God’s Upside-Down Kingdom

a reflection on Luke 1-2

by Andrew Tai

As I read the passages from Luke this week, I was struck by some of the oddity of the stories and characters that Luke has chosen to highlight thus far in his Gospel. In no other Gospel do we hear Zechariah and Elizabeth’s story, or about Simeon and Anna, or even the Shepherds (as opposed to the seemingly wealthier Magi) who come to honor Jesus at his birth.

Of course, this is no accident.  It seems that from the beginning of his Gospel, Luke wants his readers to understand that God’s plan, revealed in the life of Jesus, came about through people that have been overlooked by the rest of the world, people who perhaps no one would’ve expected to be involved in world-altering events.  

And yet these are the precise people that God chooses—and whom Luke has highlighted. In doing so, Luke challenges his readers to recognize that God does not conform to society’s traditional notions of power and glory and worthiness.  This becomes a consistent theme throughout Luke: Jesus consistently acts in ways that do not line up with our expectations.  In Luke we find that it is no longer simply Israel who will receive God’s blessing; instead, God’s love and healing work is making its way throughIsrael to the entire world, including to unclean and undeserving Gentiles. It is no longer the societal and religious elite who are closest to God; instead, God is particularly concerned with the poor and downtrodden and those who don’t think they have it all together. 

To hear Luke’s gospel today and allow it to speak into our lives requires that we ask ourselves whether we’ve (knowingly or not) simply bought into society’s ways of thinking.  In my own life, I see how I have pursued the notion of the “good life” promised by the American Dream (i.e. nice house, nice car, nice family, nice job), sometimes even without consciously deciding to do so.  I see how I’m tempted to hold tightly onto money, rather than giving generously to others in need.  I recognize how I value people differently based on how successful in their careers or charismatic they are, rather than remembering that people are valuable not because of what they accomplish but simply because they are created in the image of God.  In other words, I am the exact type of person that needs to hear the Gospel message of God’s inclusive and radical love that upends all of the world’s traditional notions. 

As we continue through this season of Advent, may we remember that this Jesus we are waiting for is not here to conform to our expectations, but continually and consistently moves us to love and serve and give in ways that reflect the upside-down Kingdom of God.

artwork: Simeon’s Song of Praise, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 – 1669)