last best

A couple of summers ago I was in a reader’s theater called Things We Couldn’t Say, about the experiences of a young Dutch woman in the resistance during World War II. In one letter to her fiancé she talks about the fact that their friends are getting married and notes that they would probably be “last best,” meaning the last ones married but the best couple.

I’ve often thought about that phrase because it seems to me that, rather than a throw-away children’s comment, there may be some truth in it. Maybe there is something about waiting that would make a couple better partners. Maybe there is something about being faithful through time and over distance that builds a stronger relationship.

This morning, as I read through Matthew 19 and I encountered this, in verses 28-30: 

“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.’”

I was struck with similar thoughts: what is it about those who are last now that will be significant when they become first? I don’t really think that we earn a first-place seat in heaven, although there are verses that suggest in some way we’re rewarded there for our faithful actions here. But I do think Jesus might grant some special blessing in heaven to those he wishes to. He can make some first, and he suggests here that he’ll choose some of the ones who are last here.

What makes someone last? Disability, or disadvantage? Poverty, weakness, meekness? Or is it more like disciplines, people who are selfless and develop the ability to always think of others first, always act in service of others rather than self? Are these the people that society puts last, or people who choose to put themselves last? Does Jesus make them first to compensate for what they put up with on earth, or to reward them for what they do?

It’s a mystery, but it’s also a passage that reinforces something found often throughout scripture: Jesus appreciates selfless people, and doesn’t seem to admire self-centered ones. It’s another indication that the best way to be obedient and to serve Jesus is to focus on other people.