Paradox as the Interpretive Key to Christmas

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign of contradiction, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed…” (Lk 2:34). 

Not only is the Child a sign of contradiction but he embodies and is the epitome of paradox. Let’s first define ‘paradox’.

A paradox is a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated turns out to be well founded or true.

I think the application of the concept of Paradox to the person of Jesus is the Interpretive Key to unlocking the whole mystery of Christmas. 

Don’t forget that the happy child sleeping peacefully in the manger is also a fierce warrior in disguise.

“Enemy-occupied territory---that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).

In Jesus, we find a marvelous collision of a series of seemingly contradictory ideas. Where the Diabalos rips apart and divides, Jesus reaches out and brings together. He draws in the furthest pieces of reality and seamlessly integrates them in his person. 

• He is the God-man who brings together divinity and humanity. 

• He is the Word made flesh bringing together both spirit and matter. 

• He is the Divine Logos yet human and like us in all things but sin bringing together the finite and the infinite. 

• He is the Alpha (beginning) and the Omega (end) bringing together time and eternity. 

• He is the Lion and the Lamb bringing together power and compassion. 

• He is the Just Judge bringing together justice and mercy.

• He is both the King of kings and the Suffering Servant. 

• He is the Prince of Peace who fashioned a whip to drive out the money changers.

• He is the Truth who was crucified as a liar or blasphemer. 

• He brings life through losing life. 

• His lifeless body was put in a tomb and then he gloriously walked out of it. 

• He turned the cross, an instrument of humiliation and torture, into an altar lifting up the perfect sacrifice.

• He turned the cross from a sign of intimidation into the victorious sign of salvation.

• Jesus is a single grain who died and was buried in order to produce a great harvest.

• He is both the Sacrifice and the Priest who offers it. 

• In the Eucharist, He is both flesh and blood yet hidden under the appearances of bread and wine.

• He is the Humble One who is exalted. 

G.K. Chesterton famously described paradox as "truth standing on its head to get attention". This Christmas when you are meditation on the little baby in the manger remember that he is not what he seems..."Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” -Jesus (Mt 5:17).

Jesus delighted in the shock value of paradox. Perhaps this is why Chesterton also said, “There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.” 

Christmas separates two kinds of people: those with a material focus and those with a spiritual focus. In seeking happiness through material gains or pleasure or prestige or power we lose our soul and end up enslaved in misery.

Lastly, the most important Christmas paradox: 'For it is in giving that we receive'.