An upside-down world

The more I study Jesus the more I become uncomfortable with his life and his teaching. Although he stirred quite a following (and an opposition) while he walked the paths of Galillee, Judea and Samaria...he message was shockingly backwards. He wove elaborate parables in which the current enemies were the heroes of his stories. He spent intimately personal social time with people that others shunned. He even brought together two opposite ideas like kingdom and suffering...or even Messiah and suffering. If there was one thing that Messiah would not do, it would be to suffer. The Messiah would be one like Moses, who with the supernatural power of God would lead a million Jews triumphantly out of the oppression of Egypt. That was a messianic-type of action, that was the act of a Savior.

But Jesus waxed on his reign in paradoxically down-in-the-dirt descriptions that turned kingdom language on its head. He unveils this upside-down world plainly to his twelve disciples the night before he was killed (Luke 22:25-29). He told them that if they wanted to be the greatest in his eyes, to become the least. He challenged his followers to not be like the leaders of the world who expressed their superiority over their followers, but to follow in his steps and take the place of the lowest servant. The reality is that the kingdom of God values the humble not the proud, the poor not the rich, the persecuted not the comfortable, the ostrasized not the included (Lk 6:20-27).

I'm not quite sure I am comfortable embracing the paradox of the kingdom. It doesn't seem successful, or comfortable or even enviable. But I'm sure Jesus can turn my ideas of success and comfort on their head too.