The First Shall Be Last...

Whether it’s Traitors, Bake Off or Strictly, have you noticed that most of our most popular TV entertainment is concerned with eliminating people??

Viewers watch agog to see if an overbaked meringue or a leaden foxtrot will spell the end for their favoured (or disliked) contestant. Or, if Traitors is your thing, bluff and double-bluff, throwing suspicion on your fellows and diverting attention in order to climb over the backs of other people is an essential skill.

It strikes me that this may reflect a broader tendency for us culturally. Whatever we are “in”, whether it’s the process of applying for a job, or delivering a project, or even submitting entries for our local horticultural show - are we “in it to win it”? Or are we doing what we are doing because we genuinely enjoy it, and simply seek to do and be the best we can?

I wonder why there are no TV shows (or at least none that I can think of) where the most important thing is to leave no-one behind, or where you gain points for including the person who struggles to keep up, or who doesn’t quite fit in.

Rather, culturally, we see “survival of the fittest” writ large, and it is easy to assume that this is not only how things are, but also how they should be - the natural order of things.

Those of us given the privilege of growing old will inevitably, eventually, find that we are no longer the fittest or the fastest. Those of us who are still to grow to full adulthood are not yet the fittest or the fastest. It’s almost as though we are only valuable when we are at our peak - winning some competition with other people - for attention, status, employment or “likes” and “follows” on social media.

The teachings of Jesus are a reversal of this attitude. He is well-known for saying:

“The first shall be last, and the last shall be first”.

He also made this extraordinary statement:

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home”.

Of course, this would have sounded daft to anyone who actually had responsibility for a flock of sheep - but the point Jesus makes is about the depth of God’s love for each and every person, however far they may have strayed. The least, the last, the lost, those annoying people who ignore instructions and the ones who just wander off and slow everyone else down... these people are just as valued, just as precious, as the people taking the top spot on the podium. Christians believe that God’s love is for absolutely everyone, and that absolutely everyone has been created with loving care, deserving of respect and kindness.

There’s nothing wrong with seeking to do and become our best, but we fall into danger if we start to believe that either we, or other people, are worth less (or are worthless) when they seem able to do less.

As the nights draw in (and many of us find ourselves watching a bit more TV during the winter months) why not see if you can find something to watch which celebrates inclusion, compassion and mercy - and, if you find it, please let me know!

Blessings,

Revd Kalantha