Last week we threw a surprise party for Megan’s 30th birthday.
Ever since that night, I’ve been pondering the role of surprise in the kingdom of God.
In the gospels, Jesus describes the kingdom of God (or the rule and the reign of God) through story.
The kingdom of God, he tells, is like a party – but for people who weren’t on the guest list…
It’s like a man who buys a field and finds hidden treasure worth a fortune…
It’s like a seed so small its hardly visible to the naked eye and yet its capable of growing to be quite sizable, large enough for birds to even perch in its branches…
It’s like a merchant looking for great pearls – and finds them in the most unlikely of places…
It’s like a father who welcomes back a son that doesn’t deserve it to be accepted back into the family fold – shocking the townspeople…
Each of these stories reinforce the same thing: life with God – kingdom life – is full of joy, celebration and surprise. It catches people off guard. It takes you back. It’s ironic. Those who seem most qualified for it fail to grasp its potency. Those who seem to least fit the requisite are the ones who benefit the most.
To experience the kingdom of God is to be pleasantly surprised by the reality of God’s reign.
I find it incredibly striking (and heartbreaking, honestly) for many people – especially those who call themselves Christians – that they would never use words like celebration, surprise, adventure, irony, joy or paradox to describe their lives. The best descriptions might be words like predictable, boring, regimented, controlled, scheduled – no surprises whatsoever.
Chip and Dan Heath (brothers who wrote the fascinating book Made to Stick) recently wrote in Fast Company Magazine about the human biological and physiological response to surprise. When we are surprised or caught off guard how do we physically respond? Our eyebrows are raised. Our eyes get bigger. In times of surprise our body communicates to our our brain which sends a message to our eyes to open up and see the world around us – the entire perspective – and take in as much as we can. Being surprised increases our vision, perspective, focus and alertness.
Conversely, when we are cynical or skeptical we squint, forcing our eyes to block out the periphery and only look at one thing right in front of us with laser-like focus. It’s easy to lose perspective -physically and emotionally – when we’re squinting.
Think about the spiritual implications of this: when I’m cynical and skeptical I shut out the reality of what is around me in order to focus on what is right in front of me – ultimately, what I want to focus on. I miss out a myriad of things: the needs of others, opportunities for blessing others, ways to be thankful, etc. Isn’t that Jesus’ critique when he said to the Pharisees that they focused on the sawdust speck in eyes of others, but were unable to see the huge 2 x 4 in their own? We don’t know what those Pharisees looked like, but I wonder what their eyes were like – wide open or squinty? After some thought, my mind is pretty much made up.
However, when the kingdom comes upon me and I am pleasantly surprised, my life is opened to new possibilities and new realities, if I have the courage to allow myself to do so. I see God at work in ways I didn’t before. I see people to care for. I embrace opportunities for redemption. I acknowledge blessings and respond in gratitude.
The last few months I’ve been praying a very simple – and yet scary – prayer, for I am afraid God might just actually answer it: God, surprise me. I wonder what would happen if we all asked that of him on a regular basis? And, when he did surprise us, I wonder how our vision of the world – all its hopes, dreams, heartache and pain – would drastically change…
Jesus desires for the kingdom to be unleashed in every area of life. I wonder if we had kingdom eyesight if we might see the incredibly hope-filled possibility that exists in God’s world. Maybe God wants to renew our eyesight.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth
As it is in heaven…
May God surprise us all. For the world would be better off for it.