No Win

Romans 7: 15-25a; Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30.

Tim Howard is the goalie on the US soccer team that played in the World Cup up until its loss to Belgium on July 1. The US team lost 2-1. So Tim Howard was the losing goalie. But. Tim Howard blocked 16 attempts, breaking the record for World Cup play for the most saves in World Cup history. Tim Howard was diagnosed in middle school with Tourette’s syndrome. He has not overcome it; he lives with it, and he plays through it. Tim Howard has been married and divorced. And he is a follower of Jesus Christ. In an interview in 2006 that was written into an article for Athletes in Action, made while he was in England playing for Manchester United, he said this, in response to questions from teens ranging from "How did you give up that goal?" to "What does it feel like to not be the starting keeper?"

Tim told them, "The most important thing in my life is Christ. He's more important to me than winning or losing or whether I'm playing or not. Everything else is just a bonus."

Tim Howard didn’t carry the US team to a win. He struggles every day with a debilitating condition. He was ridiculed by the English because of his condition. But he broke the record for the most saves in the World Cup. And his fame has gone viral in just the past week – hundreds of pictures have been created and posted under the heading “Things Tim Howard Could Save.”  There are pictures of Tim Howard blocking an asteroid from wiping out all the dinosaurs; of Tim Howard blocking Simba’s father, Mufasa, in the Lion King, from falling off the cliff to his death; of Tim Howard blocking the Titanic from sinking.

So what do you think? Is Tim Howard a winner, or a loser, or none of the above? What do you think he would say? What do you say?

At the time that Jesus speaks these words we heard today from Matthew’s gospel, he is addressing the crowds, talking about John the Baptist. He has just received a communication from John, who is in prison, and who is wondering whether Jesus is winning or losing, essentially. John asks, “are you the one, or are we still waiting for another?” John’s not so sure, because things don’t seem to be working out so well. After all, he’s been thrown in prison, and the scribes and the Pharisees are having a fit over just about everything Jesus says and does. John seems to be struggling to know whether the key measures of success are landing where they ought to be. And here is Jesus’ reply: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.  And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

The underlying question here is not so much whether expectations are being met, for this Messiah they have all anticipated through scripture but had never before encountered, but whether the expectations are correct, on target. They have the law, and they have the prophecies. And they have scribes and rabbis who teach and interpret.

And Jesus is interpreting scripture for the people, too, when he points out to them that judging John for his strict vegan eating habits, concluding he must be crazy or possessed by some sort of demon, is no different from judging Jesus for eating and drinking freely and openly with sinners and tax collectors. What Jesus is saying is, “we can’t win with you people.” But, wisdom is vindicated, or justified, or validated, by her deeds, or results – literally the word here means her offspring. Wisdom is validated by her offspring.

Then Jesus expresses thanks that God’s revelation comes not to the wise and intelligent, but to the meek ones, those who hear it as little children.

And he says to the crowd, and to all of us who seek to follow him in all time and place, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

He says, give up, let go of the complexities of your life, of your striving to do everything right, to follow the law to the letter. Give it a rest. Rest in me. Take MY yoke upon you. Learn from me. Me, the one who is gentle, and humble in heart. Learn gentleness from me. Learn humility from me. This will give your soul the rest it needs, the peace that passes understanding.

It’s not about winning, says Jesus. Who wins and who loses, who meets the expectations of the law, who works hardest to abide by the law – that’s not what it’s about.

Let me and my Father worry about those things. You be gentle, and humble, and let go of your heavy loads. Rest in me.

Paul is expressing this, too, in the Romans passage Cheryl read. He expresses the utter frustration that comes from being unable to do the good he wants to do. He admits that it is sin dwelling in him that keeps him from doing good, that causes him to do evil. He describes this vicious circle from which there is no escape. Then he says –

“Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

And this is the only win there truly is – that Jesus Christ gave up his life for us, and redeemed us from our own death. Jesus let go of winning, let go of coming out on top, let go of success as it would be defined by our limited views of the world. We worship a Lord who allowed himself to be tried, convicted, and crucified – a description of a loser if there ever was one. But in a quiet victory before dawn a few days later, Jesus won the only win that matters – the victory over death – and gave it to all who would accept the gift.

So who are the winners and losers today? Is it those who fight through to come out on top? Or is it those who accept who they are and submit to a life of servanthood in the name of Christ? Who do we make into heroes and celebrities? How do we spread the good news that Jesus frees us from these success measures and instead calls us to love God and to love one another?

When we come to the table of our Lord and Savior, we participate in the body and blood of Christ, which was broken in love for us. We are accepted just as we are, with no thought of our successes or failures. We are reconciled with Christ and with one another. And we commit ourselves once again to love and serve God, one another, and our neighbors in the world, even those we would have called our enemies.

So let us put down our burdens and our worries, our judgments and our sins, leave them behind and come together as the body of Christ here at this table. The feast has been prepared for all God’s people.