193. Super Bowl
Last Sunday, there was an NFL Super Bowl game. Superbowl is the most watched sporting event in the US (average 100 million viewers). This year, the cost for 30 seconds commercial during the game was $5 million! I used to watch football when I was in Denver (I was 11 years old) but once basketball became my favorite, I stopped watching. But I heard everyone raving about how good this game was so I googled to watch the highlight. Sure enough, it did not disappoint!
Two teams that played were Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots. Patriots were losing by 25 points when the game was almost finished. The previous Super Bowl record for the biggest comeback was 10 points. Without a doubt, everybody believed Patriots were done. But there was Tom Brady in Patriots.
Tom Brady won 4 Super Bowls before, which only 2 other quarterbacks were able to do in NFL History. When the odd was against his team, He calmly began to throw one amazing pass to another to push the game to overtime and eventually brought the greatest Super Bowl comeback in NFL history.
After watching the highlight, I thought it resembles Christian life a lot. The Christian’s way of living looks like losing from outside. Many People feel that to forgive is to lose, not to revenge is to lose, not to have your way at all cost is to lose. Sometimes it seems that being a Christian put you at a great disadvantage because you fight for integrity and honesty, when others become successful without them.
Jesus certainly looked like he lost. After his arrest, his disciples left him. He lost a chance to propagate his teachings and values. He lost his opportunity to revenge when he was hung on the cross, only to forgive people who put him on the cross and hurled insult at him. Everyone believed he was finished.
But after 3 days, he was raised back to life. The biggest comeback not in sports, but in entire human history. Death, the greatest enemy that no one has ever beaten, was conquered. His followers eventually took over Rome, not with swords but with love and forgiveness, which they have seen their Lord demonstrate throughout his life with them.
It doesn’t mean you will live like a loser once you become a Christian. It means that our way of winning is simply different. No matter how low we feel, forgiveness always wins and love conquers at the end. History is the proof. Every other path we take is the path to losing. This great reversal is only possible because we have the greatest “quarterback” on our team, Jesus.
