Paradox

I think I'm going to write a series of blog posts on paradox. I say "I think" because I could very well write one of these things and not even think about the idea for another 7 months. We'll see. Right now, I'm feeling rather verbose, so I'll give the first one a go...

I heard a good teacher say the other day that Jesus was the great paradoxical thinker. "Of course," I thought as he went on: "He who is last will be first." "Lose your life and you'll find it." There are others of these sorts of teachings of course. It seems so obvious, but basically Jesus wants us to do the opposite of everything we think, or comes naturally to us:

"Love your enemies."
"Don't worry about being clothed or fed."
"Hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters."
"Let go of your finances."
"Give up your life. Once you let go, you'll get it."
"Put yourself last. The last will be first."
"Do not seek retribution. Forgive."

This seems very obvious, of course, to all of us who have heard a letter of Jesus' teaching, but do you know how hard these things are to do? You could attempt them your whole life and still feel like you're getting started. I mean, who really does this stuff?