Seldom have so many fortunes crumbled in a mile and a half. It happened at the Belmont Stakes on June 7 in the last challenge of the coveted Triple Crown—the Holy Grail of horse racing. Big Brown was almost unanimously favored to win after dramatic run-away wins in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. Against all odds, he finished a dismal ninth in last place, drawn up by his wise jockey who sadly said, "I had no horse today." When the stunned media asked, "What happened?" jockey Kent Desormeaux curtly answered, "I have no idea." Da’Tara, a comparatively obscure steed that was a 38-1 shot, galloped into the lead early and stayed out front to win.
A post-race examination has so far revealed no physical problem with Big Brown, but critics were quick to say his regimen of steroids had been unwisely discontinued. Watching the horse cool down, trainer Richard Dutrow hung out in speechless solitude—a stark contrast to his endless blustery boasts prior to the race. Big Brown, named for UPS, simply couldn’t deliver the goods.
What might an upside down horse race have to do with anything biblical? The Belmont set a perverse record. Never before had a first place favored horse finished dead last. Far more wrenching than a mere blown horse race, Jesus had a profound insight into human reversals of inverted spirituality as recorded in three Gospels. Matthew 19:30 simply puts it, "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." Proverbs 16:18 warns, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." A bit of pre-race humility shown by the devastated trainer could have blunted the loss.
No one knows the future except God, but He does predict a normalized value system in the light of eternity. The "first and last" text corrects flawed thinking regarding Christian service. When Christ’s disciples wavered in their spiritual commitment in view of what they had sacrificed to follow Him, He urged spiritual perception in contrast with mercenary gain. "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first"( Matt 19:29-30). "Hundredfold" is really 10,000% return on a servant’s life investment.
Some will find their temporal treasures a total loss and themselves in last place when life’s finish line is crossed, while others will enjoy eternity with enormous interest. Hebrews 12:1-2 outlines those in the stands and others on the track: "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
When I was a kid at camp, we sang a fitting verse to the old Gospel chorus "Do Lord." "If you don’t bear the cross then you can’t wear the crown…way beyond the blue."
Dave Virkler
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