{"id":22283,"date":"2023-04-07T09:55:26","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22283"},"modified":"2023-04-07T09:59:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:59:37","slug":"the-devine-paradox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22283","title":{"rendered":"The Devine Paradox"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chris Tomlin - Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies) with Lyrics\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SsCPWNwOJiQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Presbyterian pastor Rachel Srubas writes of the paradox at the heart of Good Friday and the three-day \u201ctriduum\u201d of Holy Week:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus anticipated his arrest, passion, and entombment, calling this triduum \u201c<strong>three days and three nights \u2026 in the heart of the earth,\u201d and likening it to the prophet Jonah\u2019s journey \u201cin the belly of the sea monster\u201d <\/strong>(Matthew 12:40). Thomas Merton, the brilliant contemplative writer of the twentieth century \u2026 also wrote of Jonah (or as Merton and others have called him, Jonas). In <em>The Sign of Jonas<\/em>, &#8230; Merton said, \u201cIt was when Jonas was traveling as fast as he could away from Nineveh, toward Tharsis, that he was thrown overboard and swallowed by a whale who took him where God wanted him to go\u2026. <strong>Even our mistakes are eloquent, more than we know.\u201d [1]&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A sense of sacred irony, of eloquent mistakes, has for centuries enabled Christians to call the Friday of Jesus\u2019 tortuous execution \u201cgood.\u201d This is not a matter of putting a happy spin on a grisly, unjust tragedy. Good Friday, and <strong>all Christian life, is about embracing paradox. Jesus\u2019 teachings and his death reveal sacred contradictions. The truth that you and I may try to avoid, the pain we\u2019re loath to face, point the way toward our freedom from captivating lies that perpetuate our suffering. When you and I embrace Jesus\u2019 essential paradox\u2014that to lose is to gain and to die is to live\u2014we come to God,<\/strong> who gathers up the broken pieces of the world and makes them more complete and beautiful than they were before they broke. <strong>God integrates all fractious dualities into the wholeness of life that Christians call eternal salvation. It\u2019s a life we get to live here and now, by grace and faith. It\u2019s the life toward which Lent has always pointed.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Like Father Richard, Srubas considers the cross a \u201ccollision of opposites\u201d that leads us deeper into reality and the presence of God:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following his jubilant entry into Jerusalem (which Christians celebrate on Palm Sunday), Jesus told his disciples, \u201cThe hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit\u201d (John 12:23b\u201324). <strong>Pay attention to that pivotal <em>unless<\/em> and understand: without the fatal fall, no glorious resurrected life can be lived.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>From this divine paradox, it follows that there can be no compassion without passion, no responsive loving-kindness unless there first comes suffering. Until God ultimately mends all of creation\u2019s broken pieces, there will come suffering.\u2026&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou will know the truth,\u201d Jesus said to those who trusted him, \u201cand the truth will make you free\u201d (John 8:32). <strong>By his clear-eyed honesty, Jesus revealed holy, ironic wholeness. Denying pain would intensify it but facing hard facts of life and death would lead people deep into reality, the only place where God eternal can be found.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My Savior-God, I long for the absence of problems in my life, but I realize this is an unrealistic goal. Shortly before Your crucifixion, You told Your followers candidly: \u201cIn this world you will have trouble.\u201d I\u2019m thankful I can look forward to an eternity of problem-free living, reserved for me in heaven. I rejoice in this glorious inheritance, which no one can take away from me. <strong>Teach me to wait patiently for this promised perfection rather than seeking my heaven here on earth. Lord, help me to begin each day anticipating problems\u2014asking You to equip me for whatever difficulties lie ahead. <\/strong>The best equipping is Your living Presence, Your hand that never lets go of mine. <strong>Discussing my problems with You frees me to take a more lighthearted view of trouble\u2014<\/strong>seeing it as a challenge that You and I together can handle. <strong>Please remind me again and again that You are on my side and You have overcome the world! In Your conquering Name, Jesus, Amen <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JOHN 16:33; <strong>I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In<\/strong>&nbsp;this world you will have<strong>&nbsp;trouble.<\/strong>&nbsp;But take heart! I have overcome the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PSALM 73:23 NKJV; <strong>Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand<\/strong>. 24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PHILIPPIANS 4:13 NKJV; &nbsp;I can do all things through [ a]Christ who strengthens me.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ROMANS 8:31;What then shall we say in response to these things?<strong>&nbsp;If God is for us, who can be against us?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Listens (p. 102). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Presbyterian pastor Rachel Srubas writes of the paradox at the heart of Good Friday and the three-day \u201ctriduum\u201d of Holy Week:&nbsp;&nbsp; Jesus anticipated his arrest, passion, and entombment, calling this triduum \u201cthree days and three nights \u2026 in the heart of the earth,\u201d and likening it to the prophet Jonah\u2019s journey \u201cin the belly of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22283"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22283"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22286,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22283\/revisions\/22286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}