…There is beautiful and bittersweet scene at the end of HBO’s John Adams miniseries in which Adams exemplifies this theme of “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Adams’ life, although filled with great accomplishments for the nation, was filled with heartbreak and tragedy. Adams disowns his son, who dies an alcoholic; later his daughter dies of cancer. Towards the end of his own life, Adams wanders the cornfields with his son Thomas, who has remained faithful to him in the midst of his losses. He says this:“Still, still I am not weary of life. Strangely. I have hope. You take away hope and what remains? What pleasures? I have seen a queen of France with eighteen million livres of diamonds on her person, but I declare that all the charms of her face and figure, added to all the glitter of her jewels, did not impress me as much as that little shrub. [pointing with his walking stick to a small white flower in the field] Now my mother always said that I never delighted enough in the mundane, but now I find that if I look at even the smallest thing, my imagination begins to roam the Milky Way. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice Evermore! It’s a phrase from St. Paul, you fool! REJOICE EVERMORE! I wish that had always been in my heart and on my tongue. I am filled with an irresistible impulse to fall on my knees right here in admiration.”
Friday, July 31, 2009
John Adams: “Rejoice Evermore!”
Monday, July 27, 2009
The Paradox of “Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing”
4. Joy Can Be Found in Sorrow
A similar paradox, or perhaps, the same paradox described with different language, is this: sorrow gives birth to joy.
Pastor and theologian John Piper has noted that “Joy in God is never unmixed with sorrow. Never. Love won’t allow that” (Spectacular Sins, p. 29). One of the strange qualities of living in a fallen world is that our deepest joys are marked by tears – great sadness and great happiness are expressed in the same way. Tolkien captured this well in The Lord of the Rings:
“Their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness” – J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Joy in this world is tainted with sorrow, yet in the same way, sorrow is weakened by the joy that can be found in the midst of it. As we saw in the last post, it is sorrow that has a tendency to give birth to joy even as new life tends to rise from the dead and desolate ground:
“You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” – John 16:20-21, see also Jeremiah 31:13, Isaiah 35:1
How strange it is that the authors of Scripture should speak so plainly of both joy happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain being present at the same time – what a paradox! Yet this is the nature of life in a fallen world (see “The Paradox of a Fallen World”) – a dying world, filled with grief, yet still God’s world, and therefore a world in which hope and joy will never be fully lost – indeed, a world in which hope must triumph in the end. For more thoughts on finding joy in sorrow, joy that is a foretaste of a greater joy to come, see this meditation by John Piper.
“Rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings…If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed” – 1 Peter 4:13-14, see also Colossians 1:24, James 1:2, Matthew 5:12
“In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.” – 2 Corinthians 7:4
“…as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing…” – 2 Corinthians 6:10
Friday, July 24, 2009
Saint Paul and C. S. Lewis: Death to Self and Life in Christ
…Christ calls us to follow him, to lose all we have in this world, even ourselves, or who we thought we were, in exchange for the priceless treasure of being a beloved child of God, embraced in his arms, written in his book. But we must lose all – all worldly possessions, all success, accomplishment, ability, all relationships, even ownership of ourselves and direction of our own lives. C. S. Lewis puts it this way:
“Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it…Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.’…[We] must be ploughed up and re-sown.” – Mere Christianity, pp. 167-168
We must indeed be plowed up and resown; in Jesus’ words, we can bear no fruit unless we fall into the ground and die like a seed. We are to follow him, and to follow him is to walk his path, a path of suffering and persecution, a path to death.* It does not end there, though. Mysteriously, it is death that gives birth to life in its fullest. From the ashes the phoenix rises; from the ground where the seed fell the fruit-bearing tree grows; made perfect by suffering, we know and see his glory more fully (see “The Victory of God”). Satan’s greatest weapon, death, is turned into a blessing – we die spiritually to ourselves, and are therefore, paradoxically, given a new life in Christ (see “Death and Resurrection, Part IV”):
“One who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” – Romans 6:7-8
*Paul sets a worthy example for us in his costly commitment to Christ. He describes it simply but powerfully: “I die every day!” (1 Corinthians 15:31). And yet we know from his letters that he had found life to the fullest in Christ.
