Easter for SportspeopleНамуна

The Scars

Joni Eareckson Tada is a sportswoman who was in a diving accident when she was seventeen and ever since then has been in a wheelchair, paralysed from the neck down.

Whilst she was beginning to come to terms with her accident, she used to attend her local church. At a certain point, each Sunday, the pastor would call on everyone to kneel and pray. Her problem – she was paralysed and in a wheelchair! One day, as this happened, she began to cry, but they were not tears of anger or despair.

She said she was crying because the sight of hundreds of people kneeling before God was a picture of heaven:

“Sitting there, I was reminded that in heaven I will be free to jump up, dance, kick, and do aerobics. And…sometime before the guests are called to the banquet table at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, the first thing I plan to do on resurrected legs is to drop on grateful glorified knees. I will quietly kneel at the feet of Jesus.”

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he appeared to many hundreds of people. He appeared physically in his restored body.

Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Jesus was physically resurrected showing us that the new creation to come will also be physical. Can you imagine the hope the resurrection gives to someone like Joni? The resurrection promises not just new hearts but also new bodies, restored to continue to play in the new creation.

So, what difference does the resurrection make to your life as a sportsperson now? It gives us sure and certain hope, it gives us a vision for the future. The extent to which the future to come is real to you, will change everything about how you live now, today, in your sports club and team.

We can deal with suffering and rejection, uncertainty, and injury, if we live as if this world is not all there is as if this sporting career is not all there is. If we live with that certain hope, we can face all that God has for us in this life, even a wheelchair in the case of Joni, with joy and hope.

Jesus appeared with his scars. Why does this matter? It reminded the disciples of what he had done to save them and it gave them confidence as they faced their own suffering, that this life was not all there is.

The physical resurrection of Jesus gives us real hope. Fix your eyes on the risen Jesus with his scars and live with that hope and joy today.

Let's pray

Dear Lord,

Thank you for your kindness in appearing physically to the disciples and having this recorded in your Word. Thank you that we can live now knowing that our resurrection will be physical.

Help me to live in light of that future reality and may it change how I live and speak and play. Help me to remember the reality of the future life in glory to come when I face the inevitable suffering both sport and life will bring.

Amen