There’s a piece of equipment called an inversion table that I use every morning to help my back. I lock my ankles into this contraption, lean back against the backboard, lift my hands above my head, and magically, the whole table inverts and puts me in an upside-down position. For about a week when I first started using the inversion table, I had difficulty becoming accustomed to it. The feeling of being upside down and the pressure of blood rushing to my head led to a sense of disorientation and discomfort. The jury’s still out on whether the thing actually helps my back, but I will say that, with repeated use, I have come to enjoy the sensation of being upside down. Strangely, I think that my time on the inversion table has also helped me understand the Kingdom of God in a new way.

The apocryphal writing known as the Acts of Peter, written in the latter half of the 2nd century, asserts that “unless you make what is right left, and what is left right, what is above into what is below, and what is behind into what is in front, you will not learn to know the Kingdom.” Regardless of the overall orthodoxy of the Acts of Peter, I think that it’s author got that part correct. The Kingdom that Jesus describes in his teachings and in which he ushers through his death and resurrection is an upside-down sort of thing. One has only to read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (or Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke) to see just how counter cultural is the Kingdom of God. “Then [Jesus] looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. (Luke 6:20f.)”.

What? The poor and the hungry and the sad are those who are blessed? Could Jesus really have said that? I mean, how messed up is that? That’s not how we live at all! That’s not what I was taught in school! That’s not the American dream! That’s all upside-down! And whether we like it or not, that is the Kingdom of God.

There have been many, many sacrifices that we have had to make in this last year. Few, if any of us, wish for this period of Covid-19 to last any longer than it absolutely must. I must say, however, that in some ways, we have been given the opportunity this past year to live into the Kingdom of God in ways that I am unsure we would have done otherwise. For example, consider the roll-out of the vaccine. Our culture usually values the young and strong. Our culture usually values the wealthy over the poor. The vaccine, however, is being given first to the old and weak. Great efforts are being made to ensure that the poor and the rich are treated equally. Sure, there is and always will be a way for the young and strong and rich to game the system, but in general, without us even knowing it, we have been behaving in accordance with the rules of the Kingdom of God! With the rollout of the vaccine, the table has been inverted. Everything has become upside down. We are prioritizing the elderly over the young. We are treating the poor with dignity. And in the midst of all the tragedy and sadness and death that Covid has brought, the Kingdom of God has somehow found a way.

If you are older and have received or will soon receive your vaccination, say a prayer of thanksgiving that the Kingdom of God has come near. If you are younger and have been asked to wait to receive your vaccination, be patient and know that by allowing others to go ahead, you too are living in the Kingdom prepared for us by and through Christ. I realize that it doesn’t seem natural. It seems that everything has gone all topsy-turvy. We may be disoriented, inconvenienced, or in some discomfort. And if we are, be at peace. That feeling of discomfort is our first clue that the table has turned and that the Upside-Down Kingdom of God has come near.

~Father Art