“…always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” – 2 Corinthians 4:10-12
“If we have died with him, we will also live with him.” – 2 Timothy 2:11
“I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” – Galatians 2:20
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Paradox of “Whoever Loses His Life Will Find It”
3. One Must Die in Order to Live
Another paradox in Jesus’ way of life is one of loss before gain, suffering before glory, death before life. It is not just a sequential relationship, but a causal relationship: one must lose everything in order to gain the greatest treasure, suffer in order to find the greatest joy, die in order to live fully. Jesus taught this message to his disciples and lived it out on the cross.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” – Matthew 16:24-25 (cf. also Mark 8:34-35, Luke 9:23-24, Matthew 10:39)
As we have already seen, this paradox was embodied in Jesus himself: he lost his life, and in so doing he gained it, and ours. He died, and in so doing defeated death.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” – John 12:24-25*
“Any of you that does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” – Luke 14:33 (cf. also 14:27, 17:33; cf. Philippians 3:7-8)
“Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” – John 11:25
“…as dying, and behold, we live…” – 2 Corinthians 6:9
*Jesus uses similar language in describing how faith as small as that of a mustard seed can move mountains (Matthew 17:20), and in describing the kingdom of God, which is like a mustard seed. From the smallest of seeds grows the largest of plants (Matthew 13:31); similarly, the kingdom of God comes in power and glory, but it grows from the smallest and lowliest of beginnings – a peasant girl named Mary and a stable in the town of Bethlehem.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Socrates on “Foolish Wisdom” in Plato’s Apology
…Interestingly, one encounters similar language (wisdom, foolishness, knowledge) and ideas in the recording of Socrates’ trial in Plato’s Apology. Socrates is recorded as saying:“I found that the men most in repute were all but the most foolish; and that others less esteemed were really wiser and better.”
In Socrates’/Plato’s view, true wisdom is found in acknowledging with humility that our human knowledge and wisdom is severely limited. One wonders whether Paul, who was a highly educated Jewish scholar, was acquainted with this writing since he uses such similar language in writing to the Corinthians, especially 1 Corinthians 1. Socrates is also recorded as saying “I say that to die is gain” (cf. Philippians 1:21, “to live is Christ and to die is gain”).
“God only is wise…he intends to show that the wisdom of men is worth little or
nothing.”
“I am better off than he [who] knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.”
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Paradox of “When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong”
…Paul expands on this theme of wisdom and foolishness in his letters to the Corinthians:
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” – 1 Corinthians 3:18-19He first applies the language of wisdom and foolishness to the Gospel, “the word of the cross” (1 Corinthians 1:18). In the world’s eyes, especially to first-century Jews and to citizens of the Roman empire, it was foolish – seemingly contradictory – to think that a Savior or Messiah would be “crucified in weakness” (Paul calls it “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles”; see “The ‘Foolish’ Wisdom of the Cross,” “A Strange Way to Triumph”).
“Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?...For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.” – 1 Corinthians 1:20, 25, 27-28
“For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.” – 2 Corinthians 13:4
“When I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:10
The paradoxical wisdom of the cross flows into the lives of God’s people, who are given understanding only when they learn to be weak and humble “little children” (see previous post). Furthermore, God consistently uses people who are weak, lowly, poor, or unworthy in the world’s eye (see “The Paradox of ‘The Last Shall Be First’”) in order to accomplish his purposes (characters such as David, the unlikely shepherd boy, youngest of eight brothers – see 1 Samuel 16). Why? Paul’s answer is clear: “so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:29) – so that we would see clearly that it is not man’s strength or knowledge, but “a secret and hidden wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 2:7) that triumphs, the paradoxical wisdom that chooses “things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.” Read More...
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Paradox of “Foolish Wisdom”
2. God’s Wisdom Is Foolishness to Man
This paradox is very similar to the one just described. It is, I think, largely the same idea, described in somewhat different language, particularly language of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, foolishness, ignorance, etc.
“Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.’” – Matthew 11:25-26, see also Luke 10:21, Psalm 8:2, Matthew 21:16Those who think themselves “wise” are prideful, thinking that they can understand the things of God on their own. It is not these to whom God delights to reveal his ways, but to the humble – those who acknowledge their childlike weakness and dependence on God.* It is to these “children” or “infants” that God will give knowledge and wisdom. (John Piper expands on this theme in chapter 10 of The Pleasures of God – a book well worth reading.) This concealment from the “wise and understanding” was the purpose of Jesus’ speaking in parables, as he describes in Matthew 13:10-17 (see also Luke 8:9-10). Jesus knew that Israel was, as a nation, largely stubborn and hard-hearted, unready to hear the secrets of the kingdom explained fully; he thus spoke in parables, and only those who were humble, lowly, “little children,” like his disciples, were told the fuller meaning.
*The same idea is present in the Old Testament. See, for example, Jeremiah 9:23-24: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me”; Jeremiah 8:9, “The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have?”; Isaiah 5:21, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!”; Psalm 131:1, “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” See also Job 5:12-13, 37:24; Proverbs 21:30. Read More...
