Jesus, our prototypical Subversive, was a culture-changing, foot-washing troublemaker! Instead of royal symbols of sword and chariot he chose a servant’s basin and towel. He had all the power of heaven at his disposal, but rather than vaunting himself to dominate, he bent low to wash the feet of those who should’ve been washing his. The irony of the “meek” inheriting the earth is the essence of Kingdom disruption. He disrupts the top-down system from the bottom up.
He then passes the basin and towel on to us to disrupt our social order with the same spirit of servanthood. By selfless servitude he subverts the conventional wisdom of the world and requires us to do the same. As servant subversives we don’t grope for power, attempt to control reality, or expect the world to understand us, let alone serve us. We love them past their insults and threats and continue to sow seeds of justice and mercy.
“Newness happens in the world,” says Walter Brueggemann, “when long silenced people get their voice enough to sing dangerous alternatives.”
These are excerpts from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
barney wiget 