We live in a world of paradox and mystery.
In the grand cosmic scale of things, it is total chaos out there: galaxies exploding, planets and stars constantly colliding or being sucked into massive black holes. It is no different in the submicroscopic level of quantum physics: particles in constant flurry of random motions and constant collisions. And yet, in our everyday experience of life, everything is orderly and the law of cause and effect reigns supreme: the sun rises every morning to herald a new day, the lakes and the forests and the mountains are where they should be to shelter and nurture life in all its variations, the rains fall and the winds blow to enable an atmosphere of sustainable life, flowers bloom and the birds sing to add to the beauty with which the earth aglow. It is a paradox to have chaos and randomness co-existing with order and beauty in the same time and space. Why and who and how that is possible is a total mystery.
Sandwiched between cosmic chaos and quantum randomness, I marvel at the beauty and order around me. Looking at the stunning effects of his handiwork, I stand in awe of the Creator who made all of this possible. But beyond knowing that he is there constantly present, I cannot with my finite mind truly know this God, this Presence unless he reveals himself to me.
And he has revealed himself to men – in paradox and mystery. He talks to me in paradoxes and I can see the meaning of his words: dying to be born again, being last to be first, serving and being humble in order to be great, pardoning in order to be pardoned, giving in order to receive. What he tells me is a mystery and yet it brings me fullness of life: eat my flesh, drink my blood, do good to those who hate you, turn the other cheek, carry your cross.
Tossed between the chaos of the cosmos and the randomness of subatomic particles, I encounter God in the order and beauty of the my everyday life.
Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.
John 6:52-56