Get Your Pretense On!

50 • Get Your Pretense On!

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? ~ James 2.5 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. [27] But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; [28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ~ 1 Corinthians 1.26-29 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; [52] he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; [53] he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. ~ Luke 1.51-53 One of my favorite studies over the years has been to collect and meditate upon the explicit statements of reversal that are mentioned in the NT, most of which were mentioned by Christ, but also the other apostles. What this list reveals is that the heartbeat and pulse of the Kingdom is this turning-everything-upside-down nature of God’s rule. Look at how reversal shapes and informs everything God does in a world where righteousness and justice are rarely seen and practiced: The Ethics of Reversal: The Values of the Upside-Down Kingdom

• The poor shall become rich, and the rich shall become poor, Luke 6.20-26.