The Gospel reading from Sunday (Matthew 20:1-16) is bracketed by Jesus’ statement, “The last will be first and the first last.” This sentence is familiar—perhaps so familiar that it doesn’t provoke us anymore, but it ought to. Throughout Matthew, Mark, and especially Luke (as well as I Peter and I & II Corinthians), there is regular attention given to the fact that in the new kingdom, fortunes will be reversed.
This concept of the reversal of fortunes in the new kingdom—the first last and last first—shows up in many contexts: The humble will be exalted, and the exalted will be humbled. The poor will inherit everything, and the rich will go away empty-handed. The kingdom belongs to children. Those who are persecuted will be blessed. The meek, not the ambitious, will own the promised land. Beggars will be in charge of the kingdom. Those who are weeping will receive comfort. The foolish will shame the wise. Etc. Etc.
We need a bit of nuance with these statements, because no individual verse should be interpreted outside the totality of Scripture. In other words, the humble or poor who refuse to repent and turn to Jesus in faith shouldn’t expect this exaltation. These claims about the poor and humble occur within the community of faith, not outside of it. And the wealthy and powerful who actually submit to Jesus in faith and repentance need not fear being brought low when Jesus returns, because they will have humbled themselves by submitting to Jesus.
But that nuance shouldn’t blind us to Jesus’ basic point and shouldn’t keep us from noticing the context in which this claim occurs. Frequently, when people are jockeying for status, Jesus cautions them with some variation of “the first will be last and the last first.”
We need that caution, because we are not being trained by our world to put ourselves last or delay gratification. Instead, the basic impulse of our culture is self-promotion, self-expression, self-actualization, and self-gratification. The self-help/care industry is worth billions of dollars. Everything in our broader culture says, “Treat yourself! Put yourself first!”
Yet Jesus cautions us that putting ourselves first will result in being last in the kingdom. And he invites us to give ourselves away as he did, promising that if we put ourselves last for his sake, we will end up being first in the kingdom.
Christians often speak of being countercultural. It is hard to imagination anything more countercultural than a life lived on the principle of, “In the name of Jesus, I will be last.”
Steven+
Further Up and Further In
When people borrow the phrase “further up and further in” from CS Lewis’ The Last Battle, they normally use it to communicate something spiritual, like going deeper into the Gospel or the presence of God. For those who haven’t read the book, the phrase describes the children walking toward the heart of Aslan’s country and Aslan himself, and thus using the phrase as a spiritual metaphor is exactly in line with Lewis’ intent in the book.
This newsletter is not one of those moments! I am borrowing the phrase not to communicate something spiritual or profound, but instead to simply say that we need everyone to move “further up and further in” at church on Sunday!
As attendance has normalized after the summer, it has been clear that we are beginning to fill up the sanctuary at Gayton. There are still seats available, but if they are buried in the middle of rows or at the front of the sanctuary it becomes very awkward for newcomers to find a place to sit. To fix that, we need everyone to move forwards and towards the center aisle, so that the available seats are at the back of the sanctuary and on the outside edges of the rows. This will make things a lot easier for people who are new (or for those running a bit behind).
Further up and further in!
(By the way, if any grammarians are suddenly bothered by the fact that CS Lewis used “further” rather than “farther” to describe the literal distance the children walked, be at peace. British English, unlike American English, does not distinguish between the two words.)
Steven+
Scripture Reflections
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matt. 16:26)
Jesus’ question presupposes a certain value system. Our souls are more valuable than what the world offers, like pleasure, money, power, or fame. Who we truly are—our identity before God, our capacity for love and relationship, our ability to hope and grieve, our calling to honor and represent God—matters more than what we own and the vacations we take.
But there is something else behind his question: We cannot buy a healthy soul with worldly goods, and yet the commodity we spend to get worldly goods is the same commodity that could be spent for a healthy soul.
It is probably obvious that we can’t buy a healthy soul with worldly goods. (Look at the rich and famous if you need evidence.) Diamonds, stock portfolios, and fame can’t be exchanged for a healthy soul. Even money, the ultra versatile commodity, can’t be exchanged for soul-health. (It promises to, in the self-care industry, but fails to deliver.) But the commodity we spend for money and for those worldly goods is the same commodity that could be spent on the health of our soul—our time!
For most of us, time is the most plentiful commodity we have at our disposal. We have far less of it than we would like, but we still have hours every day that we get to choose how we use. Those hours may not occur all together—they more likely occur in 5, 10, and 20-minute snatches, or while we are driving to work or school. But put these bits and pieces together, and most of us have a fair amount of time at our disposal. We fritter it away, but it could be reclaimed for the health of our souls.
In both Colossian 4 and Ephesians 5 Paul counsels us to “make the best use of our time.” He uses a marketplace word, urging us to buy time up wherever it can be purchased and value it highly. I imagine that reclaiming those bits and pieces of time is exactly what he had in mind!
What would it mean to use these snatches of time for the sake of our souls?
There are obvious answers, like prayer and Scripture. Instead of reaching for your phone when there is a 5-minute gap in your schedule, be quiet before Jesus in prayer or wrestle with a Bible verse you remember. But some of the other answers aren’t as obvious, and some might even feel like wasting time! Consistently, when the Bible gives lists of what to do in these moments, it includes things like “rejoice,” “do good to each other,” “give thanks,” and “be at peace.” The Sabbath itself is evidence for the fact that God wants us to use one seventh (!) of our time resting!
For the sake of your soul, snatch up these moments! Use them to turn towards, enjoy, and trust Jesus.
In Christ,
Steven+