NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Part IX

Verse 30: Many people who think they are important now will not be important in the future. And many who are not important now will be more important in the future.

British scholar Charles Ellicott gives us an excellent thought on what Jesus is saying here. He writes: “The words point obviously not only to the general fact of the ultimate reversal of human thinking but to the individual case of which the disciples had made themselves the judges. They had seen one who stood high in his own estimate brought low by the test of the divine Teacher. They were flattering themselves that they, who had left all, and so could stand that test, were among the first in the hierarchy of the kingdom. For them too, unless their spirit should become other than it was in its self-seeking and its self-complacence, there might be an unexpected change of position and the first might become the last.”¹

This teaching did not come as a surprise to our Lord’s Jewish listeners. It was already a part of their verbal tradition. It was said by Rabbi Nathan: “And it will come to pass in that day that there will not be light, but heavy, thick clouds;² what does heavy, thick clouds mean? One Jewish authority gives this explanation: “Actually, according to the original text³ the last word in this verse is written, ‘will be crystal clear,’ so that the verse is to be read: ‘there will not be light; yet precious things will be crystal clear – that is, explanation of things concealed from you in this world, will in the time-to-come be as clear to you as crystal.”⁴

But Rabbi Eleazar also says: “This means, the light which is precious in this world, is yet of little account in the next world [because of the greater light there]. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: This refers to the people who are honored in this world, but will be lightly esteemed in the next world. As was the case of Rabbi Joseph the son of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, [who] became ill and fell into a trance. When he recovered, his father asked him, ‘What did you see?’ ‘I saw a tipsy-turvy world’, he replied, ‘the upper [class] underneath and the lower on top’’ he replied.”⁵

The word translated into English from the Greek as “first,” seems to be used in two ways in Matthew. It is used to denote something as a priority such as “foremost,”⁶ and again, as first “chronologically” – such as someone who goes in first and one who goes in last.⁷ Then something that is first in sequence – not second or third but at the head of the line.⁸ Jesus is speaking here of those who will forsake all to follow Him and the reward that awaits them. Using it in the sense of sequence, we could surmise that this would mean that those who were first to give up all for the sake of Christ will then be last in line to receive their reward, while those who came after them, even up to the very end, will be first in line. But it seems more likely that our Lord was pointing to those who are willing to forego positions of high authority in order to serve at the lowest level in the kingdom will be honored above those who stood at the top of the church hierarchy here on earth. A case in point may be illustrated with Mother Theresa of Calcutta who lived in abject poverty to reach the lowest in society as a member of a church where the pontiff and the cardinals serve in their elaborate red robes and birettas, will be one day be honored above them all.

Most scholars believe that our Lord is referring here to the conversion of Jews and Gentiles to Christianity. He came to the Jews first, before He sent the apostles out to the Gentiles. Remember, Jesus was talking about those willing to give up whatever it took to follow Him. In that sense, we might conclude that the Master is saying here that those who surrender earthly position and prosperity in order to follow Him in the ministry, many of whom will be the considered lowest on the ladder of worldly esteem with regard to position or title, will in fact be raise to a higher position in the kingdom than those who, although followers of Jesus, decided to maintain positions of authority in society and live a more rewarding lifestyle. In other words, those who receive great laurels and acclaim while here on earth have, in effect, already received some of their reward down here, while those who went unnoticed and unrewarded in the far off corners of His vineyard will be given greater honor in the day of reckoning yet to come.⁹

A Roman Catholic scholar during the era of the Protestant Reformation gives his interpretation of what Paul is saying here: “On the whole, by this saying Christ signifies that the rich, and those who pant after earthly good, will be shut out of Heaven; but the poor who desire heavenly things will be the first there. He refers to what He said to the rich young man (verse 21): If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Also to Peter’s words: Lo, we have left all and followed You; what will we have, therefore? Thus, Christ in Heaven is the first, Who on earth was the last, according to the words in Isaiah: “We saw Him, and there was no comeliness; we desired Him, Who was despised and the last of men.”¹⁰ Next to Christ the Apostles follow, of whom Paul spake: “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals… When slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.¹¹”¹²

But in order to leave no doubt in the disciples’ minds, Jesus will tell a parable that illustrates exactly what He is trying to say. It is from that we can draw a better conclusion of what He meant by those who will be first and those who will be last in the kingdom.