PAIR OF DUCKS & FOX

I came across an Indonesian fable of the Pair of Ducks and a Fox: One day, a pair of ducks walked along the road to go to the lake for a swim. In the middle of the road, they met Mr. fox. He sat under the tree. “Hello, sisters, where are you going?” asked the fox. “

“We are going to the lake to swim. Would you like to join us?” asked the ducks. “No, but thanks,” said the fox. “By the way, do the two of you come down here every day?” “Yes,” said the ducks, “we come down here every morning.”  “Delicious—I mean—nice to meet you both,” said the fox. 

The next day, the first duck said, “Are we really going to swim today? I’ll bet that fox is waiting for us with a wicked plan.” “I know,” said the second duck, “but I have a plan for him too.” 

So they went and the fox was there again. “Hello sisters, going swimming again?” asked the fox. “Yes, we are, so maybe you wouldn’t mind escorting us to the lake to protect us from bad animals.” said the second duck. “But of course, it’s my pleasure,” said the fox, who inwardly thought to himself, “Just as I hoped—a free lunch!”

The three of them walked down to the lake. When they were near, the second duck said, “When I say run, let’s all run as fast as we can—RUN!” They ran like crazy down into the lake, and the running made the fox go into hunting mode. The pair of ducks ran out 20 feet into the water, and the fox, crazed with excitement, jumped out to get them, but forgot that he could not swim. The fox drowned in the lake. He failed to get his free lunch. 

Moral : Do not intend evil to others, because evil is self-inflicted.

Sadly,  this story has no connection with today’s teaching—but I was desperate to find something that went with my punny title, “A Pair of Ducks.”  But I did find one useful thing to make of it. 

When the ducks walk on the road, they move in one dimension.  Think about it: when you drive in your car, especially on a country road, you move in one dimension—on a line—you can go forward or back; that’s it. Your only measurement is a mile marker.

Once the ducks get to the lake and swim on the surface, they move in two dimensions. There are no roads, so you can veer left or right at any moment. There are no lanes to stay in, so you move much more freely than in just 1 dimension. Navigation requires both latitude and longitude to navigate your way.

But when the ducks fly, they move in three dimensions. You’re familiar with the term navigation, which originally applied to ships and how to get a ship from place to place, but you might not know the term avigation, which is navigation in the air. Flight is three-dimensional, so altitude combines with longitude and latitude for position and direction. Flight, unlike a walk down the sidewalk—is complex and complicated. It is three-dimensional instead of one or two dimensional. 

Last week we talked being meant for flight. Like Kierkegaard’s geese, we aren’t meant to be trapped in the barnyard, but to follow our calling into the air. Our goal is to fly—to move from one-dimensional thinking to three-dimensional thinking. We seek to get off the ground and fly high above the barnyard for more complete perspective of the whole.

We considered that the noble life involves living with some unresolved tensions—that we live tolerating some paradoxes—and that doing so helps us get off the ground with two, healthily-poised wings. 

For the next few weeks we’ll be looking at biblical paradoxes, which are gifts from God to us, for they train us in three-dimensional thinking. We read Scripture growing from a one-dimensional road map, to two-dimensional navigation, and onward to three-dimensional avigation.

PARADOX TRUTH

The Oxford Dictionary defines paradox as: A seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which, when investigated, may prove to be well founded or true. 

What appears as a contradiction is in fact an unresolved tension—a right and left wing—by which we see truth from a new perspective. Paradoxes may express truth and reflect the true world much better than simple, propositional, truth statements. A propositional truth statement is simple, by which I mean it is one-dimensional and contains no element of complexity, which is why we like them, and why the attraction to literalism remains so persistent.

 An example of a propositional truth statement could be:   

           READING IS GOOD. 

It seems true. It’s kind of hard to disagree with as far as it goes, but it’s not really true, not necessarily true. There’s not much good in reading if someone reads only degenerate books, trashy fashion magazines, or Nazi propaganda. The value of reading depends upon what is read. In fact, we can say with equal, propositional truth that READING IS BAD, if people are reading only bad stuff. So what happens to that simple, propositional truth: reading is good? It turns out to be unuseful. 

Reading can be good or bad, and seeing this puts us into a paradoxical state of mind. We can’t say either that all reading is good or all reading is bad—either one of those statements is extreme, inaccurate, and fails to acknowledge other factors.  A better statement than “reading is good” would be, “reading is potentially good or evil depending upon the quality of one’s reading material.”  Although that doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker, it is a better description of the truth about reading. The better truth statement is a statement of paradox. 

As we consider some of the paradoxes in Scripture—many of them directly from Christ—we’ll see how that tension from paradoxes helps us better understand biblical truth. Again, we want to hear Scripture in three-dimensions, not just one.

BIBLE PARADOXES

We’re going to look at nine paradoxes in Scripture—and more in the coming weeks. The first five are in single verses; the last four compare verses.

