God’s Story Is Our Story: From Genesis To Jesusনমুনা

Reflecting on the last week: The Kingdom of God is upside down. God exalts the humble and humbles the proud. Hannah experienced this personally. Her community humiliated her because she was unable to have children, but God delighted in her. He heard her prayers and answered them. 1100 years later, Mary’s prayer of joy over Jesus’ forthcoming birth repeated themes from Hannah’s prayer. Mary was a poor, humble peasant. While she did not experience the pain of infertility, she was likely humiliated by her community, because she became pregnant before marriage. But once again, God delighted in his humble daughter. Despite their lack of influence and opportunity, he used their children to move his mission forward in enormous ways. Samuel, Hannah’s son, would one day anoint the line of kings from which Jesus, the one true king, would be born. It’s all proof that God’s kingdom is upside down. We think that our weaknesses disqualify us from being used by God. I’m too poor. I’m not outgoing enough. I’m too low on the totem pole at work. But God sees these things as our crucial qualifications. He loves to use the weak to shame the strong, and the foolish to educate the wise (1 Cor. 1:27). Jesus exemplified this pattern when he took the form of a slave and died on a cross (Phil. 2:5-11). Nonetheless, this upside down kind of decision making led to his glorification. Now we are invited into this same pattern: weakness and humility as the path to glory. So what does it look like for us to become weak? To hand away power? To be downwardly mobile? Will our lives tell the story of Jesus’ upside down kingdom? Will we take up our crosses and follow Jesus?