Success, Failure and the Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God is for losers. Those who are blind, broken, forgotten, poor, marginalized, weak, sick, sinful and sad are right at home in the Kingdom. In fact, those who consider themselves to be healthy, self-sufficient, popular, rich, strong, righteous and in control aren’t even able to see the Kingdom of God, much less find the door and enter in. Even if they did, they honestly wouldn’t want to continue living in a place where their riches, popularity, righteousness and pride weren’t celebrated.

Jesus was quite clear that only the sick were in need of Him. (see Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32) Only the sinners were capable of being welcomed into His healing embrace. Those who can see have no need of being healed from blindness, do they? Those who already have a great life cannot receive the eternal life that Jesus provides, unless they’re willing to let go of their life and follow Him.

"In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." (Jesus) - Luke 14:33

This is exactly why Jesus warns us that the rich cannot enter the Kingdom of God. He says it’s impossible, really. (see Matt 19:24) A rich man already has all that he needs so he doesn’t realize that what Jesus offers might actually be worth trading his riches for. The more we have to lose the less likely it is that we will succeed at losing it for the Kingdom.

In the Kingdom of God everything is upside down from the reality we’re used to. The first are now the last. The humble are exalted and the proud are laid low. The greatest is the servant. Only those people who lose their lives find true life in Christ, and even then they must still die daily.

It’s the surrender of life that trips most people up, frankly. Especially those of us who have been raised to believe that we have certain rights to freedom and happiness and wealth and fame. The American Dream is an alternate path, not a parallel one. You cannot serve both God and money, Jesus said. If you love one, you will hate the other.

Success in this life can prevent us from fully embracing the Good News of the Kingdom that Jesus proclaims. In fact, success in the Kingdom looks like total failure to the world we live in – Giving away your possessions; Sharing with people who can’t pay you back; Forgiving people who don’t deserve it; Loving people who can only hurt you – all of these things seem like failure to those who are not of the Kingdom. It makes no sense to them. Why would we fail on purpose? Why would we lay down our lives for the scum of the Earth? Without eyes to see the Kingdom there’s no point in trying to explain it really. But we must still fail in the eyes of the world if we hope to succeed in the Kingdom of God. To put it another way, “We fail to succeed at failure when we succeed at failing to fail.”

Jesus is for losers. The Kingdom of God is for those who mourn. The Good News is that everyone can enter the Kingdom right now. But the price of admission is a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and a willingness to surrender everything in order to receive the treasure of the Kingdom.

“The Kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44)

-kg