“But many who are first will be last, and the last first." (Mark10:31)
The content and phrases of the above verse is found repeated in Matthew 19:30, Matthew 20:16 and Luke 13:30. This repetition signifies that this phrase was well-known to early Christian community. The authors of gospels properly allocated such well-known epigrams in the Scripture according to their method of writing.
The meaning of “Many who are first will be last, and the last first" is very clear. Those who are advancing now will be dropped behind someday and vis-a-vis. The epigram ‘blessing in disguise’ would be relevant to this case.
This particular text does not say about the way of living. The mode of living can be managed by learning the ethics of the world and the art of living. We can learn other spiritual teaching from the Scripture. Of course it is related to the world but clearly it has different dimension. The dimension used to transcend the world, reveal it and hug it. Let us slowly enter into its deeper level.
The text today is a warning for the leaders of early community. They exercised a sort of supremacy over other people. According to Paul’s letter to Corinth, there were many sects in the church. The prevalent sects made Cephas, Apollo, Paul as their luminaries and even there was the Christ sect. The emergence of sects was the result of relentless struggle for supremacy.
In Korean church, today, such thing frequently happens. Such incidents even lead to a physical combat and there witnessed the frequent occurrences of a big and a small hegemony struggles. The church leader should seriously accept the Lord’s word which says, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first.” The leader who does not know how to step backward destroys a community.
The content and phrases of the above verse is found repeated in Matthew 19:30, Matthew 20:16 and Luke 13:30. This repetition signifies that this phrase was well-known to early Christian community. The authors of gospels properly allocated such well-known epigrams in the Scripture according to their method of writing.
The meaning of “Many who are first will be last, and the last first" is very clear. Those who are advancing now will be dropped behind someday and vis-a-vis. The epigram ‘blessing in disguise’ would be relevant to this case.
This particular text does not say about the way of living. The mode of living can be managed by learning the ethics of the world and the art of living. We can learn other spiritual teaching from the Scripture. Of course it is related to the world but clearly it has different dimension. The dimension used to transcend the world, reveal it and hug it. Let us slowly enter into its deeper level.
The text today is a warning for the leaders of early community. They exercised a sort of supremacy over other people. According to Paul’s letter to Corinth, there were many sects in the church. The prevalent sects made Cephas, Apollo, Paul as their luminaries and even there was the Christ sect. The emergence of sects was the result of relentless struggle for supremacy.
In Korean church, today, such thing frequently happens. Such incidents even lead to a physical combat and there witnessed the frequent occurrences of a big and a small hegemony struggles. The church leader should seriously accept the Lord’s word which says, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first.” The leader who does not know how to step backward destroys a community.
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