GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 8:35
Paradoxes
We face many paradoxes. For example, the more one seeks happiness, the more elusive it becomes. But if one focuses on a goal—seeking to help others, making his environment better—happiness comes.
Someone has said that the more one knows, the more he realizes how much one does not know. All one has to do is open a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica to realize one’s knowledge is limited.
Sages point out that the more you hurry, the less you accomplish. Hurrying usually results in tasks half-finished, reports late, appointments missed, or unsatisfying relationships. Slowing down, being present, and doing one thing at a time usually produces more than rushing. Satisfying relationships take time to develop and maintain.
Another puzzling paradox is that failure is the path to success. Someone pointed out to Thomas Edison that he had failed after trying hundreds of items to use as a filament for the electric light bulb. Edison said, “I have not failed; I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” The prudent person uses failures as lessons that usually lead to success.
Jesus presented another major paradox to his audience when he said, “For whoever desires to save his life, he will lose it. But whoever will lose his life on account of me and the gospel, he will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
A man from Asia Minor, Telemachus, sought to save his life by becoming a monk and devoting his life to prayer and meditation. Rising from prayer one day, he realized that his life was based not on a self-less, but a selfish love of God. It came to him that if he was to serve God, he must serve man, that the desert was no place for a Christian to live. He made his way to Rome and found himself in the middle of the gladiatorial games. He begged for Christians to stop killing one another, and the enraged crowd called for his death. The commander of the games gave an order; a gladiator’s sword rose and flashed, and Telemachus lay dead. The crowd fell into a stunned silence at the sight of the dead holy man. The Emperor Honorius was so moved by Telemachus’ martyrdom that he issued an edict banning gladiatorial games. The paradox is that in giving his life he saved countless others.
J
esus’ paradox doesn’t call for one to become a life-hater, but a life-giver. He told the story of a rich man who sought to accumulate this world’s goods. At the height of his prosperity, he thought he had enough to sit back, take it easy, and enjoy life. But at that moment, “God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself.’” (Luke 12:20)
To lose one’s life in service to others, to give of oneself, to build up others, to live in service to the gospel is to save one’s life. A paradox worth serious consideration.
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