Upside-Down Kingdom

At the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, he was tempted by a set of 4 possible paths ~ three were promised escapes from danger and the fourth demanded unparalleled courage.

He could have seized political power over all the kingdoms he could see from a mountain top; ally himself to the Temple and win acclaim with a religious imperialism or gain popularity by providing food reserves for the wide population.

Instead he chose alternatives to each of these temptations. He proclaimed a politics of nonviolence, of revolutionary love! This fourth path is the upside-down politics of compassion not coercion.

He chose love, not the power of arm twisting; of suffering and not vindictive triumph; mutual service and not dominion and control. He offered an upside-down religion from that of his day: A jubilee vision of setting slaves free, linking spirituality and economic justice; of searching for transforming justice and open opportunities to live!

His new view of religion was that of agape, a new way of responding to hatred and violence by breaking the cycle of revenge through love and forgiveness.  Jesus' upside-down kingdom is still a radical call to live countercultural, questioning the values of our society, community... as well as our own values and claims to faith and discipleship!