I called my brother one day last week because I thought I was having a mid-life crisis, even though I’m only in my early twenties.

But I knew something was wrong with me, because everything I saw on television caused me to get emotional.

Now this may not seem like anything odd or out of the ordinary for some, but I’ve always been the type of person would only watch action movies and stayed away from anything that was sweet or sentimental.

But low and behold on last Sunday afternoon, as I was watching a movie that I had seen at least a dozen times before, I found myself wiping my eyes.

Now, I didn’t tell anybody about this, I was hoping there was some abnormal amount of pollen in my living room or that the neighbors were cutting onions or something beside my emotions that was causing me to, you know, get emotional.

Well I turned the channel to an NFL football game knowing that would toughen me up a little and fix the moisture that was in my eyes.

And it did and boy was I thankful, because for a minute there, I thought something might be wrong.

Everything was fine until the next night as I sat in front of the tv to watch the Olympics.

Now many people are kinda upset over the Olympic broadcasts this year because if you watch the morning news, you see who wins before you can watch in on tv. But the past week, I had always turned the volume down so I could watch the event later that night without knowing who had won.

And on Monday night I watched the swimming events. After they showed Ian Thorpe, the Thorpedo, from Australia break records and Jenny Thompson from the United States win another gold, NBC took a break and showed some footage from a previous race that wasn’t broadcast on tv.

Like many events that have many people competing, heats are held to narrow the number of contestants down until the final race.

One heat they didn’t show on television was the heat for the slowest swimmers in the 100 meter freestyle.

Three swimmers were standing on their platforms waiting for the starting bell, and two of the swimmers started before the bell sounded and were disqualified.

And that left a young man from Ecuador Guinea or something tiny country like that, standing in the middle of the arena all by himself looking out over a pool that would be all his in this heat.

As the starting bell sounded, he dove into the water, and immediately the crowd knew there was something different about this swimmer.

Instantly, the crowd knew that this swimmer was special.

And they laughed.

When the swimmer reached the other end of the pool, halfway through the race, he was 14 seconds off world record time.

You see, what the crowd was discovering was that this young man had never before swam that far, and he was only halfway through!

As he was making his back across the pool, the fatigue was obvious, he almost stopped in the middle of the pool, but he kept going, his arms were attacking the water, his feet were still, because he didn’t know to kick them, and he pressed on toward the wall.

He had been swimming for three weeks. A lot of us in the sanctuary could have realistically swam faster that he did, but he was given the opportunity to compete by a berth given by the International Olympic Committee for developing nations.

He was the most scared person in Australia that night. In a new country, in a new world in the water, and people were laughing.

But as he was trying to reach that wall, a mood changed in the arena. People saw what I was seeing; courage, hope, determination. And the cries of laughter became shouts of encouragement.

The crowd came to it’s feet chanting his name and cheering him to the finish, the sound was deafening.

And when he finished, tired, exhausted, still a little scared, and the absolute dead last in the standings, he was pulled from the water to greet a crowd of thousands on their feet.

For that one moment. A moment that will undoubtedly never leave his memory, he received the loudest cheer. For that one moment, the dead last stood tall as the first.

And I couldn’t help but get emotional. And that’s when I called my brother.

(read scripture)

It seems that it has long been the goal of life to be first, at least in America. We put an extraordinary amount of emphasis and pressure on being first, on finishing ahead of the pack.

If you don’t believe me, look at the paper when you get home. Turn to the sports section and see how many rankings there are; football, baseball, NASCAR, golf, the Olympics, ranked from who has won the most games to who has won the most money.

We all look to see who’s first. Put the paper down, and pick up the latest issue of Forbes’s magazine and you’ll see a list of 500 richest people in America. We don’t really care about who sits at number 397, 429, or 500. Most of us will automatically go to who’s number one!

It seems we all share the motto of Confederate soldier Nathan Bedford Forrest who said he wants to be the "firstest with the mostest"

We live in a world that rewards those who come in first and punishes those who bring up the rear. Where nice guys finish last and if you’re not early, you’re late.

We live in a world where winning isn’t everything – it’s the only thing. Where athletes will risk their health by taking steriods and other harmful drugs just to be a little quicker, just to jump a little higher, just to be a little bit stronger, just to come in first.

This is the American Dream, to have the most, to be the best, and to do it first!

