Unicorns & Rainbows

It's been one of those weeks where everything you are hearing seems to be pointing in the same direction. The theme of the week being: 'The Kingdom of God is not what you would expect it to be.'

Worship on an island with friends who have become family singing at the top of your lungs and going outside for communion in freezing weather and standing in awe of God's creation and the gorgeous stars that He has strewn the heavens with. A bed filled with bugs. Conversations that take radical turns. People who beg God for physical healing and find none. Hard work. Laughter. Joy and the blessing of incredible friends. Friends who consider staying even longer in the midst of the place where God has called them to mission work, defying all that is reasonable and sane. The patience of others who listen endlessly to the concerns of the day. Sorrow of friends that move to different parts of the vineyard. Being thankful for the person in the drive up window that hands me a diet coke. Watching people discover this incredible mystery and story that God is weaving in their lives. Trying to figure out what 'enough' means. And wrestling day in and day out with God's Word. A year ago, I had no earthly idea that this is where I would be and that this is what life would look like.

We have so many ideas of how the kingdom of God should look and how life in relationship with Him should play out. In Mark 2.18-22, Jesus shatters expectations left and right of who He is, who He should be, and what God's kingdom is all about. In the midst of the fast paced story that Mark is telling us, Jesus drops a bomb on them and melts people's faces when He says: 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'

So again...in the midst of probing this idea of who Jesus is and what the kingdom is about, Jesus is asked this question about fasting. Standard enough because fasting was a part of every day life in their culture. The big feast days and for some--two other days every week as well. I mean, after all, Jesus had already been talking about forgiveness of sin, healing, breaking oral tradition, welcoming the unwanted into fellowship. Jumping up and down on hot button issues. Why not take one more. Using John as a point of reference, this group of people was acknowledging in some small way that Jesus was a prophet, if only to nail him on another point so they can be sure He is not the Messiah and cross Him off the list.

And the answer comes in the picture of a wedding. Weddings were of such importance and joy--I mean a week long celebration, not our wimpy evening of fun or day of crazy in the Danish tradition--it's about eating and celebrating. And fasting is connected with sorrow. It's important enough to warrant a Rabbinical ruling that says that "All in attendance of the bridegoom are relieved of religious observances which would lessen their joy." It's very clear what Jesus is saying about His identity as He further dives into talking about sewing and wine. A patch that would not hold. A wineskin that would burst. Jesus is talking about the Law and Himself. This beautiful law given from God to show how people how to live, protect God's people, sets them apart and to points them to a need for someone to save them outside of themselves. All of this had been twisted.

Jesus could not be put into the box of what they were thinking the Messiah would be because it was popping their every idea--and ours-- and not fitting in with any check list of who His and what He was going to do on the cross. Not what you would expect the Kingdom of God to look like. You see. Jesus is not a patch or a temporary solution that we so often search for in our every day lives. Not a quick fix. Not ten steps to a better life. Not how we would define beautiful. Not simple but messy.

As Brene Brown says: "People would want love to be like unicorns and rainbows and so you send Jesus and people go -oh God- love is hard, love is sacrifice, eating with the sick...love is trouble, love is rebellious, love is...... like a Leornard Cohen song: 'Love is not a victory march. It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah.'" (http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V00914)

The Kingdom of God is this unexpected wave that pulls you into the deepest of currents, ruining your life in ways you never dreamed. God clothing Himself in humanity, taking our mess upon Himself, conquering death and leaving the tomb open and empty. Redefining what love really means. Inviting us into His story, not our own. Jesus is the fulfillment of all that is promised--even what we did not expect.