Jesus says several times that the first will be last and the last will be first. He doesn’t say let’s all be equal.

He says the first will be last, and the last will be first. I want to preach the good news of equality, but that’s not what scripture says. Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth. (5:5) Not, blessed are the meek, for they will share the earth with the mighty. They will inherit the earth.

It’s not only Jesus who says the first will be last and the last will be first. The theme of reversal flows through both testaments:

• Younger brothers taking the first-born’s inheritance: Jacob gets Esau’s blessing by wearing goat hair on his arms and cooking like Esau.
• Jacob has twelve sons and favors the youngest over the oldest. One of his sons Joseph is the center of Jacob’s affection, then his brothers sell him into slavery, then as he’s earning some respect as a servant he plunges into deeper depths – prison – and from prison rises to the highest heights of his life – Pharaoh’s second-in-command. His status is reversed, and reversed, and reversed.

I usually root for the underdog, but these birth order stories don’t inspire me, I think because the status of oldest sons just doesn’t translate to our culture, so when the reversal happens, when the underdog youngest son gets the inheritance or blessing, I don’t get the thrill and satisfaction I would if, say, the write-in candidate wins the election.

Can you think of more biblical reversal stories?

• Small David and giant Goliath.
• Moses nearly dies as a undocumented imported slave baby and then grows up in Pharaoh’s house, and from there stoops to murder, and from there rises to liberation coordinator. Moses, like Jacob’s son Joseph, has enough status changes that really his life looks like a cycle to me, from lowly to powerful to despair to hope to weakness to strength.
• Esther’s story is similar, she grows up a minority without citizenship and ends up one of the king’s wives. From that high status she risks her life to save her people.

Well it makes for great storytelling. But Jesus and his followers teach this reversal from meek to mighty to meek to mighty – not just as stories, as principle.

Luke 6:25 "Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

Jesus’ parable in Luke 16:25 "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.

Jesus teaches it, and Jesus lives it! Son of God, most revered rabbi, stripped, spat on, mocked, crucified, he goes from mighty to meek, and then from death he rises.

John 12: 24-25 Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Bearing fruit seems like a grand, luscious finale. But it’s also a starting over, because it is the seed for the next life, the new generation. Bearing fruit has something to do with the cycle of reversal that we find throughout scripture. A tree grows strong enough to bear fruit, it is mighty, but only after the fruit comes to earth, as meek as could be, lying on the ground waiting to rot or be eaten, only then does the seed find soil, and life continues.

I wish Jesus had just said, let the first and last join hands and become equal. But he said they would trade places. And then once the first is last, being last means becoming first. I wonder if Jesus is reflecting the genius of nature, the divine design of everything around us and within us. Because there is no equality in nature – at least not for more than a moment. What might look like equilibrium in an ecosystem is actually continuous change, even if it results in a stable ecosystem.

Science might call it dynamic equilibrium. I bet you’ve seen these shapes in your lifetime, as culture moves from conservative to liberal to conservative to liberal. The church, too. Or from rigidly organized to innovative then back to rigid then back to innovative.

Was Jesus tuning in to the reality of human, family, political, chemical, biological systems over time when he preached the first will be last and the last will be first?

Matthew 22:34-40
Hillel the Elder was a rabbi living when Jesus lived – maybe they even met! A gentile, someone who wasn’t Jewish, told Hillel the Elder “I’ll convert to Judaism if you recite the whole Torah standing on one foot.”
Before TV entertainment came in public spaces through conversation and challenge. Remember all those stories of people taking Jesus on? The Pharisees and Sadducees often, or bystanders, challenge Jesus with tough questions – who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? This woman has had seven husbands and each died – who will she be married to in heaven? Should we pay taxes to the Empire or not?
These conversations happen in public spaces, as Jesus and his friends stand around – like kids on playgrounds or teenagers in malls or adults in coffeeshops or bars. We like public spaces where we can be with some people we know, and some people we don’t know yet. Pleasant familiarity and exciting novelty in just the right blend.
When Jesus and his friends hung out like this they met the rich young man who wanted to follow Jesus but wouldn’t give away his possessions. They met the woman about to be stoned. Hillel the Elder met someone ready to convert to Judaism if he could simply recite the Torah standing on one foot. Hillel the Elder couldn’t pass up this opportunity!
He picked up his foot and said:
“What is hateful to you, do not do to another. This is the whole Torah; the rest is explanation; go and learn.”
The Golden Rule shows up in every religion – but don’t take my word for it; these children can tell you.

....Some people call the negatively-phrased version the "Silver Rule" as in, not quite as precious as "Golden Rule" because it's negative:

• Bahá'u'lláh: Ascribe not to any soul that which you would not have ascribed to yourself
• Hillel the Elder: Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to yourself. (What is hateful to you, do not do to another.
• Buddha: Do not hurt others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.
  

Gold is better than silver - what's better than gold? Platinum. The Platinum Rule: Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.