A lot of children’s games are based upon the concept of “the last one standing,” or, as in musical chairs, “the last one sitting.” Whoever is still in the game when all the playing is done is the winner. The game of “hot potato” could be summarized in the biblical phrase, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” In this particular game, which has been revised, technologized, computerized and commercialized, a potato or some other chosen object is passed around a circle while music is played or a timer is set. If you drop the object, you are immediately disqualified. The last one holding the hot potato when “time” is called is out of the game. The one to survive all the rounds without being ejected is the winner.
In a game like this, each player strives not to be last in one sense, in order to “outlast” all the other players. A game like hot potato gives a whole new meaning to the adage: “last but not least.”
In this Corinthian letter Paul goes to great lengths to explain that he is last and least among the apostles. The resurrected Jesus had appeared to so many others before he appeared to Paul. And in Paul’s opinion of himself, he was unfit to even be recognized as an apostle because of his previous atrocities against God’s church. But Paul was able to look beyond his own shortcomings and declare that by God’s grace he was now able to hold this esteemed position. Besides, even if he was less qualified than some, it remained that he had worked harder than any of them.
Paul was last, but he was not willing to consider himself least. He knew that in God’s grace, the sins of his former life were forgiven and that he now stood among God’s chosen people as a leader. He was the one who ended up holding the hot potato and still came out a winner. His hot pot
