Upside-Down Kingdom, Jan 18th

This is my first reflection on our Sunday Morning sermons at Middlefield. (if you don't attend our services, you might be lost in this post, but feel free to continue reading :))

We are in the middle of a series talking about the Kingdom of God. This week, we focused around Matthew 20:1-16, the story of wages for those working. I encourage you to look at this scripture again, to see it with new eyes. Scripture has a way of working on us with time, and when we read it again in a different setting, we may see some very new things that God is speaking to us.

Well, on Sunday, Pastor Ed talked about the fairness of God. God, in love, is not fair. God loves people without restraint, and God does not conform to the rules of our world today.

I was taken by this thought while watching football on Sunday afternoon. It's the playoffs, and the winners of these games go to the Super Bowl, so tension and excitement are everywhere! While watching the Steelers beat the Ravens (Go Steelers!), I was taken in the midst of all of the rules of football. The refs were vital in this game, with controversy over many of their calls.

Back and forth, flags were thrown, indicating rule breaking. The refs were striving to make the game fair. Nevertheless, it was not fair. Players got away with rule breaking...all the time. As much as the ref's try, they could not make perfect fairness occur.

The fairness in a football game is hard to reconcile, just like the fairness in life is as well. We strive so hard to make things fair. Our systems our surrounded by this ideal. Still, life is not perfectly fair. And then, we hear something in scripture about the kingdom, and how a different justice system is envisioned.

Kingdom living is about living into a higher standard, one that is spoken in this scripture. We are told in verse 16, that "the last will be first, and the first will be last" Something deeper is going on here. God is speaking to us about His vision of justice and fairness to the world, and that as we strive to indicate justice and righteousness, that He will bring us something different. Our perspective of who is right, or who has earned something does not automatically relate. The wages of our work are not always equal. Yet still, God brings justice that is beyond our understanding of rules and fairness, one where mercy trumps all.

I see two central questions to this idea of fairness. The first is, can we trust God enough see with different eyes into this vision of justice? And secondly, how can we begin, or continue, to live into this vision of unrelenting mercy in our lives?

Pastor Ed's story about Amanda, and the mercy that was given to him, spoke volumes to me. Working 2 days in 2 weeks and getting a full paycheck showed me a glimpse of what this Kingdom life is all about. What a story to reflect and remind us of how we can practically participate in the story of God in the world today.

Grace and Peace!
Micah