Christ is Risen! 
Greetings Sisters and Brothers. We continue to begin worship with the Easter proclamation until the day of Pentecost, which is May 19. The season lasts 50 days, coinciding with the time Jesus was thought to have spent on this side of heaven after His resurrection. There is very little written about what Jesus was doing during that time, just a handful of stories in the Gospels, and I’ve often thought it would be really cool if we had more stories about that time. Alas, you and I will be left in the dark, but I can imagine that after so many days Jesus’ disciples might have started to think, “This is the time when Jesus will establish His reign and bring to fullness the Kingdom of God!” Imagine their surprise when Jesus suddenly ascended, defying gravity and returning to resume His place at the right hand of God.
I can’t help but chuckle when I read the account of that moment in the book of Acts. As the disciples stood, mouths agape I imagine, looking up, an angel of the Lord basically said to them, “What are you doing standing here looking up to the sky? Jesus is gone, get to work!” What a moment that must have been. I can also imagine the disciples wanting to spend some time processing and discussing not just what they witnessed, but all they had experienced in the prior three plus years. There was a lot to process. But, Jesus was generally more a doer than a talker and it was time for the team to take the reins.
Much like last month’s sports related article, I spent some time watching the recent NFL draft and my brain started to think about the very early days of the Church and those men and women who were the first to believe and come to faith and how it might relate to the draft. I know it may sound a bit crazy, but indulge my craziness for just a few more paragraphs.
The NFL draft represents the best of the best taking their unique skill sets to the professional level for the betterment of the organization that drafted them. I can imagine them being a bit overwhelmed by being drafted, but also by the prospect of competing against the best of the best at the highest level of their craft. Those who are drafted do get a little time to process, but much like the sense of urgency the angel expressed to the disciples, the teams in the NFL afford their draftees very little time to process. It’s time to get to work rookie! You’ve got a lot to learn. The good news for them is, again like the disciples, they had spent the previous few years (in college) preparing to take things to the next level.
NFL rookies will have to rely on and trust their instincts. The disciples will have to rely on and trust their faith and, most importantly, the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were much better equipped than even Caleb Williams, the first pick in the most recent draft. In some ways, admittedly very minimally, those original disciples were also chosen (drafted, if you will) by One who had done His research (or because Jesus was God, knew everything about each of the ones he’d choose) to use their gifts for the betterment of the team otherwise known as humanity.
This is where the similarities, if there were any similarities, vanish. In the Kingdom of Heaven the draft never ends and there is only one team. Jesus has continued to choose His disciples, equipping them with the very same Spirit He breathed into those first believers. Each of us is a first round draft choice, and in fact, are the very first pick in the draft. In God’s eyes no one disciple is more valuable than another and no one disciple is better equipped than any other. How cool is that? There is no Mr. Irrelevant in Jesus draft.
Who, you may be asking, is Mr. Irrelevant? That is the title given to the last pick in each year’s draft by a man named Paul Salata. Salata played football for USC and had a short marginal career in the NFL who approached the NFL Commissioner some 50 years ago to ask if he could create a special event celebrating the final draft pick. He believed that no matter where someone was chosen, the fact that they had been chosen was reason to celebrate just as much as the first person chosen. The title Mr. Irrelevant can be a bit misleading. Salata didn’t think the last player chosen was irrelevant, but that it was irrelevant where they were chosen.
Hearing that is what sent my crazy brain down this rabbit hole. We tend to base our value or worth in comparison to others, but God doesn’t. We are each His treasure of immeasurable worth simply because of who He is. And He wouldn’t or couldn’t choose any one of us over another. And in the Kingdom, we each have an equally important part to play as witnesses. Our problem is often that we don’t think we have what it takes to make a difference or that others can do it better. The truth is we are all ‘in the game’ and have a part to play, working together with the rest of the team as Jesus roots us on from the sideline. You were chosen for a reason. God sees you as the best of the best! Now all we need to do is act like it.
Yours in Christ
Pastor Steve