Christmas is paradox. Webster’s unabridged dictionary defines paradox as “a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.” What seems absurd about Christmas is that God’s power is shown in vulnerability: a naked baby embodying the only power that can change human hearts—God’s love, far beyond our ability to grasp or conceive.

Our poor, tired, corrupted world keeps acting as if real power comes from the barrel of a gun; or from the accumulation of money; or from special knowledge in the fields of science or industry or economics; or from sex appeal; or from any of many other external things. But if power really does come from something external, why is the world still such a fearful and anxious place? Why are some of the richest and most beautiful people so profoundly unhappy?

Frederick Buechner observes that “when it comes to the birth of a child, we are all of us romantics. A new life, a new hope, innocence coming into an old and weary world—if there is beauty anywhere, surely it is here. …If there is the beauty of what is majestic and powerful, there is the beauty also of what is humble and powerless.”

Do we fathers and mothers remember when we saw our first newborn child? That deep feeling of humility at the miracle of life? The feeling that we would do anything to protect that child and keep it safe? The gratitude that the baby had all ten fingers and toes and was healthy? The sense that our life was no longer ours alone, but was woven in an intimate relationship with that helpless and vulnerable one?

That sense of being woven in inextricable relationship with the innocent, the helpless, the vulnerable is the power of Christmas. That baby crying in the night is what calls to the deepest part of our hearts. He reminds us that we all come into this world in the same way, and that we need the help of others to ensure our ability to grow and learn and love. That is the truth he expresses which makes the paradox of Christmas so appealing.