March Madness and One Shining Moment

A Series on Lent
 (Use the link below to read the verses.)
Mark 14:12-26

[As we approach Easter, consider the example that Jesus set by spending forty days alone in the wilderness to prepare for his ministry and his ultimate sacrifice on the cross. Lent is a forty day period with a focus on spending time with Jesus, to meditate on who he is and what he did for us. This Lenten series is about people who spent time with Jesus; and as a result, their lives were changed forever.]

  

March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year! 

College basketball teams from across the country compete in a single elimination tournament. There are schools that haven’t been in the tournament for over thirty years; and other schools that are there every year. From a small private school to a public mega-university; they’re all thrilled to play.

 

For me, it’s exciting to see what school is going to be this years “Cinderella” team. It’s exciting to watch as the tournament unfolds and is whittled down from 68 teams to 32 to the Sweet Sixteen to the Elite Eight to the Final Four. With each game, the excitement and pressure builds until the climactic finish when they play ‘One Shining Moment”. It’s a pressure cooker that ultimately explodes.

 

The final week of Jesus’ life was a pressure cooker too. Jews had been anxiously waiting for centuries for the Messiah. With these expectations, Jesus road into Jerusalem on a donkey with the crowds cheering him onto victory, and calling him the Son of David.

 

But soon after arriving, Jesus created chaos as he went to the Temple and drove out those who were buying and selling, and turned over the tables of the money changers. Following this, Jesus gave his disciples instructions on preparing for the Passover meal.

 

During this meal, the pressure really ratcheted up. It was then that Jesus informed his disciples that one of them would betray him. On top of that, Jesus told them that all of them would desert him! Peter was adamant that he would never do that; he would die before deserting Jesus.

 

Finally, Jesus took the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. Here, while Jesus was fervently praying to his Abba, Father, he sweat drops of blood while his closest friends and followers fell asleep. Soon a crowd came to arrest Jesus. In one final attempt of bravado, Peter cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant.

 

After three years of living and learning and loving together, the pressure cooker exploded, and the disciples scattered. Peter denied Jesus three times. There seemed to be no victory. All seemed to be lost. There was no “One Shining Moment”.

 

Yet, in the midst of all this darkness and defeat, there was a brief moment of hope... one shining moment, if you will. During the Last Supper, Jesus explained that his body was the bread; that his blood was the wine. And even though they would desert him, he wouldn’t desert them. He would be faithful.

 

That promise is still true for you and me. That same meal is the one that we as believers celebrate to remind us of his promise. It doesn’t matter how badly we sin; it doesn’t matter how badly we fail him; he will forgive us. Jesus paid the ultimate price as the perfect Passover lamb so that we might also know his Abba Father.