Message of Hope

Integrating Faith and Sports
Gospel: Mk 5: 21-43    
Week of 6/28/09 

In this past week’s Gospel, Jesus asks us to have faith.

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.  One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.  Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death.  Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.”  He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.  There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.  She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had.  Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.  She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.  She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”  Immediately her flow of blood dried up.  She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.  Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to Jesus, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”  And he looked around to see who had done it.  The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling.  She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.  Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”  While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?”   Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”  He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.  When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.  So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”  And they ridiculed him.  Then he put them all out.  He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was.  He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”  The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.  At that they were utterly astounded.  He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.  Mk 5: 21-43

Faith and Desperation
 
In this Gospel, Jesus tells the woman that her faith has cured her, while also telling Jairus, “Do not be afraid; just have faith” when finding out that his 12 year old daughter had just died, which brings me back to the idea of the mystery of faith.  How do we know if we have that kind of faith?  How do we not “be afraid?”  When in our lives do we turn to our faith?
 
What struck me about this particular Gospel was the feeling of desperation that both the father of the child and the woman afflicted with hemorrhages had when approaching Jesus.  Maybe there is something about being desperate as it pertains to the strength of our faith. Maybe we call Jesus out of our desperation.

This makes me ponder on times in my life where I became desperate.  One that sticks out for me was the birth of my son.  I will never forget, like most parents, holding my son in my arms for the first time.  The love and beauty that overcame my heart was unexplainable and very much a miracle from God.  Yet the real feeling I had was that of desperation.  I was holding another human being in my arms who was totally dependant on me for 100% of his needs.  It was desperation that drew me to my knees that day.  It was my desperation for my faith that my soul was yearning for at that time, and it was my faith that has sustained me since.
 
Another area where I have felt desperation in my life was on the athletic fields.  Playing professional baseball, where it was my livelihood and profession, while at the same time being a game of failure, and a game that was 90% mental, there were many times throughout the course of a season where desperation kicked in.  Anyone who knows what it is like to go 0 for there last 17 at the plate certainly can relate.  And if I think back to those MANY times in my career, it wasn’t that I needed to take more batting practice, it was that I needed to trust myself.  Trust my talent.  “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”  Yet when I think back I always felt like I needed to do more, press harder, come in earlier to take 100 more swings but what I really needed to do was have my soul drop to its knees in the batters box, to allow the strength of Him to take over.
 
When do we feel Desperate?
 
If times of desperation lead us to recognize the need for our faith in our lives, maybe the question is when do we feel desperate?  Meaning, are we only being called to feel desperate for Jesus in the tough times?  When we lose our jobs?  When we lose a loved one?  When we find ourselves in a foreign place?  When we get diagnosed with a disease of some sort?
 
I once heard someone say that they live by the mantra “Having No Regrets.”  Well, I think there is a lot of wisdom to that statement.  But what makes that statement real for me is when I ask myself, “what do I not want to have regrets about?”
 
I think a good exercise for all of us from time to time is to face ourselves, with the end in mind.  What would we want to know about ourselves?  How would we view our lives?  Where in our lives would we have regrets?  What areas of our lives would be most important?  For me, it would be my role as a husband and father.  I was watching a movie the other day in which the ending scene had a teenage boy explaining how he answers people when asked about his deceased father.  What kind of man was he?  Was he a good man?  Or a man of no good?
 
This made me think of what my son’s response to that question would be 20, 30, 40 years from now. When he became an adult himself and was able to look at his dad in a more equal relational playing field, how would he answer those questions?   Would he know the depths of my love for him?  Would he know me?  Would he know that I love the sunrise over the ocean, the mid-day thunderstorms?  Would he know that my favorite color is blue and that I do not like coconuts?  Maybe more importantly would he know my fears for him?  Would he know my own fears as a man?  Would he know me?  What I have come to know is that the answers for him to these questions would be found in our every day interactions.  Our times together as a father and son, going to play golf, or driving to the store, or in years from now visiting him and his family.  The answers I think would come not from the “storms” of my life, but the day in and day out relational interactions of our everyday lives. 
 
This makes me pause and drop to my knees, today, even in these “good” times and become desperate.  Become desperate for His healing touch to my wounds, which softens my heart to allow the love of Christ to flow abundantly through me.  As I sit here today, I am desperate.  I am desperate for my faith.  Because I need Him to guide me in every thought, action, and deed with all relationships in my life, especially my wife and son.
 
I guess the question then becomes, if it is coaching that you enjoy and feel very passionate about, are you desperate?  Do you yearn for His healing and guidance whether you are undefeated or no wins at all?  How would your players answer those questions about their coach, 20, 30, 40 years from now?
 
Let us be desperate for Jesus in our great times of need.  Let us be desperate for Jesus in the “good” times of our lives.  Let us be desperate for Jesus in every relationship and circumstance in our lives.  Let us be desperate for Jesus so we may have “No Regrets.”