Emphasis Preaching Journal

The central quality of true preaching contains a paradox. For while we listen to a woman or man proclaiming the gospel, that person should indeed be the iconic means by which we glimpse "the face of Christ." As servants of one another, we find in these verses a particular address to the preacher as to how he or she should respond to the gospel's proclamation for the listener's sake.

Father Gerard Manley Hopkins catches this paradox perfectly in the conclusion to his sonnet, What I do is Me.

I say more; the just man justices;