One of the great hymn writers of all time, Isaac Watts, wrote “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” In penning its lyrics, he used the poetic device of paradox to show a contrast in themes: “my richest gain I count but loss” and “pour contempt on all my pride.” We sometimes call these “oxymorons,” words used in seeming contradiction to themselves—like “awfully good” and “jumbo shrimp.” In the case of Watts’s lyrics, this device is far more profound.
Jesus used paradox often. “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), He said, suggesting that those who have no hope will receive more than they could ever hope for. Jesus speaks to you and me who’ve lost someone dear (v. 4), assuring us that those who are sad “will be comforted.” Later in His ministry Jesus says, “Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (19:30). Jesus was showing how in God’s kingdom the common rules of religion don’t apply.
These paradoxes tell us that life in Christ defies all expectations: we who are nobodies are cherished as somebodies. It was on the cross that Jesus bore a visual paradox—a crown of thorns. Isaac Watts took this symbol of ridicule and, paradoxically, gave it soaring beauty: “Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, / or thorns compose so rich a crown?” In this we thrill yet are mindful of the final line of the hymn: “Love so amazing, so divine, / demands my soul, my life, my all.”
