The Last Will Be First

Reflect

Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion:

1. Read Genesis 4:1-5, 17:15-21, and 25:21-26, taking note of the brothers’ names for future reference. The Bible was written in a society that granted unique privileges and responsibilities to a family’s firstborn son. How does God challenge this cultural norm in these Genesis stories?
2. Read Genesis 4:5-9, 21:8-9, 27:41-42. How do the older siblings in each story and generation react to God overturning their status?
3. Jacob and Esau’s bitter rivalry spanned generations, and now their children are at war. Note the names in Esau’s bloodline as you read Genesis 28:6-9, 36:1-2, and 36:11-12. See also Exodus 17:9-9 and Joshua 24:11. Discuss how Esau partners with Cain and Ishmael’s bloodlines to attack Jacob’s descendants (Israel).
4. Let’s look at another family feud in Matthew 20:20-28. Why are the 10 disciples mad at the two brothers? What does Jesus say to those who want the rights and power that come with being “first”?
5. Jesus is the firstborn of a new bloodline characterized by peacefulness. Read Hebrews 12 out loud as a group. How does Jesus invite us to endure difficult situations? Zoom into verse 24. What does Jesus’ blood “speak” that Abel’s does not?
6. Take time to discuss other themes, questions, or key takeaways from what you learned together.

Script

Introduction [00:00-00:41]

There's a ritual in the Bible involving fragrant plants and spices that make a rich oil to pour on special objects or people. This is called anointing oil. And its meaning is rooted in the story of the garden of Eden, where God provided water for the dry land and formed the human, filling him with his Spirit.¹ This is the first anointing. The oil is a liquid symbol. It’s the water of life and God’s Spirit combined together, used to mark a person or a place as a bridge between Heaven and Earth.

Anointing in the Hebrew Bible [00:42-01:30]

During his wilderness exile, Jacob had a dream.

He sees a stairway leading up to Heaven. When he wakes, he anoints the stone on which he slept and called the place “House of God,” a place where Heaven and Earth are one.²

The Israelites built the tabernacle in the wilderness. When it was completed, they anointed the tent with oil, marking it as a place where God’s heavenly presence has come down to Earth.³

Israel’s priests and their kings were anointed with oil to set them apart as leaders, to mediate God’s heavenly wisdom to the world. (Exodus 40:12-14; 1 Samuel 16:13; 2 Kings 23:30) But they rejected God’s wisdom. They led with violence, leading to ruin and exile.

The Anointed One [01:31-02:42]

Their failure created hope for the ultimate anointed one, one anointed not merely with oil but with water and Spirit—not merely a bridge to Heaven, but Heaven itself come to Earth.

This is Jesus Christ.⁴

More than a name, “christ” is a title. It means “anointed one,” the new human, the ultimate priest, the cosmic king, God’s heavenly life coming into our world in a new way—a surprising way.

And after Jesus rose from the dead, he spread his anointing out into the world through his followers, Christians, from the word "christ," anointed ones who follow the Anointed One, people marked by God’s Spirit so that more and more of Earth can be filled with the life of Heaven.