That First&Last Thing (MMOW4)

Jesus tells us over and over that the first shall be last and the last shall be first (see Matthew chps 19 & 20; Mark chp 10; Luke chp 13) . It’s a key component of the whole Gospel message that those who are marginalized by earthly powers and kingdoms are not marginalized in God’s Kingdom. But here’s the thing we’ve gotten out of whack: Jesus isn’t reversing the order, he’s undoing it completely. If the first are last and the last are first then the last are first and the first are last and the first are last and the last are first … get it? When you say or type it over and over you can’t remember who’s first and who’s last or even where in the order of words you are. No one is marginalized in God’s Kingdom.

The Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven is about all people being equal. There is no status, no rank, no superiority. In God’s Kingdom there is God and all of God’s beloved children. This is the foundation on which forgiveness, mercy, grace, and redemption, as Jesus shows us how to live them, work.

These Kingdom character traits are about our behavior, not controlling anyone else’s. We don’t demand others forgive, others offer mercy and grace, or others restore broken relationships. We forgive others (we’ll talk more on forgiveness in later posts but for now let me just say forgiveness is about our own growth and wellbeing, if another person doesn’t think they’ve done anything wrong, why are they demanding our forgiveness?). We let God’s grace and mercy guide us. We participate with God in the redemption of this world. We follow Jesus.

When we reverse the “first and last” order, we aren’t working with God on the redemptive journey of creation, we are seeking revenge or retaliation. When we look to oppress the oppressors, we aren’t living within the Kingdom economy, we are elevating ourselves and claiming false power, just as the original oppressors. Now, this doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be justice or accountability. There absolutely is justice and accountability in the Kingdom. But we have to separate out revenge and retaliation from our ideas of justice. Justice in God’s Kingdom is always paired with mercy. Without mercy justice devolves into revenge and with out justice mercy devolves into a ‘everyone gets away with all the bad behavior’ free-for-all.

And for everyone to be equal, we have to allow for everyone to take up their own human-sized space in this world. No one should make themselves smaller to accommodate anyone else’s ego trying to take more space than they should.

If you make me uncomfortable yet you aren’t causing harm to another or me, it isn’t you who’s the issue. My ego is the problem. When we are uncomfortable around someone we need to check in with ourselves. Am I uncomfortable because the other person is causing harm to me, someone else, or themselves? Or am I uncomfortable because they are different than me and what I think should be standard for all human beings? And why do I get to decide ‘the standard’ for being human?

As I said in the previous post, I’m not advocating for doing away with authority structures or institutions. I’m trying to help us rethink what we think we know about leadership and discern what it is to be Jesus-led leaders. In seminary, we didn’t do much (if any intentionally) leadership analysis. In my experience in the church I observe a lot of folks trying to fit corporation style leadership models into the church. I find this to be contradictory to what Jesus teaches about leading in the Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven. I want to be intentional when I lead and I want to follow Jesus as I lead. I hope and pray that my exploration of Jesus-led leadership helps you.

There’s lots more to come. Stay tuned. And if you haven’t already, go back and read the first three MMOW posts while you’re waiting for the next one. And share your thoughts and experiences with me. I’d really be grateful if you left a comment.

God’s peace, Y’all.