WORLD OF NONSENSE
DAY 102: One of my favorite stories growing up was Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland - and it still is. I love the idea of entering an alternate type universe where everything is upside down and nothing is as it should be. As Alice put it, “If I had a world of my own, everything would be
nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what
it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it
wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
At least in her dreams, Alice got her wish. For a brief time she lived in a place where rabbits carry pocket watches, mice attend tea parties, caterpillars dispense wisdom and cats become invisible. For a while it was a wonderful adventure meeting talking flowers, playing croquet in a card kingdom, and painting roses red. Eventually, though, the upside down nature of the world clashed with how she was created to live and she declares in frustration,
"It would be so nice if something would make sense for a change."
As I continue my reading in Luke, following Jesus as He journeys through His own "wonderland" I am increasingly convinced that He was in a "contrary wise" world to what is should be. Jesus had already declared that our world in many ways is upside down. In Luke He explained how things will be turned right side up: ‘Those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great’. Everything, according to Jesus, would one day "be what it isn't."
He said, contrary to what we see, the reality is that the first shall be last, to save your life you must loose it, the leader must be a servant, little faith brings huge results, little children have the greatest wisdom, enemies are to be loved, strangers are to be embraced, we must give to get, we must die to live.
Luke 16 & 17 just keep making His point. In Luke 16 Jesus tells a story about a rich man who day after day ignored a diseased beggar named Lazarus who lay at his door longing for scraps from his table. The rich man ignored him.
Luke 16:22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
What an upside down ending that must have seemed to those listening to Jesus story. But maybe no more upside down than when he told his disciples what to do when they are wronged.
Luke 17: 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
It was such an upside down way to act, they knew they needed His help to obey Him.
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
To help them change their way of thinking, Jesus gave them an example of HOW they should obey. He asks them if it makes any sense for a servant to finish his chores in the fields and then come in and expect to sit and the table and eat with his Master. No, Jesus says, the Master will say fix my meal, serve me and then you can eat later. And then He addresses perhaps their most backward thinking.
9 And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. 10 In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”
He was also addressing MY backward thinking. Like them, too often when I obey God's Word I feel as if I have done something great and deserve to be thanked. I may not say it, but I do feel it: Lord, I just forgave AGAIN... I say in my heart, as if I expect Jesus to say, "Thank you Kim for being so gracious." I give and in my heart, expect to hear my Lord say, "Wow, that was really generous. Thank you for giving today." I withhold a biting comment, I do a good deed, I offer a word of encouragement, I write an helpful blog, and somewhere in the back of my brain, I am expecting to hear God say, Thank You Kim. It is what my upside down world has taught me to expect - praise for doing my duty and serving my worthy Master. As the Cheshire cat so aptly said, "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
Jesus, however, came to set our mad world straight. He reminds me, that it is my duty to obey my Lord and Master. My obedience should never be a question. It is his expectation; and His thanks don't come to me, my thanks go to Him - another upside down concept to our world He addressed as he continued His journey.
IN THE UPSIDE DOWN WORLD only the foreigner, the One who knew nothing of a coming Messiah, fell at Jesus feet and thanked Him. Perhaps the others felt they deserved His mercy. Perhaps they were too self-absorbed. Either way, their reaction was contrary-wise. In the world Jesus came to reveal, God deserves our praise, we do not deserve His - even when we obey Him. Obeying, while "nonsense" in the world's eyes, is the only thing that makes sense in God's eyes. And His acts of mercy demand the only logical reaction - that we fall at Jesus feet and thank Him, "shouting, Praise God!"
That about sums up the Kingdom of God. I am reminded today that I don't have to wait for the kind of world Jesus described. He expects me to live that upside down life right now. I can begin by obeying without expecting praise; and praising Him without expecting. In His world, that is not nonsense at all. It is how we are created to live! You see?
