:35) [3]

Clearly, biblical paradoxes are counter-intuitive. Left to ourselves, we certainly would not assume that life comes through death, strength comes from weakness, or greatness comes through humble service. The paradoxes are counter-intuitive because they are inherently countercultural. They stand in complete opposition to the wisdom of the world. In other words, this is not how the world works (apart from God's redemption).

In a world without mystery...

• it is not the humble who are exalted, but rather, in a dog-eat-dog world, it is those who push their way to the top (often, at the expense of others) who succeed.
• we do not lose our life to find it, but rather, we look out for number one. It is those who put themselves first who rise to the top.
• there is no desire to be slaves to righteousness, but rather a passionate desire to follow Sinatra's hymn - "I did it my way!" God's will is viewed as oppressive rather than liberating.
• it is not the foolish who are wise, but the most intelligent hold the most power.
• it is the rich - not the poor - who are rich.
• it is the strong - not the weak - who are strong.
• the call is not to die to self, but rather to indulge the self.
• if we give, we give a little.
• the axiom, "He who dies with the most toys wins" reigns supreme.

Living paradoxes is counter-intuitive and countercultural because it is the kind of life that is rooted in divine mystery. In view of the mystery of the kingdom, we hold to a different standard of success, a different understanding of power, and a different view of meaning, life, and happiness. We don't live "better than" the world, but we do live "different than" the world, for we hold a different vision of reality - a vision fueled and formed by the mystery of salvation and the call of God's kingdom.

It is only in light of the mystery of the kingdom that living paradoxes makes sense. Divorced from the mysteries of faith, paradox makes absolutely no sense. Rules, morality, and practical principles make sense - that is, they can exist without mystery. But the kingdom of God is not primarily about ethics or morals, but about a new vision of the world in Christ and by the Spirit. This new vision motivates us to indwell the mystery of God's kingdom by living Christ's paradoxes.

God's Own Fool

Jesus is the incarnate paradox of God who fully embodies the divine mystery. And what was the world's evaluation of Jesus? Most thought he was crazy!

Jesus was considered a fool by his culture. The religious leaders, political leaders - even Jesus' followers and family - considered Jesus to be a fool.

Jesus' own family believed that he had gone mad. In one episode in The Gospel according to Mark, Jesus' family seeks to bring Jesus to his senses through a planned "intervention," having concluded, "He is out of his mind" (Mark 3:20-21). The religious leaders labeled him as demon-possessed and insane, a drunkard, glutton, and rebel - a threat to the status quo (see Mark 3:22; John 10:20; Matthew 11:19).

Jesus was constantly misunderstood, ultimately betrayed, and suffered a humiliating and shameful death. Viewed solely from a human perspective, Jesus' life appears to be a comedy of errors, a miserable failure, the pathetic loss of a well-intentioned yet relatively harmless man.

Yet no one ever lived in such harmony with God's mysteries. No one has ever demonstrated more power and wisdom. No one has ever come across as more human.

Jesus is "God's fool" - but God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:25).

We follow the pattern of "God's own fool." It is a badge of honor to follow in the way of Christ - to be a fool for and with Christ. For when we are fools, we are truly wise. (Just as, when we think we are wise, we are really fools!)

We must embrace the fact that if we seriously seek to follow Jesus and live according to God's kingdom, it will be impossible to not look silly to the watching world. We will most surely be laughed at and attacked. Our frantic attempts to discover a universally respectable way of life - a life that will not contradict and upset the present world's structures - will most certainly fail. A completely rational, logical Christianity that the world will accept without question is a denial of the mystery of God's kingdom!

To walk by faith involves an inherent risk. It is not the easy way. It is not the broad path. And yet, it is the best path. By living the paradoxes we may come across as "walking contradictions," but in reality, we are simply "living paradoxes" - indwelling the mystery of God's kingdom. This practice of paradox will force us to live the tensions inherent in holding to the "whole truth" - the competing truths that shed the fullest light on divine mystery. Parker Palmer captures this tension well:

The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure;
the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair;
the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring:
these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings.
If we refuse to hold them
in hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain,
we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love. [4]

Faith is not a tool for our ambitions, comfort, or security. It brings more problems than solutions: "Christianity is so regularly presented as the solution to our problems that it does not usually occur to us that it is also and more often the problem for our solutions. That is, the Gospel raises questions about the ways we have things put together, the ways that we have explained ourselves and others and the world to ourselves." [5]

We tend to like our reality divided into neat and distinct parts, seeing it as either one or the other: either black or white, good or bad, answer or question, problem or solution... Precisely because we are not either-or, not one-or-the-other, paradox and ambiguity reside at the heart of the human condition and therefore at the heart of all spirituality. For we are both: both saint and sinner, both "good" and "bad," both less and more than "merely" human. In some strange (and not-so-strange) ways, our failures are our successes, our suffering is our joy, and our imperfections prove to be the very source of our longing for perfection. [6]

We should feel no need to make the Christian faith acceptable to the reigning philosophies of the day, but rather, should make every effort to live the paradoxes and indwell the mystery. Perhaps as we do this, people will come to see that we know the God of all mystery whose love toward us transcends knowledge, whose greatness is beyond belief, whose goodness is beyond comprehension. Our chief concern is not to be viewed as wise according to the world's standards. If we follow Christ, we will most likely be considered foolish, crazy - even silly.

As the song below suggests, we must hold tight to the power of paradox, regardless of how the world perceives us.

It seems I've imagined Him all of my life
The wisest of all of mankind
But if God's holy wisdom is foolish to man
He must have seemed out of His mind

For even His family said He was mad
And the priests said a demon's to blame
But God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong

And so we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable
Come be a fool as well

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a mad man who died for a dream
And you'll have the faith His first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam

So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say "I believe"
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see [7]

May we know God's presence by embracing mystery through living paradoxes with childlike faith!

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© Richard J. Vincent, 2008