The Paradox of Easter

Sermon Reflection || Year C: Easter Sunday

What do you think about apologetics? At one point in my faith, studying apologetics was a necessity. I wanted to know the what and the why and the how and the when, and there is certainly a place for that. But at another point in my faith journey, apologetics tended to hurt more than help.

You see, at this point, I knew God existed in deeper ways than reasons and proofs and theories. I had something much more valuable: experience.

Now, I can’t replicate this experience; I wouldn’t want to.

Because I the way I came to know God was through immense suffering, but during this suffering, the Love of God never abandoned me. I knew somewhere deep down, somewhere perhaps other than myself but within myself, that there is nothing more true than the mystery “God is Love.”

How could Love and suffering co-exist? How could Jesus be both God and man? How can One equal Three and Three equal One? In this sermon, we’ll explore how these mysteries invite us to rest at the impasse and discover a way of knowing that is deeper than what our rational mind can typically handle.

Sermon—April 20, 2025 || Year C: Easter Sunday

Video

Reflection

This sermon meant a lot to me because of how helpful and hurtful apologetics can be at the same time. If you tell a teenager “If you don’t interpret Genesis 1-11 literally, then you might as well not believe in the resurrection” then they may just walk away from Christianity after taking a few science classes in college. I’m not saying that their response is justified or not, but it happens every year.

On the one hand, apologetics has helped thousands of people believe in God. On the other hand, some approaches to apologetics try to claim too much and destroy the faith of thousands.

Now, I think this field is needed. It’s important.

But it isn’t always necessary.

I believe that the truths Christianity claims answer questions that are deep within each of us, and these answers are far more meaningful than trying to prove God’s existence through syllogisms, debatable scientific claims, and attempts to make the Bible something it is not.

This sermon is about all of this and more. This sermon explores the Cross and Resurrection as an infinitely explorable mystery, and infinity is inherently beyond comprehension. This means we must approach God through Love, not through our head knowledge… because we never could.

That sounds like a bad thing to someone like me who wants to be a know-it-all, but it is actually good news because it is an invitation to endlessly explore the mystery while resting in the certainty that you are perfectly known and Love by a God who transcends even our most meticulous of boxes and definitions.

Creative Process

Originally, I wanted to talk about how the resurrection doesn’t erase the cross, which I did do in this sermon. But a line from Jim Finley took me by surprise when I was listening to the podcast Turning to the Mystics.

He said that the role of paradox in Christianity is to slow the rational mind so that it is invited to rest at the impasse. Then, and only then, can we discover what is actually true: that our intention to love God is what God is really after, and this shows us that God fully knows and loves us.

I knew I had to include this in the sermon, so as soon as I parked my car, I rushed into the coffee shop, pulled out my notebook, and scribbled out a few rough notes on what I had just heard and how it connects to the sermon I had in mind.

You see, sometimes your big idea may come to you on the hiking trail or the shower. It may seem like it appears from nothing, but we know it comes from the Spirit or perhaps it is a synthesis of everything you have ever learned or it could be both.

But sometimes the Providence of God leads you to the perfect book, article, podcast, or sermon. Then it all comes together.

That’s what happened to me, and if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, you may learn that reinventing the wheel isn’t always necessary.