SCRIPTURE: Matthew 5
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
(Read my reflection from 2008)
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. [Matthew 5:11-12]
Jesus’ words sound backwards, or upside down, the opposite of what we think.
Poor in spirit, meek, merciful, peace-makers, these are the ones who get trampled.
Which is why being insulted and persecuted makes sense in this context… but to consider these people blessed, to tell these people to rejoice?
Either what Jesus says is totally screwed up, or we are dealing with wisdom so deep and profound, it cannot make sense in our totally screwed up world.

What if, for a moment, we are living in a world that is upside down, but we are so used to it that we think it’s normal?
Dallas Willard writes about a pilot in a fighter jet performing so many stunts and turns that she didn’t realize she was upside down, and when she ‘pulled up’ she crashed into the ground.
Our world is like this, what everyone considers normal is actually abnormal.
What our world considers a blessing, is actually a curse.
Yes, they mock those who go against their wisdom, not realizing that it is folly.
Another analogy I have used is a river boat drifting along the Niagara River, with all-you-can-eat-and-drink partying on it, and the few leaving the boat to swim upstream because of the falls ahead being mocked for leaving the fun…
Who is the fool, the one swimming upstream or the one drifting downstream.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. [Matthew 5:16]
Jesus enters this upside down world to show people what is right-side up.
He is mocked for it, rejected and eventually killed, but because what He says is true, he ends up being vindicated.
Jesus raises up a community of followers who join with Him in flying right-side-up in this upside-down world, shining the better way.
To be a shining example of God’s way in a dark, drifting and doomed world.
To be a warning to those who are drifting, or flying upside down, of what is coming.
The light that we shine is the ‘backwards’ qualities that Jesus describes, that He lives.
This is what we are saved for, this is what we are called to.

To be a Jesus follower is to decide that what Jesus says, though seeming to be backwards or upside down, is actually true, so deep and profound that it does not make sense in this totally screwed up world.
But because we are committed to Jesus, and to what He says, we will go against the current, we will endure hardship and scorn, because it is the right way, the best way.
The world will see, the world will know, and one day they will acknowledge that Jesus was flying right-side up!

PRAYER:
Lord, believe that what You say is true (my spirit is willing), but it’s hard to do (my flesh is weak). Help me to live this way, and to trust You when it gets hard!