Last Place

And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him, and said to him, “One thing you lack; go and sell”  Mark 10:21

Lack – If you get a blue ribbon for being first in the race, what do you get for being last?  You get Jesus’ love!  That’s the situation we find in this often-repeated story.  Here comes a young man whose life seems all together.  He proclaims, without a hint of deceit, that he has kept all those official religious rules.  What more does he need? 

The very fact that he asks Jesus tells us something crucial.  Keeping the rules did not make him joyful.  Something was missing.  He didn’t know what, but he certainly knew it wasn’t there.  Have you been in his shoes?  You’re doing all the “right” things, but somehow life just isn’t what it was supposed to be.  You’re not winning the race.  Something is wrong.

So, he comes to Jesus.  Jesus sees this sincere but naïve young man, and He loves him. He loves him because this man is lost, but he’s trying. Jesus recognizes the agony within, the discouragement over rule-keeping and the deep desire for freedom.  So, Jesus rewards him with the last-place prize.  In Greek it’s hustereo, the word for “lack”.  It really is a word that means, “last in line, behind all the others.”  Only one thing is in last place in this life, but that one thing steals all this man’s joy. 

When Jesus tells this man what it is that is in last place, we suddenly see why he has no joy in his religious practice.  His order of priorities is not the same as God’s order.  What God says is in last place, he counts as first on the list.  We should not be surprised.  Didn’t Jesus also tell us that the last shall be first?  Didn’t Jesus preach an upside-down world order?

In this man’s case, what’s backwards is wealth.  That’s all.  Just that one thing kept him from the kingdom.  Every one of us is just another version of this man.  We have something in last place in God’s eyes that we think should be first.  It might be career, image, family,  power, sex, possessions or even our religion.  It’s the thing that gnaws at us, stealing away our joy in God’s list of priorities.  Until we see it from God’s point of view, we are doomed to a life of unsatisfying rule-keeping.  There is no liberty there.

What does your list look like?  Are God’s items in first place or are you holding on to the last place prize? 

Oh, yes.  By the way, God’s priorities are very few and much simpler – if you have the list in the right order.