Jesus was a revolutionary. Not the gun toting or fist raising type, but a revolutionary nonetheless. His arrival on the scene signaled to all would-be rulers that arrogant, self-serving, self-glorifying, power-grabbing, God-denying exercise of government will be overturned. This is evident in the language of the Magnificat, Mary’s famous hymn of grateful praise.
The use of the past tense in her hymn indicates the confidence she has that, though the child is still growing within her, the end for which he has come is as good as done:
“He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.” (Luke 1:51-53)
The theme of “reversal” in the hymn (mighty brought down, those of humble estate, exalted; rich sent away empty, the hungry filled), as well as in the rest of the Gospel of Luke, is a hard lesson for human beings to learn. I think this is particularly so for we Americans. Virtually all aspects of our society (including the people in it) are valued by how “successful” they prove to be. And the metrics used always favor the wealthiest, strongest, fastest, and prettiest. This creeps into the thinking of the church as well. I recall when the young baseball phenom, Darryl Strawberry, made a profession of faith. Before you knew it, he was on the speakers’ platform of evangelical rallies as proof that you can be an incredibly talented athlete and a Christian at the same time. This did not serve Darryl, and it did not serve the cause of Christ. What he needed was careful discipleship, not being made the poster child for “successful” Christianity.
This linking of the success of the Kingdom to the successful is filled with peril. The danger is that we forget who it is we are following. Jesus warned (off?) one potential adherent, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). To another he challenged, “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). Neither scenario fits the American model of success. But for those to whom he was speaking, their true success depended upon their joining the “last shall be first and the first shall be last” revolution (Luke 13:30).