Listen to the presidential debates soon. And we’ll hear promises of being first in education, first in successful health care, first in the race for the best military.

And more than likely, we’ll vote on that candidate that will best deliver the promise to bring us in first!

Life has become a race, and we only care who crosses the line first.

Maybe I shouldn’t say this is the American Dream. Maybe it’s unfair for me to label only American’s as the only people who desire to be first in everything.

Perhaps I should look back over time and maybe I’ll see a long list of people who have labored to come in ahead of the rest.

Names like Gates, Rockafellar, Hitler, Sherman, Bonaparte, Columbus, Alexander, Nero, and the disciples come to mind. Yes, even the disciples.

The Disciples were no different than you or me. They had the same desires and drives as we all do.

Life wasn’t much different 2000 years ago as it is today, the one who was first in line, first in command, received the greatest rewards!

And they knew that Jesus would soon establish his kingdom, after all, he’d been talking about it for some time now!

They knew their days of fishing and collecting taxes would be over, for they thought they would have positions of great authority and power in this new kingdom; they would no longer be the last in line of society, they would be at the beginning.

But even among themselves, they wanted to know who would be first.

And when Jesus told them who would be first in his kingdom, they had the same reaction that we all have when we hear his words.

"If anyone wishes to be first, he must be the last of all"

How? How is this possible? Where is the logic in receiving the place of honor and glory, being first, by first being the last of all?

Nowhere in their lives had they seen such a thing happen! Nowhere in our lives do we see such a thing happen! Someone becoming first and the greatest, by coming in last.

We don’t reward and certainly don’t encourage our children to be last in school, athletics, or life!

In fact, we punish those who come in last in school with low grades; those who come in last of the field by not letting them play; and those who come in last in life by laughing at them as we pass by.

What does Christ mean when he says that in order to be first we must be the last of all?

"And Jesus took a child up into the crook of his arm and said to them, ‘Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me’"

He held up a child. Surely the disciples all looked at each other and tried to understand what he was telling them. The way to greatness in his kingdom was to take in children? Does he want us to create orphanages and places for little children, what does he mean?

You see, all too often, we try to fit God into the same confines, the same box that we live in. Too many times we try to limit God by assuming he lives and moves by the same time and space that we do.

We can’t understand what Jesus meant by being first by being the last of all because we are trying to fit that in the world we live in where the last come in last and the first come in first!

But the kingdom that Jesus talks about isn’t on this earth, it isn’t in this time or space, it isn’t limited to the same walls and fences that keep us bound. The kingdom that Jesus talks about is eternal, never ending, never dying.

And the way to greatness is not by working hard to glorify ourselves, to go to great lengths to secure our place first in line, but to serve others.

Children are wonderful. They make us laugh and smile and they many times remind us of what it is to be alive!

They can do so many things.

But they can’t feed themselves. They can’t provide clothes or shelter for themselves or anyone else. They need constant care and attention, someone to always point the way, the show what is good and what is bad, to teach how to tie shoes and cut chicken.

They need someone to help with homework and brushing their teeth. They need someone to walk them across the street and tuck them in late at night with a story.

And with all of this help and attention they require, there’s very little in it for adults.

We can’t get a promotion by each shoe we help tie. There isn’t a raise for each story told or bandaid applied.

We aren’t given the corner office because we stay home when a child is sick or get up in the middle of the night when they’re scared.

We don’t achieve greatness or find ourselves first in line in OUR world when we attend to children, when put their lives before our own; except in the eyes of our children.

This is what Christ meant when he tells us to receive little children. He is telling us to care for those who cannot care for themselves.

To help those who are in need, regardless of their age, gender, or social status. He is calling us to love, a love that puts others ahead of us, a love that picks up the fallen and consoles those in tears.

Christ is calling us to put away our desires and drives for the wellbeing and care of others.

Christ is calling us to be the last of all, by putting everyone else first.

This is greatness in the eyes of God! This is greatness in the kingdom of heaven; those who desire not to be great, but those who desire to love!

This is greatness in the eyes of God; when we risk the laughter and ridicule the moment we jump into the pool, but when we place ourselves, our needs and wants, behind the needs and wants of others; we will hear the cheers of angels and of saints on the other side.

"If anyone wishes to be first, he must be the last of all"

Love is great, greatness is love.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.