Day 102 of 365
Joshua 9:3-27
Joshua 10
Luke 16:19-31
Luke 17:1-10
Psalm 83:1-18
Proverbs 13:4
Day 103 of 365
Joshua 11
Joshua 12
Luke 17:11-37
Psalm 84:1-12
Proverbs 13:5-6
As I continue my reading in Luke, following Jesus as He journeys through His own "wonderland" I am increasingly convinced that He was in a "contrary wise" world to what is should be. Jesus had already declared that our world in many ways is upside down. In Luke He explained how things will be turned right side up: ‘Those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great’. Everything, according to Jesus, would one day "be what it isn't."
He said, contrary to what we see, the reality is that the first shall be last, to save your life you must loose it, the leader must be a servant, little faith brings huge results, little children have the greatest wisdom, enemies are to be loved, strangers are to be embraced, we must give to get, we must die to live.
Luke 16 & 17 just keep making His point. In Luke 16 Jesus tells a story about a rich man who day after day ignored a diseased beggar named Lazarus who lay at his door longing for scraps from his table. The rich man ignored him.
Luke 16:22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
What an upside down ending that must have seemed to those listening to Jesus story. But maybe no more upside down than when he told his disciples what to do when they are wronged.
Luke 17: 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
It was such an upside down way to act, they knew they needed His help to obey Him.
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
To help them change their way of thinking, Jesus gave them an example of HOW they should obey. He asks them if it makes any sense for a servant to finish his chores in the fields and then come in and expect to sit and the table and eat with his Master. No, Jesus says, the Master will say fix my meal, serve me and then you can eat later. And then He addresses perhaps their most backward thinking.
9 And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. 10 In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”
He was also addressing MY backward thinking. Like them, too often when I obey God's Word I feel as if I have done something great and deserve to be thanked. I may not say it, but I do feel it: Lord, I just forgave AGAIN... I say in my heart, as if I expect Jesus to say, "Thank you Kim for being so gracious." I give and in my heart, expect to hear my Lord say, "Wow, that was really generous. Thank you for giving today." I withhold a biting comment, I do a good deed, I offer a word of encouragement, I write an helpful blog, and somewhere in the back of my brain, I am expecting to hear God say, Thank You Kim. It is what my upside down world has taught me to expect - praise for doing my duty and serving my worthy Master. As the Cheshire cat so aptly said, "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
Jesus, however, came to set our mad world straight. He reminds me, that it is my duty to obey my Lord and Master. My obedience should never be a question. It is his expectation; and His thanks don't come to me, my thanks go to Him - another upside down concept to our world He addressed as he continued His journey.
Luke 17:11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13 crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Jesus does have mercy and he heals all of them and sends them to show themselves to the priests.
5 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” 16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” IN THE UPSIDE DOWN WORLD only the foreigner, the One who knew nothing of a coming Messiah, fell at Jesus feet and thanked Him. Perhaps the others felt they deserved His mercy. Perhaps they were too self-absorbed. Either way, their reaction was contrary-wise. In the world Jesus came to reveal, God deserves our praise, we do not deserve His - even when we obey Him. Obeying, while "nonsense" in the world's eyes, is the only thing that makes sense in God's eyes. And His acts of mercy demand the only logical reaction - that we fall at Jesus feet and thank Him, "shouting, Praise God!"
As Alice would say, Jesus' ways seem "Curiouser and curiouser."
"Nothing would be what it is,
because everything would be what
it isn't.
And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be.
And what it
wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
That about sums up the Kingdom of God. I am reminded today that I don't have to wait for the kind of world Jesus described. He expects me to live that upside down life right now. I can begin by obeying without expecting praise; and praising Him without expecting. In His world, that is not nonsense at all. It is how we are created to live! You see?
Day 102 of 365
Joshua 9:3-27
Joshua 10
Luke 16:19-31
Luke 17:1-10
Psalm 83:1-18
Proverbs 13:4
Day 103 of 365
Joshua 11
Joshua 12
Luke 17:11-37
Psalm 84:1-12
Proverbs 13:5-6
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