Football crazy
A 10-year-old schoolboy named Daragh Curley wrote to the Liverpool football manager asking him to lose a few games so that his own beloved Manchester United might have a chance at winning the Premiership. The request was bold, even cheeky. To Daragh’s amazement, he received a letter from Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp. The response was gracious, kindly, with wise and fatherly counsel.
This is an illustration of gracious condescension, giving, as it does, attention to the concerns of one small voice in the midst of a loud clamour. When I read the accounts of Jesus as told in the Gospels, there are a number of instances where people, who would normally be viewed as of little consequence, refused to ‘know their place’. They recognised the power which Jesus had at his disposal (as with Daragh before Klopp). They were prepared to push the limits to get a hearing from the one who might take up their cause.
I think of the blind beggar named Bartimaeus. He was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus passing by, he began to shout, "Jesus have mercy on me!"
People around told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the more. Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they now encouraged him to come over to Jesus. He jumped to his feet and came. Jesus knew, of course, that Bartimaeus wanted to receive his sight but it was necessary for him to acknowledge his specific need, "What do you want me to do for you?" asked Jesus. The blind man said, "Teacher, I want to see" and see he did. So, unlike Daragh’s request, that of Bartimaeus was granted.
One of Jesus’ first missionaries was named Paul. He wrote down a sizeable portion of Christianity’s (New Testament) teaching. Like Bartimaeus, Paul had a health issue and evidence suggests that this was also a sight problem. Paul himself called it his ‘thorn in my flesh’, even going as far as saying it was a messenger of Satan to torment him. He tells us, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me." God didn’t take it away and so, as with Daragh, the request was denied.
God did, however, reply to Paul’s prayer saying, "My grace is sufficient for you”, meaning Paul’s weakness would cause him to rely all the more on God’s love, provision and power. In this way, needy Paul would know the reality of God in a way that if his life was ‘altogether’ he would have missed.
In closing his letter to Daragh, Jurgen Klopp said, "Luckily for you, we have lost games in the past and we will lose games in the future... The problem is, when you are 10 years old, you think that things will always be as they are now but if there is one thing I can tell you, as 52 years old, it is that this most definitely isn't the case."
Yes, things will change. Whether you are riding high at the moment or suffering a painful thorn in your flesh, Christians believe there is value in being bold before Jesus, bringing to him our requests. The answer may be in the manner hoped for or it may be one with a more long-term perspective. Over the centuries, followers of Jesus have been sustained by the words of that missionary named Paul, “…And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”