Reality

Listen to Luke Chapter 22
or read "Reality"

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."

... A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
Wow! A lot is going on at this passover dinner of sincere friends and co-workers (except for one). We also know from John's account of this dinner that Jesus personally washed the feat of everyone there.
So he got up from the meal and took off his outer clothes. He wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a large bowl. Then he began to wash his disciples' feet. He dried them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (John 13:4-5)
Jesus has been telling them about the Kingdom of God for some time now. He taught them about who was blessed in the Kingdom and the unique high values of the Kingdom. He described God's Kingdom using parables. He challenged them to care like God rather than the world. But they didn't seem to get it completely. Even here at this intimate dinner with Jesus they miss his point about God's Kingdom. They were ready to help the Messiah overthrow the Roman Kingdom and establish his new Kingdom here on earth. They were ready with swords to make it happen. But Jesus was looking at an eternal Kingdom. The kingdom that existed before creation. They Kingdom that will have no end. The REAL Kingdom. They were caught in the "make-believe world" or the "Twilight Zone". They were missing the reality of God's Kingdom. The reality of God's Garden before Evil.

What is reality for us today? I love the way Keith Giles a pastor and writer in California has painted this picture for us of the REAL Kingdom.

It is very much like taking the red pill and finding ourselves wide awake in a reality which is upside down and backwards from the world we have been born into. At first we reel with the vertigo of a world where up is down and the first are last. Those who humble themselves are exalted, the greatest is the servant of all, and those who lose their lives find everlasting, eternal life, even though they die daily. This is the Kingdom of God.

Welcome to reality. Because this upside down world, we quickly discover, is NOT upside down, it is right side up. We have lived so long, head over heels, immersed in an illusion of selfish fulfillment and a pursuit of more, more, more, that we need to detoxify our minds and hearts and flesh in order to remain in God’s Kingdom Reality.

Jesus announced this Kingdom, told us how to see it, how to walk in it and remain in it, and gave us the best news possible: We could enter and begin living in Reality anytime we wanted to."

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