A Paradox

Some of you may have some familiarity with the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan—H. M. S. Pinafore, the Mikado… Both Gilbert and Sullivan brought a great deal to the partnership. Sir Arthur Sullivan wrote the music, and the rich depth of his talent can also be found in a number of hymns still found in our hymnal (including "Onward Christian soldiers" and the Easter favorite, "Welcome happy morning.") But Sir William S. Gilbert’s words are memorable as well. This morning’s readings reminded me of some wonderful words of Gilbert’s from The Pirates of Penzance.

The story line is complex. All you really need to know is that a great deal in the plot depends upon the young hero Frederick turning 21. The song I’m thinking of is about a paradox. "A paradox, a paradox, a most ingenious paradox. We’ve quips and quibbles heard in flocks, but none to beat this paradox!" Frederick, it turns out, was born on February 29. So, as the pirate king informs him, "by simple arithmetical process, you’ll easily discover, That though you’ve lived twenty-one years, yet, if we go by birthdays, you’re only five and a little bit over!"

And the music rolls on and on. "Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho! How quaint the ways of Paradox. At common sense she gaily mocks! Though counting in the usual way, (Frederick says) Years twenty one I’ve been alive, yet, reck’ning by my natal day… reck’ning by my natal day, I am a little boy of five!" A paradox, a paradox, a most ingenious paradox.

A paradox. At common sense she gaily mocks. A paradox is a statement that appears to be self-contradictory and therefore impossible, unbelievable. Frederick is both 21 and 5 ¼. Frederick’s dilemma may seem to have a common sense solution, but literally speaking it is an impossible paradox. Frederick is a literal sort of guy, and he ultimately decides that he is 5 ¼. A paradox. At common sense she gaily mocks.

As Elijah cowered in his cave on the mountaintop, common sense would have predicted that God’s mighty presence would have been found in the mighty wind—an almighty wind that could break the mountain rocks. Surely that is the place to find the almighty God. Common sense would have expected God’s earthshaking voice to speak from the earthquake. Common sense would have expected God’s searing prophecy to speak from flames of fire.

But then came the sound of shear silence. Or another translation says the sound of gentle stillness. A sound of shear silence. By definition, silence doesn’t have a sound. A paradox. Furthermore, Elijah heard the silence. An impossible paradox. Elijah heard God in the silence. Well, that’s just poetic language, common sense tells us. I know what it means, we say to ourselves, even if literally the words are impossible. But these are the words of Holy Scripture. Elijah heard God in the sound of shear silence. It is a paradox.

The life of faith is full of paradoxes.

The Book of Common Prayer includes a section in the back called Historical Documents. They wouldn’t be there if they weren’t important. They are in fine print. We certainly don’t use them as part of our regular worship. But the church obviously thought it impossible to omit them. They are part of the crucial foundation upon which our faith stands. Listen to part of the document entitled "Definition of the Union of the Divine and Human Nature in the Person of Christ." It comes from the Council of Chalcedon, 451 A.D.

"Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man… of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood." In simple terms, Jesus was 100% divine and 100% human. Impossible. A paradox. Remember Gilbert’s wonderful phrase? A paradox gaily mocks at common sense. We may think we can reason away Elijah’s paradox using common sense, but it’s a bit harder when we’re talking about Jesus Christ. The nature of Christ is a paradox. It mocks at common sense. It is contradictory and impossible. Jesus was and is fully God and fully human. A most ingenious paradox.

Here’s another from the historical documents. This is from the Athanasian Creed. This third creed of the church was obviously not important enough to make it into the worship part of the Prayer Book, but it was much too important to be left out of the Prayer Book altogether. It begins, "Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the [universal] faith… Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly." So listen up. "And the [universal] faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible." The Trinity. Now that’s a paradox that mocks at common sense. It sounds a bit like poor Frederick’s paradox—Frederick who was simultaneously 5¼ and 21 years old. The Trinity is both three and one. Fully, simultaneously, one and three. Impossible. A paradox. And according to the creed, a paradox that we must accept as true if we are to be saved.

Even if we move away from the dense doctrines of the church, we will still find paradoxes woven throughout the fabric of our faith. Let’s turn to the pure and simple words of Jesus, some of his most famous words, in fact.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

To the poor belongs the kingdom of heaven. And earth belongs to the meek. Now that’s a paradox that mocks at common sense. These words are so familiar to us; it’s easy to gloss over their bold contradictions. But Jesus is telling us flat out that what we expect, what our common sense teaches us, doesn’t hold in God’s view of reality.

The Beatitudes were the appointed gospel reading on Thursday night as we remembered the life and ministry of the great English priest and poet George Herbert. Herbert began his life as a royal courtier; he came from a noble family. But he gave up royal service for service to Christ and wrote that in Christ’s service he had found perfect freedom. Another one of those paradoxes. A most ingenious paradox; at common sense she gaily mocks. To serve Christ brings perfect freedom.

So ultimately we have a choice. We can hang onto our common sense and use it as best we are able to rationalize or explain away the paradoxes of faith. Or we can gaily toss out common sense. There really is no middle ground. It’s God or common sense. I know that I would like to have both. Common sense is a lot safer, more orderly, reasonable. I can use common sense to shape my faith to my own proportions, my own expectations, my own preferences. Or I can toss out common sense and embrace the impossible paradoxes of God.

I’m reminded of another musical selection, an American musical, with a song that begins, "To dream the impossible dream." Don Quixote sings this song in Man of La Mancha. "To dream the impossible dream… To fight the unbeatable foe… To bear with unbearable sorrow… To run where the brave dare not go… To try when your arms are too weary… To reach the unreachable star." The world calls such people quixotic and gently dismisses them as extravagantly romantic and impractical.

But what about those people who don’t just dream impossible dreams, but who believe in the impossible, the impossible promises of God? What about people who don’t just dream about God, but believe that God can be heard in silence? What about people who believe that service leads to freedom? What about people who believe poverty and humility are actually the measure of richness and strength? What about people who believe that a dry little wafer is both bread and body? What about people who believe in eternal life? Eternal. Life. Life isn’t eternal. Eternal life is the ultimate contradiction in terms, the ultimate paradox, running against every shred of experience and common sense. So what about those of us who gaily mock at common sense and joyfully proclaim God’s promise of eternal life? The world may call us quixotic, jousters at windmills, those of us who prefer paradox to common sense. But actually we are called Christians. Just ordinary Christians. Ordinary. Christians. Now there’s a paradox…

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