Sermon on Mark 9:30-37, for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost. "Kingdom of Paradoxes"
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today’s sermon from the Gospel reading will look at a few paradoxes in the kingdom of God. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. First we need to define what a paradox is: it’s when a truth or an event is contrary to what we would believe or expect. A famous paradoxical statement is “at the beginning of Dickens Tale of Two Cities: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.’” Truth is remarkably often found in paradox. A paradox is not the same as a contradiction. It’s when things appear to contradict, but in fact do not. The Christian faith has many paradoxes: Jesus being true God and true man at the same time. That God is Three Persons, yet only One God. That we’re at the same time saints a...