November 9: Upside Down

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you." Acts 17:2-3

Throughout the remainder of this chapter there is a sense of newness. That Paul and the apostles are talking about something new… and it both intrigues and irritates Jews and Gentiles alike. When the newness seems to get out of hand the followers of the way of Jesus Christ are spoken about as, “These people who have been turning the world upside down.” (Acts 17:6)

Of course they haven’t done this at all – all they have done is pointed out what Jesus did. The crowds are right about what has happened, it’s just that they are blaming the wrong people – they should be blaming Jesus. I think this is why it is interesting that what Paul is talking about is why the Messiah needed to suffer and die and rise from the dead.

Sadly the text only tells us that this is what he is teaching, it doesn’t actually tell us his answer. Conjecturing on why Jesus had to die, and how that death offered salvation to the world is a favorite past time of theologians – but none of us really has an answer, and I’m prone to think that there isn’t any one answer but lots of reasons. However today let me play with one reason that interests me and seems to relate to all this newness and world-turned-upside-downness that is happening in this chapter of Acts.

We all have an idea of who God is. We all have some particular desires about how God will act in our life, and how God will be in relationship to us. That is to say, each of us knows how we wish to be saved. And I think in many ways that we limit who God really is by only conceiving of God as we wish to – only hearing God say what we want to hear – only being willing to see God at work in ways that we like.

Jesus knew this… and thus Jesus knew that he was never going to be able to save us from ourselves… until our God died (or our limited, and limiting, notion of who God is and what God does is taken away from us). It is only when our conception of salvation dies, that we can become open to true salvation. It is only when we give up putting God in the box we would like God to be in that we can be open to a relationship with God as God really is. That’s wordy I know, but I hope you are following me because I think it’s of vital importance.

So Jesus had to die… that God might come to life. We become saved when the small notions of God that we cling to are replaced with the awesome mystery of the God who really is. And when that God lives – and lives in our lives… our worlds are turned upside down.

What ways are you putting God in a box and limiting your openness to the activity of God in your life?

How are you practicing listening to the God who really is, rather than just telling God who you want God to be?

What does it mean for you as an individual and the church as a whole to be open to having our world turned upside down?

God of mystery,
You are always doing a new thing in our midst. Help us to keep open to your Spirit that is always urging us in new directions. Give us the strength to boldly move into your upside down future. Amen.