I just finished watching The Bible Project’s video study on Matthew and the phrase or concept that landed like a flippled water bottle in my head is “The Upside Down Kingdom.” It’s this idea of the world’s expectations of what the Messiah would be versus who Jesus actually is, more specifically what He was like when He was here on earth with us. So, for example, some people believed Jesus would be a conquering hero to overthrow the government or opposing forces (Psalm 2 and Daniel 2). “Instead, Jesus came as a servant king. One whose suffering brought forth the fullness of His reign not the conquering of others.” In the video, they outline that in this kingdom you:
- Gain honor by serving
- Instead of getting revenge, you forgive
- Gain wealth by giving wealth
Now, I will be honest. I don’t think I ever really understood the opposition of Jesus until hearing this lesson this way. In my mind, Jesus seemed to fit the mold of Messiah perfectly; just enough rebel, capable of miracles, wise enough to know when to perform them, deeply in love with God, and knowledgeable about everything God ever said. Check, check, check. But duh, I was raised in a culture, in a world, that already believes Jesus to be the Messiah. There is seemingly no good argument against what we already believe. But imagine being raised in a culture that only has poems and prophecies to go on as a way of identifying the Savior of the world. There is the Spirit of course, but mostly everything up to this point has been dictated by law. This focus on the “spirit” of a person, place, or thing hasn’t become a cultural norm at this point, at least not in the way it is today in western culture. So imagine you’re following the rules, on the lookout for God’s “king on Zion” and instead you find the illegitimate son of a carpenter from a town of which it is said, “Can anything good come from there?” That would be enough to lose a third of the crowd. This message of the Upside Down Kingdom is enough to lose another third and this is all before the conversation about eating his flesh and drinking his blood (see John 6:53-58). But like everything else in life we need context. In order to understand any of this and all of it together, it requires that we lean into God’s word, to His Son, to His understanding. To understand we must trust, to trust we must know, to know we must connect. And that’s what I believe God has wanted from us all along, connection and relationship with us. From that very first animating breath in Adam’s lungs, God has wanted to be close to us. And through Jesus, He turned the world upside down to make it so.
Thank you, Heavenly Father.
Amen.
Jesus Girl 