“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16, NIV)
Don’t get me wrong. If Bubba Watson emerges as the winner of a PGA Tour event, and especially a big one, I’m a satisfied fan. Bubba is not everyone’s favorite, and he has had his moments, but his heart is right, his priorities are in order, and his style is mesmerizing to watch.
But look, Bubba wasn’t supposed to be here. Not on the weekend. He came into the week ranked 39th in the world. The weekend—all things designed—is meant for the top 16. And Sunday? Well, that’s when we’re supposed to see more top ten players than the single one we ended up with: Justin Thomas. He alone upheld the honor of the anointed.
And Bubba? Well, he was the Loyola of Chicago at the Dell Match Play. He crashed the party. And now Loyola hopes they can become the Bubba Watson of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: the one to take home the prize.
My apologies for mixing sports if you’re not following both, but here’s the prevailing point—oh so often, the world does not give us what we expect. And when God is in the mix, what we should probably expect is something entirely backwards.
Jesus’ conclusion to his Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (you might recall the equal pay for all, whether they came to work in the first hour or the eleventh) is our lead verse today. They were words that had to be deeply disturbing to his audience that day, which included its usual contingent of law-abiding religionists. There was little doubt in these men’s minds that their good works were jumping them to the head of heaven’s line.
Then came this story—one of many—exposing the error in their thinking. God’s kingdom featured an open door (maybe even a back door, come to think of it!) for those who’d made a life of falling off the spiritual tightrope these men worked so hard to walk. How could this be?
As is often the case in the New Testament, what Jesus said in brief, one of the apostles fleshed out for the church in a letter of instruction. In this case, that apostle was Paul, who wrote to the Corinthians:
God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)
In this week we might see clearly how Jesus set the course here. Nothing could be more imaginably foolish in the world’s eyes than to willingly die by crucifixion. Nothing could be more imaginably foolish than a perfect man dying for those who have sinned again and again. But here we are. Loved though unlovely, graced though graceless.
The people of the world may shake their head at all this. They may call foolish the sacrifices we make in following Jesus ourselves. And yet I almost wonder why. After all, we hear again and again this time of year that those who pull off the upset are “the darlings of the tournament.” You know, if sports fans think these underdogs are darlings, they really need to take a look at Jesus.
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Jeff Hopper
March 27, 2018
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.