Spirited Boldness
Our family has a number of Northwestern University graduates in it, and 1995 was a good year. Raised from the ash heap of the Big Ten’s basement, this was a football season to remember. The uneasy question posed by one relative, “Was this championship season at Evanston the beginning of a dynasty?”
The disciples of Jesus could sense they were on the brink of a major victory as they approached Jerusalem for the Passover feast and festival. The week ended with Jesus’ crucifixion…a crushing defeat. His followers had all scattered like sheep when the authorities came for the preacher/healer from Nazareth. The despair of Jesus’ burial left them with no hope for another season.
The resurrection of Jesus produced a sense of awe in Thomas, and Peter was ecstatic to see the risen Christ cooking breakfast on the shore at Tabgah. After Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the next forty days were spent teaching the team leaders about His coming kingdom on earth.
It must have felt a bit surreal to them despite the fact that it was real. The greatest victory in the history of the world had been secured on their behalf. They were on the championship team and the victory was eternal. Every opposing religious team past, present, and future were over-rated. The Jesus dynasty had been revealed.
Like a head coach moving upstairs into the coach’s box, the ascension of Jesus left His disciples stunned to the point of needing some divine messengers to shunt them back to Jerusalem. Even there, huddled in the upper room, they waited for the promise of something they could not yet comprehend. What play would the Coach call from on high?
Coaches know that words have the power to lift a team to victory against all odds. Teams know they cannot win without the spirit that unites and inspires them. In Acts 4:1–22, we note the growing resistance to the apostles by their opponents. The quarterback was marked by spirited play, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…” The apostles now had the Word and the Spirit. Peter aggressively preached the Gospel, while shredding the defense with the message of salvation through Christ alone. These “uneducated and untrained men” left the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of Israel, speechless.
Half-time brought a closed-door strategy session (4:15–17). The rulers and elders emerged with their fight song prohibiting the apostles of Jesus from preaching and teaching in His name. The apostles immediately replied with their band of allegiance resounding with claims to obey God, by proclaiming Jesus Messiah.
This was the beginning of a new chapter in an old rivalry. The spread-out offense allowed the apostles to run and gun their message toward the uttermost goal, despite a steely curtain of resistance. The church continues this two-thousand-year tradition of boasting in His victory with boldness.
The winning score came at the cross of Calvary; a victory by the only Franchise in town (or in the universe for that matter). Free tickets to the victory parade have been graciously donated by the generosity of an alumni group known as, “the fathers of the faith.” Come to Grace Stadium, and join in the everlasting song, “Hail to the Victor valiant, hail to the conquering King! Hail, hail, to Jesus Christ, the Leader and Best!” And all God’s people, in every age, refuse to stop our shout to the Lord and to the world, “WE ARE…with Him!”
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
May 28, 2021
