Zecharaiah 14:1-21
Revelation 20:1-15
Psalm 148:1-14
Proverbs 31:8-9
The holidays have been great for sports fans. College football is coming to a close and the bowl games have been very exciting. Not to be outdone, the NFL completed its playoff lineup with some pretty hotly contested games yesterday. And the NBA even had five games on Christmas Day (and alright, I admit I did watch Lebron return to Miami. It was so uplifting to see how Miami welcomed him back, grateful for all he'd done for the team - cheers, video tribute, hugs all around). Through it all, there were cheering, adoring, sometimes rabid fans - live, on TV, on the radio, even on the internet for highlights; fans who'd pledged their allegiance, and who now painted their faces, screamed their adulation, even got into fights for their team. Such commitment! And to whom? Well, admittedly, to people who are capable of doing some pretty amazing things (check out 32 year old Dwayne Wade's putback dunk in the Cavs game, or Antonio Brown's 70 yard punt return for a touchdown against the Bengals).
Today's readings describe some even more amazing things. In the psalm, we are reminded of what God did in creation - "praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars. Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at His command they were created, and He established them for ever and ever - He issued a decree that will never pass away." You want to talk amazing? Consider the totality of Michael Jordan's career against this: that Someone created each and every single heavenly body, established the rules by which they would exist and interact, and by His will continued enforce those rules. In the reading from Revelation, we are reminded of His complete dominion - you know the devil who has so consistently and constantly plagued the world, inexorably turning it to its image as we sit helpless however much we try to fight sin in our lives? Revelation describes the battle almost matter-of-factly, in one and a half verses: "But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beat and the false prophet had been thrown. And they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." So quickly, so easily, so completely, victory won - no suspense, no doubt about the outcome. Complete domination, blink and you miss it. Or how about the OT reading, where Zecharaiah describes how "the Lord will strike all nations that fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths." And it gets better - Israel doesn't have to lift a finger, because God will cause them to "seize each other by the hand and attach one another".
You want to talk amazing? You can have your Joe Montana, your Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, your Derek Jeter and your Randy Johnson, your MIchael Phelps. They do not come anywhere near what the Bible tells us God has done. And yet..and yet...there seem to be more people, with intensely more passion, at football stadiums around the country on Saturdays and Sundays than can be seen in churches. There appear to be more people raving about the great play and arguing the bad call around water coolers Monday morning than there are people talking about the miracles God has, and continues to work, in their lives. And there appear to be more people pushing and shoving to get player autographs, more people bidding at auction for time with their sports idols, more people celebrating the occasional contact with a sports celebrity than there are pushing and shoving to get into church, finding time to spend time with God in the morning, talking about the God sightings in their lives.
I think the problem isn't complicated. When one doesn't know Joe Montana, it is difficult to appreciate the 49ers comeback he led against the Bengals with less than 2 minutes to go in the 1987 Superbowl. When one doesn't know Bill Russell, it is impossible to comprehend the magnitude of his dominance and, consequently, the dominance of that era of the Boston Celtics. And when one doesn't know Mariano Rivera, of course they wouldn't know anything about his ironman resilience as the best closer ever in baseball. And if we don't know our Lord, it is impossible to understand His dominion and power. It is impossible for us to be like the angels who, rightly, spend all their days circling His throne crying "Holy! Holy! Holy!"
What then the answer? If you are reading this, then you've been part of our Biblical journey this year. In 3 days, we are going to start over. Even better than reading old sports page articles, looking over old box scores and watching old footage, we are going to re-read our Lord's living Word, to try and get to know Him better. Perhaps then we - no, perhaps at the end of next year, I will have gotten to know Him better, and will consequently be closer to being as passionate, as rabid a fan of our Lord as I once was of Joe Montana and Julius Erving.
Join us.
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