It is Holy Week. During this most sacred of weeks on the Church calendar, where Christians around the world commemorate & celebrate the last week of Jesus Christ's life, his death, and his resurrection...let us remember:
"We change the world not by conquest or sword or might; we change the world by humility and love that stoops to wash feet and in so doing to break the chains of oppression and injustice and to set the captive free."-The Apostle Peter, Journey of the Cross
"So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness." -1 Peter 1:13-16 The Message
We are part of an upside-down kingdom...that is life-changing.
"Peter's experience of the cross left him a man changed.
Forever.
But this wasn't change that came in a moment, in one event. The cross launched Peter on a pathway of life consecration and personal transformation that would be lifelong in its duration and worldwide in its impact. Peter's transformation didn't merely make him a better person or even a better husband (and it clearly didn't make him a better fisherman). The life change Peter experienced simply cleared the way for him to quite literally 'rock' the world by carrying the good news of Jesus from Jerusalem to Rome. 'Go and make disciples of all nations,' Jesus said. 'Preach the gospel to all creation,' as Mark records it. With wonderfully clarifying contrast John weighs in with yet another wording of Peter's personal commission: 'Feed my lambs.'
Curious that a fisherman would be told to feed lambs. For Peter it was no doubt a heads up that his life paradigm was shifting in ways he could not predict or control.
'Feed my lambs.'
That doesn't sound too dramatic or earth-shaking. In fact, it sounds downright tame, if not lame. But in an UPSIDE-DOWN KINGDOM, the reality is the gates of hell fall before cross-bearing, lamb-feeding, Spirit-filled Christ followers who will not be turned aside. Deserts bloom. Ruins are restored. The world is reformed." -Mike Freeman
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