First
Century Football
Here we go!
Friday night high school football and the NFL are back! I was in the stadium at
the Fort for our first home game and it was almost a “spiritual” experience. We
played a county rival and we wanted victory this year. The hunger for a win was
so thick you could feel it in the air.
When our team scored first the place exploded with noise! Our guys ended
up winning the game and we all left full of the Pioneer pride. Whether you like
football or not your life in some way is impacted by it either by those of us
who watch it or those who play it. Very few people can name the [1]Secretary
of Defense but it would be hard to find someone that has never heard of the
Washington Redskins or Dallas Cowboys.
What if football
had existed in the first century? Maybe they would have had the Jerusalem Cruzers
or the Galatian Gladiators. Rome would have had a team as well. Perhaps they
would have been called the Roman Crushers. I know it is thinking outside the
box and it is a little far-fetched but if football had existed in that day it
would have been as prevalent in that society as it is in ours. I feel sure it
would have made its way into the Bible because the Apostle Paul made several
references to the games of their day, especially the races, when he was trying
to drive home certain points. When trying to figure out why the people in the
Galatian church had changed their minds about Christ he wrote, [2]“You were running a good race. Who cut in on
you to keep you from obeying the truth?” If football had been the national sport
then he may have wrote something like, “You guys were headed to the Super Bowl;
what happened? Who came on board and changed your game plan?”
Of course the
church and the football stadium are two entirely different settings but we are
the same people in both. We go to the stadium to enjoy a game and we go to
church to worship our God. I enter a stadium hoping my team wins but I enter
our church knowing I am a winner. I am a fan of football but I am a servant of
Christ. Fans just watch the games but the servants are on the field. I am not the only one though, I saw a church
sign that read; Come over to My house before the game ~ God.
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