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It is very sad that Bafana Bafana is out of the tournament, isn’t it; although they played in a very promising and respectably manner. But they leave us with positive memories and expectations. France on the other hand, which is the one of the great European teams, which I actually favour the most after Germany, left the tournament in disgrace, and us without any positive memories or expectations. I am pretty sure that many of you are far better informed about the details of the awkward incident, but what happened was – to summarize it very roughly – the following: For some reason a player disobeyed the orders of his coach and started to argue with him in an inadequate way. The coach reacted to this misbehaviour by sending him home. The team protested against this form of punishment and caused a team wide quarrel. One can‘t prove that the whole thing influenced the performance of the team, but it is more than likely that it did, for the result was not only a poor delivery of the French equip in view of the playing. The team gave a bad impression to the South Africans as their hosts. The preliminary end of the story is: The French team had to return home in shame, and Thierry Henry was summoned into the Elysee Palace to give report to the French President Sarcocy. With it the whole incident has reached a political dimension, as a reporter from SABC NEWS put it, two days ago.
And why all this fuss? I think one of the reasons is the following: As a member of a national team, a person – be it a player or a coach – no longer just portraits himself, but together with the whole team, represents –his country. Most consequently, such a person should live and behave on behalf of the country, and according to its values, principles and maxims. Because: Every misbehaviour or poor performance has an immediate effect on the reputation of the country, and with it – as we can see – awkward consequences: for the team, the single players, and the nation. Not only that South Africans will most likely think of the French as rather unfriendly people in the future. There might be other effects, far worse. It is something very similar that Paul explains about Christianity to the Christians in Rome, and thus to us as well, for his thoughts are the bible word for today’s sermon, taken from Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 14.
“We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." 12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God. 13 Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.”
The first thing, which Paul points out, is the fact that we through baptism in faith are part of Christ’s team. Thus we do not live to ourselves anymore. We live to Christ, our Lord, and we are bound together in and through Him. This is a fact. In faith, Christ is our Lord, we accept His principles, we have the desire to live according to His values and maxims. And these values and maxims are those of God’s love and compassion. This is the reason, why Christ died in the first place. Love is the reason, why God sent Christ into this world, in order to free us from our sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. This is it, what Christ himself practised and preached in his earthly days and His public ministry. This is what He taught His disciples, and what He ordered them to teach others, in order to become new disciples. Secondly and most consequently we should live and behave according to these facts. Because: In faith they aren’t a matter, which is left to our discretion anymore. In faith we voluntarily accept Christ’s values and principles as true and desirable, and make them ours. Unfortunately, and this is the reason why Paul actually had to write these lines, we Christians repeatedly fall back into a selfish, or self-righteous behaviour. We judge others, we look upon them in despise, we give up on them etc. It is an Attitude or behaviour that is in marked contrast to the principle of Christ’s divine love and compassion, because it doesn’t try to help others, but claims a divine prerogative; but we aren’t judges. We are not in the position to say: this person will goes to heaven, and that one to hell; not even in view of non Christians. We simply can’t tell, because we do not know, and we do not decide either. The only thing we have is the definite certainty of salvation that is given unto us through faith in Christ. And whenever we dare to judge others and thus to put ourselves in God’s position, it will destroy things, will keep people away from the Gospel rather than to invite them or to help them in their faith. It is for this reason that Paul emphasises that we should behave and live in a way that reflects God’s compassion, that He has shown towards us. For we expect God to judge us by taking into consideration Christ’s sacrifice, knowing that we over and again make new mistakes, knowing that we cannot merit His mercy in any way. But God deals in the very same way with every other person, who trusts in Christ. No matter, if we like this person or not. Not matter, if this person’s spirituality or way of believing and trusting in God is exactly like ours, or different.
Most consequently it should be our desire to help people to come to, and to remain in this liberating knowledge of faith rather than to give them short shrift.
But how can we do this in a good way? Well, there are lots of ways and, as I said two weeks ago, God has given unto us lots of gifts and talents to contribute in the spreading of this liberating message of the Gospel. But I think one very important thing we need to remember always is to take notice of the people, to have an impartial perception, and to take our neighbour seriously before making any quick whipped comments or headily giving advice. To take some one serious is the trait we can discover in Jesus over and again. When He for instance approaches a sick person. He asks: What can I do for you? What is it that YOU want? Jesus never ignores someone’s personality and freedom. In the same way we shouldn’t take ourselves, our spirituality, our traditions etc. as the ultimate norm of how to live in faith. We should rather be open for the distinction of others, and then try to understand each other. For only then we will be able to avoid destructive consequences, awkward situations, and to help each other in faith in an appropriate, meaning loving, caring and compassionate way. This doesn’t necessarily mean to deal with each other with velvet gloves. But it means to deal with each other in accordance to the principles of Jesus’ divine love and truthfulness. And thus we will honour our Lord, and contribute to the wellbeing and good performance of Christ’s team. AMEN |
