Coronation Part III - The Upside-Down Kingdom

As a kid, I remember playing the ‘opposite day’ game. ‘Yes’ became ‘no’, and ‘no’ became ‘yes’. It was always so much fun to turn things on their head and make people think just that little bit harder about your topsy-turvy response to their questions. Now I’m a little older and ‘opposite day’ is a thing of the past, but I’m still intrigued by the concept. It’s this very idea of an upside-down Kingdom that fascinates me about God. Here we have the creator of the universe, the author of all mankind, stooping down to earth, taking on the form of a humble carpenter, and dying in our place. 

Following His arrest, Jesus is brought before Pilate, the Roman Governor, who asks, “so, you are really the king of the Jews?” (Matthew 27:11?) Bound in chains and having been taunted, beaten, and spat on, Jesus simply replies, “You have just spoken it”. Pilate, not knowing what to do with this prisoner-king, places Jesus’ sentence into the hands of the gathering crowd who, seemingly beginning to grasp this whole topsy-turvy concept, demand, “Crucify him!”.

“Dragged before the soldiers and their swords. Charged with being king and nothing more. A crown made, not with gold but with thorns. A robe, meant not to honour but to scorn.” - ‘Coronation (Come & See)’ by Calvary Worship

Jesus, God in human form, pure and without sin, is sentenced to die a criminal’s death. He’s dragged before the soldiers and their swords. He’s crowned not with gold, but with thorns. He’s dressed in a robe, meant not to honour but to scorn. It is here that it happens. The world is turned upside down. Darkness hides the sun. The curtain is torn in two. The crowd think they’ve won, that it’s over. He’s dead. However, in this upside-down, topsy-turvy Kingdom it is far from over! This is His crowning glory! This is His coronation.

Fast forward to over 2000 years later. The crowd of society is demanding, ‘it’s all about me!’ and ‘the most important person in your world is you’. Yet, Jesus offers a soothing alternative that sounds a little like the ‘opposite day’ game. He declares, “…those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last” (Matthew 20:16) and challenges us that “if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it” (Matthew 16:25). Just as He turned the tables on sin and death at the cross, Jesus turns the tables on class systems and social structures, breaking norms and smashing through expectations. Incredibly, He invites us to become part of his upside-down Kingdom, to follow His lead in seeking to serve rather than to be served, and to give rather than receive. 

By Rebecca Spicer – Worship Leader and Songwriter, Sunshine Coast Campus


Coronation (Come & See) - © 2019 Calvary Worship - Words & Music by Matthew Germon, Jordan Gage, Cameron Murison and Rebecca Spicer