The Good News of a New King is Spreading
5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.
You just have to wonder how the tiny little new church, the people that were barely believers for less than three weeks, felt when these accusers said “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also!” They probably all at once agreed and then cheered that their brothers in the faith were so well known! What a triumph that the good news had carried in such a way!
Note also the story the rabble men tell. They accuse Jason and his guests of speaking of another king: Jesus. This is revolutionary language and that is what upsets the city leaders. Not only are these men turning the world upside down with their teachings, but they are also declaring that there is a new king to rule over everyone.
During the Cold War, a missionary organization used weather balloons to carry Bibles and pamphlets high in the sky into closed countries. They had timers on the boxes so they would open when the missionaries thought the balloons would be over certain cities and rain down Gospel pamphlets and notes. It was a very unpredictable to say the least.
After the Cold War, one of the men on this team visited a country behind the iron curtain and found a museum of Communist Atheism. Down one wing was a gallery of all the things the ‘Christian West’ tried to do to bring down communism. (And presumably failed, but there was that guy, so well, yeah.) There in a glass case was the weather balloon, the box, the timer. It said it had littered all over the town and none of the Bibles and pamphlets were there, like in other displays.
From the report and antagonism of his enemies, he knew that it had worked!
What if that was the thought of Jesus we carried around today? That Jesus turns the world upside down and He is the new king of everything. They do both go together, don’t they? Jesus is working in people right now beyond our ability or confidence to know it. May we continue in boldness and leave the knowledge of the results to the Lord.
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