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The Paradox of “The Last Shall Be First”
1. “The Last Shall Be First”
The prideful and haughty will be humbled and brought low by God’s judgment. On the other hand, those who are humble and lowly, God will honor and exalt. Those who are meek, God will reward, and those who are poor in spirit, God will fill. This theme is very common in the Old Testament (for example, see 1 Samuel 2:7-8; 2 Samuel 22:28; Job 5:11, 22:29; Psalm 18:27, 37:11, 138:6; Proverbs 16:19, 18:12, 29:23; Isaiah 57:15; Ezekiel 21:26; Daniel 4:37) and is also present in the New (for example, James 2:5,1 4:6,10; 1 Peter 5:5-6),2 especially in the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels:
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” – Matthew 23:12, cf. Luke 14:11, 18:14
The one who is last will be first, the smallest will be the greatest, he who serves others will be honored, and little children will receive the kingdom of heaven! Perhaps most beautiful, though, are the Beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:
“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” – Matthew 20:26-28, cf. Mark 10:44-45
“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 18:3-4
“Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” – Luke 9:48
“Let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.” – Luke 22:26
“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” – Mark 10:15, cf. Luke 18:17
“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 19:14
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
As we saw briefly (see “The Paradox of Jesus”), it was this truth that Jesus lived out in his ministry. He devoted his time largely to the weak, needy, or oppressed in his society. He intentionally embraced and cared for children, women, and sick, crippled, or disabled people in a way that others did not, and he did not shy away from eating with those who were looked down upon by society, whether because of their work (“sinners” like Zacchaeus the tax collector; cf. Matthew 9:12-13) or ethnicity (non-Jews, such as the Samaritan woman at the well).3 He took the man who was lowly in heart and poor in spirit by the hand and lifted him up, and he rebuked the proud Pharisee. And at the cross, “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). In Jesus Christ we find the visible image of the God described by Mary as recorded in the “Magnificat,” the Song of Mary:
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.”
– Matthew 5:3-6, cf. Luke 6:20-26
“He has shown strength with his arm;
1 James alludes to Jesus’ Beatitudes when he writes “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” (2:5).
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.”
– Luke 1:51-53
2 In Psalm 45:4, “the king” is said to “ride out…for the cause of truth and meekness.” Humility is a virtue, a treasure to be sought after (cf. Proverbs 11:2).
3 The acceptance of the poor, the oppressed, or the outcast is a theme not only in the Gospels, but in the Bible generally, both OT and NT.
The Paradoxes of Jesus’ Way of Life
…Thus far I have been describing paradoxes in God’s nature and in what he has done in the world through Christ. I will now turn to paradoxes in “Christian living,” that is, paradoxes in the way of life taught by Scripture, especially in letters in the New Testament, and even more importantly, by Jesus himself. All of the following paradoxes are deeply connected; they can be thought of as different aspects or formulations of the same essential theme or truth. Furthermore, the beauty of the way of life they describe is defined ultimately by Jesus Christ, the God-man, and is seen most brightly in his death and resurrection…
Read More...Friday, July 3, 2009
The Paradox of Jesus
…Let’s take a closer look at the character of Jesus as described in the Gospels. Not only is his very nature paradoxical, as we have seen, but his words and actions richly reflect that paradox to the world. Jesus demonstrates an authority that shocked his listeners – they had never seen anything like it (Matthew 7:28-29). During Passion week he roared into the temple in rage, tossing tables left and right, infuriated that his Father’s house should be so abused. He taught as if his word was the final and decisive truth. Jesus also dropped not-so-subtle hints to his divine identity. He would say things like, “before Abraham was, I AM,” (John 8:58), calling to mind the Old Testament name of God (Exodus 3:14). He claimed to be one with the Father (John 10:30), to which the Jews replied in astonishment, “you, being a man, make yourself God.” In response to the high priest’s question “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” he replied “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62). And he forgave sins, which God alone can do (for example, see Luke 5:20-21). What kind of person says such things?!
And yet he was at the same time an incredibly gentle, loving, and humble person. He ate with “sinners,” the outcasts of society (Matthew 9:10-11) and took the little children into his arms (Mark 10:13-16).* He lived among the poor and lowly – he “came not to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). And perhaps his act of greatest humility (other than the cross) was taking on himself the identity of the lowest of servants and washing his disciples’ feet (John 13:1-16). At the cross, though, we see the full extent of Jesus’ humility – the humility of the God of the universe, reigning in utter shame and humiliation from a tree.
So authoritative, so bold and even shocking in what he said and did, and yet so kind, gentle, and humble. He is the Lion of Judah, the Messiah, the Son of David, the King of the Jews and Lord and Savior of the world, and yet also the suffering servant, familiar with sorrows (Isaiah 53:3-7), the Lamb who was led away to be slain (Revelation 5:5-6). This is what happens when the God of the universe becomes a 1st-century Jew, and yet does not cease to be God. This is the kind of character God demonstrates to us when we see him most clearly for who he is, and in Jesus’ character we see the beauty of God. John Piper, describing this “combining of attributes that would seem utterly incompatible in one Person” (The Pleasures of God 30), observes that “the worth and beauty of the Son come not just from his majesty, nor just from his meekness, but from the way these mingle in perfect proportion" (The Pleasures of God 29).
Jesus in his character revealed his paradoxical identity as the God-man and exemplified the paradoxes he taught to his disciples, which we will now examine…
*God is the “keeper of all the stars, friend of the poorest heart,” in the words of Fernando Ortega. The God of all reality, the Maker of the universe, is here with us – he loves us and cares for us and wants to be our friend, and he has come into our world in the person of Jesus (see “What God Has Done”). C. S. Lewis writes in Perelandra that God’s greatness is not in sheer majesty or magnitude, but in his paradoxical presence in the smallest and lowliest of things: “He dwells within the seed of the smallest flower and is not cramped: Deep Heaven is inside Him who is inside the seed and does not distend Him. Blessed be He!”