Sunday, September 13, 2009
September 13 - Pentecost + 15
Everybody wants to be a winner.
None of us wants to lose.
Never more clear to me than every fall
Back to school – back to sports → high school, college, NFL
Everyone rooting for their team, everyone wanting to win
And oh the heartbreak when they don't
– just ask my husband after last night's OSU-USC game
And when your team doesn't win, there's always some finger-pointing
Coaches often bear the brunt of it
FB last night & this morning – Jim Tressel's coaching
This week, a young man I know,
lamenting the 1st loss in an in-conference game in 5 or 6 years.
Whose fault? The terrible new coach!
University of Michigan coach – Rich Rodriguez –
last season, his 1st,
lucky it wasn't his last, w/ a 4-9 record –
Because people want to win!
And we expect our coaches to be the ones to lead us to victory
Peter & the disciples were no different than the rest of us.
They've been on a losing team for years!
The nation of Israel has had season after losing season
Right now, Rome is the big rival.
& Rome owns them;
they live under Roman law, Roman occupation
But they've had centuries of being the underdog
– the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Egyptians
But hope springs eternal
& this year, they have a new coach – Jesus,
one they know has what it takes to lead them to victory,
to beat the Romans at their own game
to send them packing back to where they came from.
I imagine them "on the way"
On a big yellow school bus,
Coach Jesus & his team
Jesus asking, what do the polls say about me?
How do I rate?
People are pretty impressed with his coaching ability
– comparing him w/ famous coaches of years past
– John the Baptist, Elijah, the other prophets
But what do you all think? Who do you say that I am?
And Peter & the other disciples know that there's something special about Jesus
Jesus is different than all the coaches who came before
– he's the Messiah, sure to win Coach of the Year
Certain to lead them to the championship game
To an undefeated record
And they're excited, because they want to win!
They want the power
and the glory
and the respect
and everything that goes along with being a winner
It sounds an awful lot like us
It's drilled into us from the time we are little.
We hand out those participation ribbons to all the kids on the team,
but we all know it's better to bring home the big trophy.
We all know that it's better to be on the winning team.
We all know it's better to be the best.
We want to be winners in life.
We want if not power over others, at least power over our own lives
We want to control our own destinies
We want to live the comfortable life, with money and respect
We want to be on a winning team
And we want a coach,
we expect a God,
who will lead us to that life of victory,
where there's not too much struggle,
or too much pain,
or too much sacrifice.
We want to be winners without the effort,
without the long hours of practice and discipline
without the hard work.
Which is why it's such a shock for us & for Peter
to hear these words coming out of Jesus' mouth in the gospel.
Somebody oughta give Coach Jesus a lesson
on how to give a pep talk.
Most coaches when they tell you how hard it's gonna be,
when they remind you of the obstacles you're facing,
when they remind you of how strong the other team is,
well, once they're done doing that,
they tell you how you're going to beat them,
how you're stronger than your opponent,
that at the end of the game, you'll be able to stand
with your head held high & your chest puffed out with pride,
because you will stand there the victor!
But not Jesus!
Jesus says to the disciples, “We're up against a tough team.
Things are gonna be hard.
We're gonna lose, and we're gonna lose big!
As great of a coach as you think I am, I'm gonna get ejected from the game."
The Son of Man must undergo suffering
and be rejected by the elders & chief priests & scribes,
and be killed.
And not only that, if you want to play on my team, the same will happen to you!
You wanna play for me?
You'll have to take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me
We want a coach that will lead us through the easy schedule,
where we don't face any real hurdles or opponents,
but that is not the coach we have,
that is not the life Jesus calls us too – and the biggest obstacle is ourselves.
Jesus tells us we'll have to put aside our selfish ambitions,
our prideful egos,
our sinful selves that want to win at any cost,
that look for the easy way out,
who just want to live a nice, quiet, comfortable life
where not much is expected of us,
not much is asked.
