We all know about Oxymorons, those funny word combinations that don’t really make sense when you think about them: Jumbo Shrimp; accurate estimate; criminal cop; definite maybe; original copies. We laugh at them yet we’re happy to use them in our everyday language. We’re adaptable that way, and so too, is the English language.
As technology changes, it seems that the land of the Oxymoron will be forever expanding. This evening my daughter wanted to take a snapshot of our dog and cat being cute together. What did she say, without an ounce of irony? I wish I had my phone so I could take a picture. I withheld my laughter, since an outright guffaw might have been impolite, but I was hard pressed to contain myself. A camera phone. A new Oxymoron? I think so.
Heaven only knows what new wonders science will devise or what strange and wonderful combinations of devices will be assembled. Cars that make breakfast? Toasters that mow the lawn? Driveways that cars can drive on rather than park on and parkways that you can drive on? The oxymoronic possibilities are endless, and quite likely will provide an endless number of smiles, giggles and guffaws if we think about them too much.
As with so many other aspects of God’s creation, God is the master of the Oxymoron. The Word made Flesh. Peace that passes understanding. Dying so that we might live. It doesn’t make sense that God should take human form yet that’s what happened in Jesus. Peace should be a source of comfort and reassurance, yet God’s peace is so intense that it’s almost disturbing: it can’t be understood; it just is. Fine Oxymorons, both of them. Yet they are not the last word in that linguistic art.
Jesus died so that we might live. He paid the price for our sins that we could not pay. It doesn’t make sense that He should have done that for us. Why would He give His life to atone for the very humanity that sent Him to His death on the cross. There is no explanation; there is no logic. It is simply the truth of a love so great that the greatest Human to ever live would be willing to die for all humanity.
Then there is, of course, the other side of the Cross, not quite an oxymoron, but a rather odd combination of words nevertheless: Jesus rose from the dead. He was dead then he came back to life. Jesus didn’t simply go to sleep or into a coma. He didn’t use His godliness to cheat death or fool us. Jesus, God’s living Word, died. Then, after three days, He overcame death and in that one act, defeated sin.
Sin has no power over us, if we believe in Jesus. That’s how great His love was: He died so that we might live, and rose from the dead so that we might live forever. Doesn’t make sense does it? Maybe not, but love, especially God’s love doesn’t have to make sense. God loves us and that’s it. God is, indeed, love, and unlike the oxymorons we love to mock, there is no greater or more fitting combination of words in any language.
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