Seventh Sunday After the
Epiphany -February 20, 2011
Preached at
by Pastor Dennis R. King)
"Jesus the Eternal Coach!”
(Matthew 5:38 - 48)
Most of you know of Mike Ditka, hall of fame football
player, later coach of the Super Bowl winning Chicago Bears and now an analyst
for ESPN. Several year ago in an
interview with Ditka on ESPN Radio Ditka was asked to comment on how placid the
present coach of the Bears was in a game against the New York Giants. It was in that game that the Bears
quarterback was sacked nine times in the first half. The sports talk host wanted to know what
Ditka thought of the lack of passion displayed by the coach during that
drubbing. Finally, Ditka conceded that
he would have been a raving maniac if he was the head coach watching his team
get pushed all over the field. What was
most interesting was that Ditka went on to say that his view on football was
that each individual player needed to see football as an individual game. Each player, he said, must be determined to
win his individual game against the player he lines up against. If players don’t see the game that way then
the play will always be mediocre at best.
Ditka had high expectations for each individual on his team. Ditka feels that the team will be great only
if each player sees football as an individual game.
Jesus wasn’t a football coach and he didn’t rant and
rave like Ditka. He didn’t go ballistic
in the face of the failure of his disciples or followers. Whether Ditka knows it or not, he is taking
the same view to football that Jesus taught about life. Jesus taught that life is an individual
game…and the team will do well only if each follower sees the total effect of
Christianity as an individual game.
We, as followers of Christ, are not trying to win
against another person lined up against us on a defined field of play. We are trying to win against the strongest
opponent life can throw at us. We are
trying to meet the highest standards any coach can have or can set. We know that the best coaches…the ones we
most respect…mix high expectations with love and forgiveness. The one thing any excellent coach expects is
that the individual player does all he or she can to achieve perfection in the
role they play.
Christianity is, if one understands it correctly, the
religion with the highest standards of excellence. One could also say that Jesus has the highest
percentage of people who play by their own rules…who make up their own game
plan…who don’t really listen to the coach.
It is the one thing that makes the total team look bad. It makes for a messy game and a messy
life.
Maybe evangelical…Bible thumping preachers…attract
people in our day because they have high expectations. Those expectations are not necessarily
Christian…they are often more self-serving and political in nature…but they are
expectations that they repeat over and over again. They coach.
On the other hand, our tradition is filled with grace. We say…
Miss practice? No problem, come when you can. God loves you.
Can’t give?
Don’t worry about it. God loves
you.
Can’t help a neighbor? Someone else will do it. God loves you.
Have a problem with anger? It must be someone else’s fault. God loves you.
Struggle with being honest? It’s just the way the world works. God loves you.
Been unfaithful to your mate? Everyone is doing it. You are not alone. Carry on.
God loves you.
Use God’s name loosely? Profane in your talk? Nothing really wrong with that.
God loves you.
Putting others down to pull yourself up? It’s a tough go out there. Do what you
have to
do. God loves you.
All you can do right now is be negative and critical
and harsh? Its
okay…someone has to say the tough stuff. God loves you.
Can’t let go of a hurt or grudge? Don’t go to church because of the hypocrites?
You are right…it’s the only way to make a point. God loves you.
Now we
all know that this is not at all what Jesus teaches. This is not his game plan. Jesus is quite clear about the game plan and
he does make it an individual game. We,
in the Church make it a team game. We
don’t want to drive anyone away and at the same time we can unwittingly make
mush out of the truth that makes life satisfying and fulfilling. We all have different gifts and different
resources. But that is not what coach
Jesus is talking about. He is talking
about the way we play the game.
In the gospel lesson for today as well as the entire
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is so very plain about how he expects us to play the
game. We tend to think of Jesus as being
an old softy. He will love us no matter
what. And yet he didn’t show a lot of
love to the wayward Scribes and Pharisees.
He dismissed them from the team.
In today’s Gospel lesson the expectation of the
Christian life is high. Jesus is
coaching and his expectations are clear.
Among those expectations are these:
Don’t be angry
Don’t insult
Reconcile with those who are not happy with
you
Don’t look at another with thoughts that are
not pure
Don’t lie and then cover it by saying,
“Honest to God.’
Keep your speech truthful in every way
A lawyer was speaking to a group about being found out
in not being truthful. He told this
story on himself. As a young lawyer he
arrived at his newly rented office and waited for someone to drop in as his
first client. As he sensed someone was
coming he picked up the phone and started talking to impress his first
client. He talked about the corporation
case he was handling and about the damage suit he was winning. After a few more impressive comments he hung
up and turned to the waiting man, who said, “Excuse me, I’m from the Phone
Company and I’m here to connect your phone.”
Jesus knows if we are connected or not. The judgment of which Jesus speaks if we do
not connect is rather harsh. While many
of us would take those harsh statements as being symbolic, one can’t escape the
truth that Jesus expects us to live the game of life in a certain way and if we
do not there is a judgment. That judgment
might be self-deceiving. It might be
lack of respect from others It could be
living in broken relationships. It could
be that we never find peace within. It
could be that we never know the satisfaction of giving to others…or of being
loved by another. It could be that we
get set in the way we are and think every message we hear in church was perfect
for so and so but let it go over our heads.
Jesus wants us to connect to the Christian life. He wants us to listen to his coaching because
he knows that is the only way we can taste the joy of winning the one game in
life that really counts. And that game
is to be the best person in Christ that we can possibly be. And to do that we need to constantly listen
to the coach, strive for perfection in living in harmony with His teachings,
and try to move forward in our ability to live the Christian life today and
forever. Amen.