But the life of discipleship is not about being comfortable
It's not about being coddled.
The life of discipleship is about Jesus' call to follow.
It's about being challenged to live in a new way.
It's about self-sacrifice
It's about taking one for the team –
not the kind of suffering that's just for suffering's sake,
but the kind that comes
from willingly giving up our rights to ourselves
so that someone else can benefit
I saw a movie a few years ago called Facing the Giants
another inspirational sports movie, but with a twist
– produced by a church, with a heavy God-component.
A bit simplistic,
kind of makes it sound like if you just pray enough or the right way,
God will give you everything you want
& that's the exact opposite of what Jesus is saying here!
But some good stuff nevertheless
HS football coach who's had 6 losing seasons,
and people are calling for his head –
because everybody wants to win, right?
And none of his players have ever had a winning season under him.
One in particular, Brock, gives him a hard time;
And the other kids are looking to Brock to see how to be.
So one day at practice, the coach gives Brock a challenge
– the Death Crawl
Hands & feet (no knees), other kid on his back (back to back, holding on to sleeves)
Everyone has done it, 10 yards, 20 yards
Coach challenges Brock to go farther
Brock says, you want me to do 30? I can do 30
Coach says, I want you to do 50 yards.
I think you can do 50.
But even if you can't, I want you to give me your best.
I'll give you my best.
I mean it Brock, I want you to promise me you'll give me your best.
And Brock agrees, but you can see on his face that he doesn't quite mean it.'
Oh, and 1 more thing, Brock.
You're gonna do it blindfolded,
because I don't want you giving up because it seems too far
So down the field he starts – and Coach walks with him
And Brock starts to struggle,
his breathing is heavy, he's slowing down.
And Coach says, Don't you quit on me.
You can do this!
And Brock is really starting to struggle &
Coach gets down on the ground,
crawling on the ground beside Brock,
never leaving his side.
And Brock says it's too much,
It hurts, it burns, I can't do it.
And the Coach says, Don't you give up on me.
Don't you give up!
You can do this! Just 10 more steps. 10 more.
Just 5 more steps
5 more, 5 more.
And finally Brock collapses in a heap,
lies there on the ground,
chest heaving,
face in the grass.
And he's saying, "It had to be 50,
I had to make it to the 50.
It had to be 50."
And the Coach says,
"Take off your blindfold & look around
– you're in the end zone."
A model for this kind of discipleship Jesus talks about –
Because the discipleship Jesus calls us to is hard;
it is costly;
it asks more of us than we think we can give.
This kind of discipleship requires us to dig deep, to push ourselves.
Brock couldn't have done it without his Coach there beside him,
talking in his ear,
telling him to take a few more steps and a few more.
And just like Brock,
we have our coach right beside us,
urging us on,
calling us not to give up on this hard road of discipleship,
not to take the easy way out,
not to give up on him.
Because others are looking at us, others are counting on us.
Because when we live this way, our lives aren't the only lives that are changed.
We make a difference in the lives of the people around us,
we change the world around us.
And our Coach never leaves our side.
You may be thinking,
"That's good, Pr. Becky,
but that Coach didn't have to carry another person
the whole way down that football field
from endzone to endzone."
Well, Jesus never asks us to do anything he didn't do 1st.
And when Jesus tells us to take up our crosses and follow him
- Well, he carried that cross first.
He carried the weight of that cross
- the weight of our sins
- the weight of the world
all the way to that endzone on the hill of Calvary
And there, just when it looked like the game was over,
time had run out,
with Jesus hanging there lifeless on that cross,
Hope springs eternal!
Because Jesus says there will be suffering
and rejection
and death,
but he also promises that he will rise again!
Time gets added back on the clock & Jesus returns to win the day
And this time, it's a complete blow-out!
When Jesus comes, there's no question of who the victor is
Everybody likes to be on the winning team
With Jesus, we know we'll have the final victory
Thanks be to God
Amen
And here's the clip of that scene from the movie...
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