Paradox, n. 1.[a seeming contradiction] – Syn. mystery, enigma, ambiguity. 2. [an actual contradiction] – Syn.  absurdity, inconsistency, ambiguity.  A paradox is a statement or group of statements that leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition.

There is a classical philosophical paradox known as the omnipotence paradox which asks “Can an omnipotent being create a rock too heavy for itself to lift?  Among other things, this paradox addresses the paradoxical limits of power – the stronger we are, the weaker we often seem. 

The earthquake in Haiti, as natural disasters tend to do, has highlighted the paradoxical nature of power, both human and divine.  An earthquake striking the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere renders the world almost powerless to respond.  We watch as the powerful struggle to help the powerless, wondering how in all our collective strength we can seem so weak.  We lament the abundant resources at our disposal and the limited resources at the disposal of those who need them the most.  Questions of God’s power and presence are inevitable.  A recent Newsweek article referenced the “Job like” characteristics of this situation.  There certainly are parallels.  Eternal questions about the power of God and the reality of human suffering have and will continue to defy human logic and intuition.  We do our best to lift the rock, but at times it seems too heavy for even the most powerful, God included, to lift.   We live constantly in the paradox of power.

I must confess a certain distaste for those who capitalize on natural disasters to promote their own religious or anti-religious agendas.  The Pat Robertson’s of the world cause my stomach to turn.  The Richard Dawkin’s of the world remind me of the hubris that denies the leaps of faith required in all rational endeavors.  Those who regularly co-opt God for their own personal gain and those ride the coat tails of natural disaster to sell more books proclaiming God’s punishment or God’s impotence frankly, disgust me. 

While I struggle myself to reconcile the power of love and the presence of hate, the gift of life and the reality of death, the abundance of resources and the scarcity of their availability for those who need them most, I repeatedly find myself  in the midst of the paradoxes of human existence.  

I believe in God, therefore I must struggle with the presence of suffering in the world and attempt to reconcile the seeming contridictions that arise. My Christian faith helps me in this endeavor.  As a Christian, I live the paradox of incarnation.  Divine presence revealed in human form(s).  God in the midst of the flesh and blood realities of human existence.  I  believe that the Christian faith offers a powerful counter narrative that embraces the paradox of incarnation captured in the words from the Gospel of John, “And the word became flesh and dwelled among us. ”  

I belive God is present in the midst of the suffering of the world, that God is the first to shed a tear when tragedy strikes or when disaster comes.  As I have watched the unfolding events in Haiti, seen the faces of the children, I have taken solace in the words of Russian philosopher, Nicolai Berdyaev,

“God is in the child which has shed tears, and not in the world order by which those tears are said to be justified.” 

In his highly theological and thoughtful Nobel acceptance speech, President Barack Obama acknowledged the paradoxical challenges we face in our world today.  He concluded: “We can acknowledge the oppression will always be with us and still strive for justice.  We can admit the intractability of deprivation and still strive for dignity.  We can understand that there will always be war and still strive for peace.”  We can live faithfully in the midst of paradox.

We live with many paradoxes in our lives.  But I have come to believe that incarnation offers a powerful counter narrative of hope in a world where suffering, cynicism and doubt so often prevail.  As a follower of Jesus, the word made flesh, the incarnation of God’s power and presence in the world, I believe that I am called to a life of paradoxical living, to be the flesh that becomes the Word, the person who strives to be a witness to the presence and the power of God in the world.  

The rocks may seem heavy, yet I still must strive to lift them. 

May it be so for us all.