1

Matthew 16:25    “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” 

We find our lives by losing them. In one-dimension, that makes no sense; but off the ground, in the air, we get it: the self-serving life is vanity leading to death; the life of faith in Christ is eternal life. 

2

Luke 14:11  “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 

Again, in one-dimension it is nonsense. The way up is to go down? But off the ground we hear that while men exalt themselves, God will exalt only the humble. 

3

Matthew 20: 26b-27  “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.” 

The top position is the bottom position. The greatest must be the most servile. Jesus upends our worldly ways. His kingdom calls us from pride to humility, from control to surrender, from a worldview based upon power to one founded in empathy and selfless service. 

4

Galatians 5: 13-14 "For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” 

Again, Freedom is Slavery. To be slaves to one another means that our community—our personal connections—our to be characterized by mutual service, not self-interest.

5

2 Corinthians 6: 8-10 “We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

 Paul piles the paradoxes up so that it couldn’t be clearer that we are meant for the air and the unresolved tensions of living with paradoxes. Our Christian life is completely at odds with the world—in tension up and against the world—but not in a negative sense, but a positive one, for we are happy servants of the Lord of all and we serve His world for His glory. 

Sometimes the paradoxes are seen by comparing two verses.

6

Romans 3:28“A person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”  and 

James 2:24“A person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” ()

This is the infamous faith/works paradox. These two verses, at the ground level, are incompatible. But by the tension between them we spread our wings and fly above the barnyard. We live our Christian lives with faith and works as an unresolved tension—one that keeps us striving to do well yet trusting entirely in God and giving Him all the glory. 

7 

Matthew 11:30 “My yoke is easy.” and Matthew 7:14“How difficult the road that leads to life.” 

Is salvation easy or difficult? Is the way to salvation terribly narrow and few find it or broadly accomplished by Christ? Another unresolved tension that we live within.

8

Matthew 5:16“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works.” and

Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.” 

Practice in private or shine? Definitely shine, but don’t shine in your own light. The literalist will struggle to lawyer these words around, but that isn’t necessary. We have a public life and a private life. In both we are to live for God and not for self.

9

Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge.” and

John 7:24 “Judge according to righteous judgment.” 

Don’t judge others or you will be judged, but judge a tree by its fruits. All judgment belongs to The Lord, so we are not to formulate any kind of final verdict on  anyone’s standing with God. Unfortunately, that is what happens in so many churches—people can find a dozen ways into spiritual one-upsmanship—but we also know that a person with no judgment whatsoever is a fool. We need to exercise wisdom and good judgment in the simpler sense. 

For people with faith, none of these paradoxes are deal-breakers. Only with the literalists—with the one-dimensional types—do they cause stumbling. 

Why did Jesus teach in parables? So that those with faith could see and hear while others did not. In today’s terms, so that what is three-dimensional could only be seen from the air, once we’ve taken wings to fly. They eyes of faith are three-dimensional; the one-dimensional will never perceive what Jesus teaches until they learn to fly.

Gifts of paradoxes

Why are these paradoxes a gift from God to us? Why must we live with unresolved tensions when we are clearly more comfortable with one-dimensional, propositional, truth statements? I’ll tell you briefly, but these will return again in the coming weeks: 

1. Paradoxes resist our predilection to dumb things down.  We are by nature prone to change terms or reduce what is complex in order to make things easy to grasp and digest.
2. Paradoxes transcend partisanship—leaning too hard one way or the other. We are disallowed from making one pole our whole doctrine.
3. Paradoxes  must surrender ultimate knowledge to the mystery of the Spirit. There are some things we will not know and we can find contentment there rather than anxiety.
4. Paradoxes transcend mediocrity. To see both sides is not “sitting on the fence” of every issue, but living with a balance of competing truths. It is not avoidance
5. Paradoxes enable us to rise above the barnyard view and see reality from a superior perspective—on aloft from the fray. 

Our nation—perhaps our world—is fiercely divided by ideologies and political strife. The role of Christians is not to pick a side and start fighting, or did we not hear Jesus commanding us to be a servant to all others?  Christians need a perspective that is a Kingdom perspective, which means we must see the present crises from above the barnyard point of view. 

Republicans and democrats, progressives and traditionalists, liberals and conservatives—none have the full picture and neither do you or I.  But we know one who does, and we should not be in doubt about where to place our trust when there is conflict and fighting. 

If your trust is in a political party, you are fool. If your trust is in a cleverly-designed, worldly ideology, you are a fool. All this world and the things in it are passing away, giving way to the singular Lordship of Jesus Christ. Through Him we know God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and we know there is none other. 

God is worthy of our worship; He is worthy of all worship. Let us live to honor Him alone, and let’s get on our wings and soar above the barnyard whenever we’re feeling a bit stressed. †