Adapted from a sermon taught by Brad Watt, missionary to South Asia
In Part One, we explored how the Beatitudes reveal a Kingdom that runs completely opposite to the world’s values. The poor in spirit are called blessed. The mourners are honored. The meek inherit the earth. This upside-down way of life turns our assumptions inside out and invites us to follow a King who doesn’t play by the rules of power, success, or comfort. But there’s another thread running through the Sermon on the Mount, and all throughout Scripture, that builds on this theme of reversal: irony. Irony is basically defined as “something happening that is the direct opposite of what is expected.” The Bible contains a veritable cornucopia of ironic stories. For example:
- Job, a righteous man, suffers immense loss and pain even given his piety. His friends assume his suffering is a result of sin, but the narrative reveals, instead, that he is being tested because of his faithfulness.
- Moses is a man raised in the very household of Pharaoh, but when he returns, he demands freedom for the Israelites. His upbringing of privilege leads him to advocate for the oppressed.
- David, a young shepherd, defeats a highly trained warrior—Goliath. We would expect experience and strength to win this fight, but instead God’s strength is perfected in David’s weakness and he becomes the unlikely victor.
- Then there is the birth of Jesus. The wise men—learned and powerful as they are—follow a star to find the King. Meanwhile, the humble shepherds receive the angelic announcement of His birth, highlighting the inversion of worldly wisdom and status.
Each of these stories displays the unexpected realities of the Kingdom of God and more like them abound throughout the sixty-six books that make up the Old and New Testaments. They are yet another succulent spice in this thukpa that we call Christianity. The thing is, these ironic occurrences are not just contained to the Bible, but are also true of our lives. I now bring you several examples of this from my own life:
The first example has to do with my eleven years of service as a missionary among the people of South Asia. People back home often comment on how blessed they must be to have my family serving here. They ask if the locals are thankful for my service and if they appreciate my sacrifice. But that’s not the story at all. Actually, without even trying, the people of this beautiful region have done more for me during my time here than I could possibly do for them in eleven lifetimes. I should be the one thanking them. For instance, they have taught me the value of community, something Americans forgot long ago with the inventions of tall fences, automatic garage doors, and Amazon. They’ve also shown me the importance of valuing the elderly, another biblical value long forgotten in the West, where we tend to warehouse our old people. These cultural reminders have made me a better husband, a better father, a better man, and a better Christian, community member, and person. Nope. I should be thanking them for what they’ve done for me. The irony of this is yet another truth in God’s upside-down Kingdom.
Another recent example of irony is me inviting my sister-in-law, Shelley, to live with my family for the remainder of her life. It took three years—a lot of prayers, a lot of conversations, and for several of my predictions to come true—before she finally acquiesced and moved here from the United States. Most people, even Christian folk, have told me how selfless I’ve been in opening my home to her, as if I’ve done something chivalrous, selfless… sacrificial, even. But the truth is entirely different, as is so often the case in Jesus’ world. Shelley has already done more for me in her short stint of living with her “forever family” than I’ve done for her in the twenty years I’ve been married to her sister, Autumn. Bringing Shelley to our home forced me to resign from the mission organization I had served with for over eleven years. Now, how is that a good thing? Well, I’d had philosophical differences with the previous organization for a long time, but it was Shelley who gave me the courage to walk away. People say Shelley is blessed to be with me and mine. Hardly. Ironically—I am the one blessed—and beyond measure. This is the nature of Christ’s Kingdom and this is what Jesus wanted us to grasp from His sermon.
So, what are we to do with all of this, with everything I’ve shared? What might God be saying to us through these words? What is Jesus telling us through His words, spoken some 2,000 years ago? We’ve looked at the paradoxes of the Beatitudes and the irony of the Kingdom life. Now the question is: How will it shape the way we live? Allow me to offer a few suggestions.
First, let’s spend some time simply sitting quietly and marveling at how awesome our God is. No other religion operates like this. Opposites and irony are just one part of the beautiful, unexpected design of God’s amazing Kingdom. Second, let’s ask ourselves honestly: Are we actually living by these eight Beatitudes Jesus gave us on that mountaintop so long ago? Have we adopted any of them? Are we consistent with the ones we have? Can we do better? I know I can! But what we don’t want—what Jesus doesn’t want—is for us to walk away feeling condemned. That’s not from God. Let’s give ourselves some grace. This isn’t easy! If it were, everyone would be doing it. Nope. This is the opposite of easy. It goes completely against our impulses and the sin that lives in our collective hearts.
No matter how difficult it is to live out the Beatitudes on a consistent basis, it is definitely worth pursuing for everyone who calls themselves a follower of Christ. For everyone who will spend the rest of their lives sitting at the feet of our Rabbi, Jesus. He wants us to pursue the impossible so that our lives can be enriched, so society can be healthier, and the world can be a better place. Most of all, He desires us to live this way so that more and more people will come to know Him through our words and our daily actions—actions marked by the opposites and the irony of His Kingdom.
For more information and to support Brad and his family, click here.