The Paradox of Hard Truth: We Want Peace, But God’s Word Divides! ~ Week 1

A paradox is defined as a self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded and true; and Jesus spoke many of them in the hard truths that He shared. The Bible tells us that “Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem” (Luke 13:22). Jesus knows that when he gets to Jerusalem, he is going to die. If you expect Jesus to use these final teaching opportunities to share happy thoughts, you don’t know him well. With a sense of extreme urgency, Jesus shares truths we need to hear, even if we do not want to hear them. As Jesus teaches hard truth, he challenges conventional wisdom. He reverses the normal and natural order of things. This should not surprise us, considering this Teacher’s life and work are the opposite of what one would expect. When the truth is hard to hear, the first temptation is to deny it. We cannot do that with Jesus’ teaching, for he never lies.