citizens of the upside down kingdom

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

Matthew 11:25-26

Jesus saw His kingdom as a great reversal of what society would consider important. God would raise up, by His gracious will, simple people with childlike faith to believe and proclaim the gospel. It wasn’t about being mighty or big or outwardly impressive. In fact, the world’s powers were under fierce judgment.

It is best to understand what Jesus is saying here in context. In Matthew 11:1, the question comes from John the Baptist to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Jesus answers with a simple declaration of his ministry: “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” Jesus adds “blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matthew 11:4-6).

Jesus then extols the ministry of John the Baptist whose preaching and practice of baptism in repentance paved the way for Jesus to do all these things. He then chastises the fickle reception of John (and of Jesus) characterized by John being minimized as crazy because of His seclusion. Jesus says His own ministry was also minimized by people calling Him a glutton and drunkard for the opposite reason: Jesus closely connected to all the common people. Jesus then denounces the cities where all His great miracles were seen and then rejected. These “wise and understanding” people really were not. They were smugly lost in their rejection of God’s work.

All this then helps us understand that those who thought themselves to be wise and understanding really were not so because they rejected the gospel in the light of Jesus’ own miracles. And those who believed, with whom Jesus ate and drank, had the childlike faith, were blessed by the Father, and would be the citizens of His upside down kingdom. And this is still true for those who believe today.