/Do you not know that the ones running in a stadium, on the one hand
all run, on the other hand one receives the prize? So you run in order
that you receive (it). And all those struggling, have self control in
everything, they, on the one hand, then, in order to receive a
perishable laurel-crown; we, on the other hand, an imperishable! So I
myself run such as not aimlessly, so I box as not beating air; but I
bruise and enslave my body, not somehow, having preached to others,
myself become disqualified. For I do not want you to be unknowing,
brothers, that our fathers all were under the cloud, and all went
through the sea; and all into Moses were baptized, in the cloud and in
the sea; and all ate the same Spiritual food; and all drank the same
Spiritual drink; for they were drinking from the Spiritual Rock
following--and that Rock was the Christ! /
OK, sometimes God is really confusing to our feeble minds. St. Paul
writes about athletic competitions and how a race-runner or a boxer
competes to win a prize. In the world, only one person can be in first
place to be declared the "victor". So we struggle, strive, and agonize
by making every effort to do our best so as to "win". Then Jesus comes
along and totally blows our minds away. He says, "the last shall be
first". What?! So all my efforts of trying to win the prize are useless!?
Now at first glance, we hear Jesus speak of the "last being first" and
we think, "Great! I can just be lazy and by doing nothing, I'll be
victorious!" Well, that's not the whole story. The point both Jesus and
St. Paul make is how very different heavenly rewards are from earthly
ones. You work hard and you can earn a good income down here. You work
hard the same way and that earns you absolutely nothing in heaven!
Human efforts at trying to do the right thing don't matter a bit for
eternal life!
But this is no license for Christians to be completely lazy. Although
you don't have to do certain works for God to win heavenly life for
yourself, there are certain Spiritual disciplines that God has given you
to do. But these do not resemble in the slightest those things most
Christians think should be done. It is not your efforts to do things
that merits eternal life for you. For some, on the last day, will
attempt that path, telling Jesus all the things they did in His name,
and He will answer: "I never knew you."
No, Spiritual discipline is an entirely different matter, because it
does what the Spirit of God always does: He points to Christ Jesus!
Those things that direct you to where Jesus is to bless you are the
Spiritual disciplines God requires of you. And what He requires, (the
good-gift-giving-God that He is) is what He Himself supplies! That is
why you are saved by grace through faith, and not of your own works, so
that you don't boast. That is why you are saved as a free gift of God's
efforts alone!
And those efforts of God center on Jesus the Rock of your Salvation. For
your Savior meant it when He said that the last would be first. But
that's not primarily about you...it's about Him. Jesus once told His
disciples that the one considered greatest among them would have to be
the servant of the rest. But none of them were willing to enslave their
bodies for the sake of the others. But there was one among them Who took
the lowly role of the slave for the 12, even washing their stinky feet.
Jesus was the One Who was willing to be accounted as last, so that the
disciples, the Israelites, the Corinthian congregation, and all of you
would be considered by God the Father as "first". For Jesus was the Rock
Who was willing to be struck for you. Jesus embraced the cross, scorning
its shame, and was even willing to be damned by God the Father there in
your place! There He was put to death as your sin, once, for all. There
at Calvary Jesus was pierced through for your transgressions.
Yes, your Savior gave up His body on the + and shed His blood there so
that it could be Spiritual food and drink for you in the Lord's Supper.
Jesus your Rock was struck in death so that living water flowed forth
from His side for you--the waters of Baptism which cleanse you from all
your unrighteousness and bestow to you His holiness and life
everlasting. Jesus is that Rock of Ages, cleft for you. He was struck
down in your death so that you would have, in trade, His life everlasting!
In this way Jesus, who became "last" in God the Father's eyes at the
cross would also become the "first" born from the dead in His
resurrection to life Easter Sunday. So too, you may appear "last" among
those who foolishly think they must work hard for a lifetime to do
enough to earn salvation. But you know those Spiritual disciplines of
trusting Jesus to do it all as your Savior, and relying on His grace
given to you in Word and Sacrament to forgive, save, and bestow to you
the gift of eternal life.
.
