March Madness is here! If you are not familiar with the term, March Madness references the NCAA Division I Men’s basketball tournament. It consists of 68 teams from across the country all fighting for a national championship. A loss for any team means the end to their season. And, a loss for many of the individuals playing it means an end to a playing career. I don’t watch a lot of basketball, but I must admit, I try to watch some of the games during March Madness. When a team or a player knows they are playing in possibly the last game of their career, they hold nothing back. They leave it all on the court. It is very exciting and heart breaking to watch all at the same time. At the end of every game, half of the men on the court are crying and the other half is smiling ear to ear!
There are not many times in life we get to witness people giving it their all as if there was no tomorrow. When our backs are against the wall it seems like we’ll do anything we can to fight back. Leading up to the NCAA tournament people spend thousands of hours strategizing and guessing which team will come out on top for each game. There are an estimated 60-100 million brackets filled out every year by fans and yet there has never been a fan who correctly guessed each game in an entire bracket, ever! Maybe that is why they call it March Madness. Because when our backs are against the wall, when we have nothing to lose, we will fight harder and in ways no one ever expected out of us! Madness is the only way to explain the disruption to our carefully calculated expectations. About 2000 years ago another type of madness overtook people. Today we mainly celebrate these events in March leading up to Easter.
Jesus had twelve disciples. They spent their time learning from Him, living with Him, and watching Him teach all over. These men trained literally at the feet of Jesus. One would only expect that these men were strong in their belief that Jesus was the Son of God, which they were. Also, we can easily expect that these men would have fought for his release denouncing His capture. After all He was their friend, teacher, and sent from God. But, other than an attempt to draw a sword on the captors of Jesus (Matthew 26: 47-56), the disciples fled for their lives when Jesus was arrested. Judas was so ashamed that he had turned in Jesus that he ended his own life (Matthew 27). Peter had a chance to admit to a lowly servant girl that he knew Jesus, but Peter denied knowing Him on even the simplest of terms (Matthew 26:69-70). When their backs were against the wall, Jesus disciples showed us a glimpse of March madness. We fully expected them to overcome the fear from the governing officials but alas, most of them gave in to the intense pressure of admitting they knew Jesus.
Jesus, on the other hand, came out victorious! His back was against the wall. He was on trial and was sentenced to be crucified yet He had done no wrong. In the garden of Gethsemane, He pleaded with His Father to free Him from what was about to be done. But, knowing that He was sent to earth for just this purpose, Jesus took His lashings and allowed Himself to be put to death on a cross. Those who believed Jesus was the Son of God thought they were witnessing their own March madness. Jesus had the power to call down angels to protect Him, yet He still willingly died on the cross and entered hell for one epic battle. Today as a follower of Jesus I do not look at this as madness like the observers may have done back then. Today I believe Jesus gave everything He had, He left nothing on the cross or in Hell, and gave it all to free you and I from our sins! Jesus is an undefeated champion!
Friends, March is coming to a close. Yes, this means more basketball games but more importantly it means that Easter is just around the corner. I would like to invite you to join me for church on Easter Sunday, April 4th. Come hear about an undefeated victor named Jesus whose actions truly define what March Madness is all about. You won’t be disappointed at the outcome of Jesus vs Satan!
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