In Jesus’ lifetime he surrounded himself with a motley crew of twelve disciples. Twelve men with whom he would invest much of his time, share his most intimate moments, and in whom he would entrust the expansion of his kingdom. Of those twelve, only one was lost.
After Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, this group would crystallize into a formidable force for ministry. Under their leadership and behind their powerful preaching, teaching, and writing, Christianity would expand at a rate that may not have been rivaled since. In the decades that followed Jesus’ earthly ministry, this group of men harbored no doubts about Jesus’ divinity or his mission. They suffered and died for the cause of Christ, being baptized with a baptism of suffering and death that mirrored Jesus’ own death. But, they didn’t start out so strong.
The ministry of the apostles is remarkable by any standard, but it is made even more remarkable when we consider the multitude of failures on their part during Jesus’ earthly ministry. They struggled to grasp his true nature, they misunderstood or refused to hear his predictions of his own death, and they regularly failed to grasp the true nature of the Kingdom of God.
In Mark 10, after his conversation on marriage and divorce, we are told that people begin bringing children to Jesus that he might bless them but the disciples worked to usher the kids away. Jesus was, after all, a king, and he didn’t have time for trivial little children. But Jesus saw things very differently, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom off God.”
This was revolutionary. A king–The Messiah–made time for the least and the helpless. Children were welcomed into Jesus’ kingdom.
In the next passage, Jesus is confronted by a rich young ruler who lists all of his great deeds and his piety. Jesus urges him to sell his belongings and give to the poor. He then informs the crowd, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples are no less shocked by this than they were when Jesus begin to dote over children. This all seemed backwards.
The disciples assumed that Jesus was building a kingdom like the other kingdoms they had known. They assumed that Jesus would leverage his power and influence to surround himself with other powerful influencers who could strengthen his kingdom reign. Jesus, however, looks at the rich with pity and a children with joy.
Most first-century Jews would have assumed that a rich man who observed the law was rich because he was blessed or privileged by God. Jesus says that the man’s riches are a stumbling block. They are a hinderance to his entrance into God’s kingdom.
Jesus didn’t come to set up a kingdom for only the rich and the powerful, he came to set up a kingdom for everyone. In Jesus’ kingdom, rich and poor, slave and free, Jew and Gentile, become brothers and sisters. In Jesus’s kingdom, there is no social or economic hierarchy, everyone stands on level ground at the foot of the cross.
Jesus’ kingdom is one for the sick, for those who need a savior. In Jesus’ upside down kingdom, everyone is invited to the banqueting table, but, get this, the banqueting table is the kids table–it is a place of humiliation and need where we are served by the grace and mercy of Christ.
Last week, we ate with some of my extended family members in a restaurant. The seven kids gathered in one place while the adults ate at another table. At one point, one of my kids strode over and sat down beside me declaring, “Ahh, so this is what it’s like to sit at the adult table.” After just a minute, she declared it was boring and went back to the “fun” table.
Jesus invites you step out of your mundane, self-absorbed, self-sustaining life and to join him at the kids table. Jesus invites you to sit down needy, poor, and helpless; for then he can provide you rest. He is your feast and your sabbath.
His kingdom is not like any other. His kingdom is upside down and backwards, but it only seems that way because our hearts and minds haven’t been re-oriented to the things of Christ. He invites you to feast on his mercy and grace be satisfied. He invites you to join him at the kids table with all the rich, poor, needy, blind, Jews, Gentiles, slaves, outcast, and free men and women who have understood that only Jesus offers true rest and life. He is enough, and he stands ready to receive you!
