Jesus came and turned everything upside down. Especially for the religious people. If we have been a believer for over a year--we have likely become religious people and part of the religious system. It is like a gravitational pull. We must be turned upside down in order to release the work that Jesus came to do.
He was upside down.
They expected him to hang out with them. They were the important people. Instead he was with prostitutes and sinners.
They thought he would honor them for their religious lifestyle. Instead he told them that they don’t even know God.
They expected Him to come like a big man, a king. Instead he came as a poor baby. He turned everything upside down from what people expected.
The disciples thought he would rule. Instead he went to the cross and gave up his life.
Everything upside down.
He turned the religious church upside down in Luke 4 when he said he came for the broken and oppressed. He turned the religious church's finances upside down at the temple. He turned leadership positions upside down when he washed feet. He turned the mission upside down when he said just go and make disciples.
After paying the price for all sin and resurrecting, the disciples must have thought that now, at last, he would equip them. After all, his vision—his last statement—was that they were to go to ALL nations. He has commissioned them to the world. He has ascended. He is God. Surely He would give them some big tools to use.
We always think bigger is better. Big crusades, big crowds, big buildings, big events, and big to-dos.
So think about being a disciple-- given the big command to go to all the nations. Surely Jesus would fill their pockets with a million dollars. What about a sound system? How about some religious clothes so that people would listen to them?
No—he just taught them how to heal the sick, preach the Gospel, and lay their lives down.
The very things we often don't want to do.
The way of Jesus always has been and always will be the upside down way.
