Read
“But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Mark 10:31
Reflect
Billy trained for years to run in a marathon, and when the day finally came for him to run in one the training paid off. He ran better than anyone could have expected and finished in near-record time. His time of two hours and 10 minutes landed him in first place. But when the time came for him to receive his trophy, the organizers pulled a switch. They said the decision had been made to show sympathy to the slowest runner in the race – a guy who had finished in just under four hours – and the trophy went to him.
Jasmine was driven her whole life to be the best. Getting straight As wasn’t good enough for her – she wanted to have perfect scores on every test. So it wasn’t a surprise when she was in the running for valedictorian in high school. Just prior to graduation, however, her senior adviser announced that the school was doing something different this year. Instead of making the student with the best overall GPA the valedictorian, they gave the honor to the student who was graduating with the lowest GPA.
You probably get the idea here. These examples make absolutely no sense. It would be the same as placing the worst two teams in baseball into the World Series or having two winless teams face off in the Super Bowl. We’ve always been geared to root for winners, whether it’s in a race or a baseball game or in high school class rankings. The people who do the best finish at the top and the people who don’t do the best finish somewhere else.
But then there are the statements from Jesus about people who are first being last, and about people who are last being first. That, to many people, makes no sense, and that’s understandable. But we need to understand the context that Jesus was using to make those statements.
In Matthew 20, Jesus told a parable about workers who worked a different amount of time but were paid the same thing. In this parable, the boss told the workers who put in the most time that they were paid fairly and that he, as the boss, had the right to pay the other workers as he saw fit. In this teaching, Jesus was showing us that the people who decide to follow Him first won’t necessarily get any greater reward for their decision than the people who follow Him at a later point. There is no last place in discipleship — the people who finish last still get to stand first place in line in Heaven.
Then, in Mark 10, Jesus reminds us again that the last will be first. This is the story of a rich young man who wanted to know the secret of eternal life. Jesus quizzed him on the basics of the Ten Commandments, and the young man insisted that he was keeping those. But then Jesus throws a wrench into his thinking. “Sell everything you have,” Jesus said, “and give the money to the poor. And then come and follow me.” The young man, saddened by the thought of losing his wealth, went away brokenhearted. This is where Jesus confuses his disciples by saying, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
As it has been throughout most of history, the rich were seen as having their lives together. They had the first preference on most things, and certainly, they would all be going to heaven. This is why the disciples asked Him, “Then who can be saved?” If the rich people had a difficult time getting into Heaven, then what hope did the average or poor people have? Jesus was pointing out that many rich people believed that their wealth gave them the inside track to God’s favor. Based on the disciples’ response, many poor people believed the same thing. Jesus was pointing out that no human effort – including financial status – plays a part in earning God’s grace. Because of that, the poorest of the poor have equal footing in the eyes of God.
In our churches and in life, we can still give preference to people who have more or donate more. The wealthy and powerful tend to get greater access to people and structures. It’s understandable when that happens in business or politics, but within the spiritual realm, we must remember that God’s economy isn’t strictly financial. The rich and powerful have no more right to the church or to the Lord than the poorest homeless man living on the street. And while most of us love rooting for winners, we need to remember that in the sport of following Jesus Christ, everyone who truly calls Him Lord will receive the same crown of life.
Reflection copyright © 2024 Doug DeBolt.
