THE KING OVER THE UPSIDE-DOWN KINGDOM

This summer, the Upside-Down Kingdom wove its way through communities across the country. Each Thursday over 5 weeks, we wanted to remind you of a few aspects of this Kingdom that we hope you will continue to talk about and live into long after this summer’s mission trip.

 

 

Every few moments I glanced over the top of my computer screen to the man sitting near the door, who in turn was staring out into the cold, snowy tundra of the dark restaurant parking lot. His clothes were mismatched and layered. His face was grizzled with whitened stubble. He was small and pushed into the corner as if he didn’t want anyone to notice him. But I had.

 

And I was desperately trying to concentrate on the words on my screen – a talk I was writing for teenagers to help them step out of their comfort zones to serve and love others. Jesus had done that, and we should too… but… the man.

 

He was still sitting there. I was sure he had wandered in from the cold and was waiting for a ride that may or may not have been coming. I imagined he was homeless and lonely and hungry. But walking over to him felt impossibly hard and inconvenient in that moment. So I sat in the booth for five… then ten minutes struggling with myself and waiting for the waitress to reappear.

 

Finally, I succumbed to the reasoning of the words I had written. I stood to walk over to that man, and as if it were choreographed, the waitress reappeared right in my path. “Do you think that man is hungry?” I asked her. “Do you think I could buy him a meal?”

 

“Him?” she asked. “He’s in here all the time. He just ate and is gonna get picked up any minute.”

 

I returned to my booth, feeling a little foolish I had given the man such a detailed backstory based on his appearance, feeling glad I had found the gumption to get out of my booth and feeling surprised at how difficult it had been for me to practice the things I preach to teenagers.

 

Back in my booth, I realized that God had used a man’s ragged appearance to teach me something about the Kingdom in my life – that there are places it has not yet fully grown. That there are still ways God is working in me and there are ways Jesus wants to work through me, if I will choose to welcome God’s Kingdom more fully into my everyday interactions.

 

God has a habit of working in and through us in surprising ways. The Kingdom Jesus established is an Upside-Down Kingdom that is often established in ways we don’t expect. And that’s exactly how the King of the Upside-Down Kingdom works. Jesus overturns our expectations of what a King should look like, and there’s this great story in Scripture about how Jesus showed his disciples what it means to participate in the Kingdom.

 

Before you read, understand that Jesus lived in a different time and place than we do today. Jesus and his disciples walked along dirt roads shared with animals, so their sandaled feet tended to get pretty dirty. Fortunately, many households had servants who would come wash the feet of guests. You would think that Jesus, the King of the greatest Kingdom in all history, would be entitled to a good footwashing whenever he entered a home, but as they entered this house, no one washes Jesus or his disciples’ feet.

Read John 13:1–17.

In the previous posts, you’ve been reading about this incredible Kingdom where God is making things right in the world. And in this passage we see the greatest King of all time taking the job of a servant and washing his disciples’ feet.

 

You see, Jesus doesn’t just dictate that we need to behave a certain way. The King doesn’t just use words to explain what the Kingdom is like. Jesus, the King of the Upside-Down Kingdom, shows us through his own example how we can serve and love others.

 

It’s important to understand that Jesus doesn’t serve out of any misunderstanding about who he is. At another time, when Jesus’ disciples were bickering over who was the most important of them, Jesus encouraged them to change their perspective of greatness, saying, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves” (Matt. 22:27). Jesus’ position is one of greatness, but the Kingdom is about choosing the role of a servant.

 

Jesus invites us to choose that role too. After washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus told his followers, “You also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” The good things we do, the love we have for God and for others, the hope we hold for a Kingdom where God is making things right – they are in response to a King who loves us, serves us and welcomes us into relationship with him. And the incredible, upside-downess of the Kingdom is that the closer we get to the King, the more we seek to be humble servants.

 

There is no kingdom without a king. As you continue to think about your place in this Upside-Down Kingdom, capture this picture of its King in your mind:

“ [Jesus] poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel.”

The Kingdom is upside-down because the King is upside-down – a King who seeks his citizens, a King who serves, a King who dies to save his people and a King who turns death into victory. This is the King we serve. This is the Kingdom Jesus invites us into – a Kingdom that is established wherever God is making things right – in and through God’s people as they follow Jesus, the King of the Upside-Down Kingdom.

 

CONSIDER…

1. How has Jesus worked in you in ways you didn’t expect?

2. How has Jesus worked through you in ways you didn’t expect?

3. As you’ve read these pages, where have you noticed the Upside-Down Kingdom around you?

4. How is Jesus inviting you to follow him more closely?

5. What is one thing you will do this week to more fully make Jesus King of your life?

 

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Sam Townsend helps write training, programming and marketing materials for YouthWorks mission trips. When he isn’t hanging around teenagers at church or digging into seminary homework, he is generally looking for a good conversation and a hole-in-the-wall restaurant to have it in. Sam still considers his first couple summers working for YouthWorks in Virginia and Pennsylvania communities some of the most transformative times of his life.