Went to a college women’s volleyball game the other night. Was a regional final, with the winner going to the national tournament.
Turned out to be a hard fought 3 out of 5 match in which both teams played their hearts out.
I had a special interest because a niece of ours’ was playing in her third year and her parents drove 14 hours from the East Coast to surprise her with their support.
What sticks in my mind today is more than the outcome. Beyond the fact that “our” team won a cliffhanger, I’ve been thinking about something that shows up in a picture of the home crowd.
I’ve been to a lot of games and tournaments of all kinds of sports over the years. But I don’t ever remember being so impressed with the one-minded enthusiasm and “unity” of the home team’s student cheering section.
Makes me think of what a real loss it is for the Body of Christ to lack oneness of heart from it’s own crowd (John 17:11; John 17: 21-23).
But then I go to the text that I’ve just referred to and I find myself with something bigger than I can get my mind around. The picture I get from what the Lord prayed just before he crossed the Kidron Valley into the Garden of Gethsemane is not even a rallying cry of us against them.
Admittedly, at times it sounds adversarial. Jesus does indicate that he isn’t praying for the world (John 17:9-10) but rather for those the Father has given him. Of these he then says to his father, “Mine and yours, and yours are mine and my glory (i.e. wonder, honor, and goodness) is seen in them.”
But then he also says, that he is praying for those who will believe on him through the word of those who are his (John 17:21); and that as the father has sent Jesus into the world, so he is now sending his own into the world (John 17:18).
Of this world, John says earlier, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
The word world has a lot of different meanings. Sometimes it means “a rebel adversarial system” that has taken countless hostages of those for whom Christ died. Sometimes it refers to the people of the world itself. Sometimes I’m convinced that how the word is used is beyond our ability to fully understand.
My point is that there’s a lot of love, a lot of truth, and a lot of mystery in the mission of rescue and reconciliation that Jesus and his Father are carrying out. And one thing seems clear. There’s enough wrapped up in that truth, love, and rescue to have us all pulling in ranks, and cheering together, for the “big win” that really matters.
(+30 rating, 30 votes)
Loading...