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In 1993, a video production enacting The Gospel According To Matthew was released, starring my friend Bruce Marchiano as Jesus.  While some found the film to be somewhat cheesy (and it certainly had those moments), I remember being challenged by Bruce’s approach to playing Jesus in several key scenes.  For example, in the Matthew 23 text, where Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, Bruce portrays Jesus as powerful and passionate, yet weeping at how lost these men are.  Suddenly, my unconscious reading of the text- where Jesus stands in righteous authority and indignation was given pause, seeing things completely differently.  We cannot say for sure how Jesus delivered those words, but the unexpected approach to that scene changed the way I read Scripture forever.

This past Sunday at Little Flowers Community, we practiced Lectio Divina together, exploring Luke 6:20-26:

Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.

“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

While we shared a great deal together, reading, imagining and praying through this text, one thing jumped out at me afresh.  When we see the people described as blessed- poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, insulted and rejected- compared to those who are woeful- rich, well fed, laughing and well-spoken of- our basic common sense gets slapped silly.  In fact, in the Christian community, the former group is often the recipients of compassionate care at the hands of Christians more alike to the latter group (and I include myself in that, more often than I would like).

The general assumption of the “direction of ministry”- that is, from the haves to the have-nots- is challenged.  In fact, if these blessings and woes are to be believed, the poor and broken followers of Christ should be mobilizing to save the rich and stable from their woeful lives of comfort and security.  Try to write a fund raising newsletter for that ministry!  And yet, this is the upside-down kingdom that Jesus calls us to live out together.

It is when we transform our paradigm from doing ministry to the poor and the broken into sharing in the life of Christ by identifying with the “least of these”, embracing the genuine blessings that come with exposing our pretense and false securities to stand naked before God and each other.  And out of this broken intimacy comes true ministry- out of dead seeds comes new life.  It is in dying that we find life.

As much as we intellectually affirm these kinds of truths, the fact is is that they are absurd.  They make not sense.  They are impossibly upside-down.  That is, they are impossible apart from the God of the impossible.  And if we are willing to live in such a ways as to be seen as foolish to the world (as the above Scripture would surely lead us to), they I believe we will begin to see glimpses more and more of the kingdom of God.  And that’s just it, isn’t- the million dollar question:

Are we willing?