We've been looking for this Sunday since 1984. The Colts went 4-12 in their first full season in Indiana. Now that they are in the Super Bowl, it's hard to remember the lean years when they were nicknamed the dolts. For Hoosiers, this year's Super Bowl is far more than a sports and advertising ritual. It is the football game. We've finally arrived and even football curmudgeons are sporting jerseys and planning to attend a super bowl party.

 

The Super Bowl is also that annual occasion to say, "You've got to be kidding." When it comes to financial excess, the Super Bowl sets the bar. For instance, face value for all tickets, other than luxury suites is $600-700. But with the outrageous resale of tickets from scalpers to eBay, some tickets have sold for as high as $10,000.¹ The Miami Herald reported that the average ticket price to see the game in person will be $4,500. That's before the airfare, hotel, car rental, and souvenirs.² To put that in context, the average pledge in our congregation is $3,500.

 

Of course, we know that the Super Bowl is more than a game. It is the Super Bowl of advertising. Every year, I hope our church's budget will grow enough to equal the price for a 30 second commercial. We've failed again. Even though the church's budget keeps growing, we can't keep pace with the cost of a Super Bowl commercial. A 30-second spot runs 2.6 million dollars, $800,000 more than what we will spend to do ministry in this place. There is a lot at stake as the National Retail Federation expects total Super Bowl spending to reach $8.7 billion. (Yep, that's billion with a "b.") We're in 'super deep' and the stakes get larger every year. We know it and in a way, we contribute to it. Most years, we like the commercials better than we like the game. The newspapers on Monday will rate the plays and the commercials. There are web sites where you can see the commercials you missed. There is even a class at the University of South Carolina, which focuses on the winners and losers in Super Bowl advertising.³

 

This year, Pepsi may have already won. Their Frito-Lay division came up with a clever contest. They called it Crash the Super Bowl. They invited people to send in homemade 30-second commercials for Doritos. Over 1000 videos were submitted. They were posted on a special web site for a straw vote. There are five finalists which you can still preview on line. Each filmmaker received a prize of $10,000, tickets to the game and a chance to be shown on television during the Super Bowl. I have my favorites, one is titled "The Mousetrap."⁴

 

Watching "The Mousetrap", I couldn't help but think about the tackles that the Colts defense has to make. I also couldn't help but think about a clever video that helps understand our responsibility to bring people to Christ. It's called the "evangelism linebacker" and while it is longer than any clip we've every used, on this weekend, of all weekends, it makes sense. I think you'll see why.

If you didn't recognize the evangelism linebacker, it is Dewey Gray who played for the Colts for five years from 1993-1998. He's retired and has a ministry, which he calls One Heart at a Time. His vision is to see people transformed--one heart at a time--through the love, grace, and truth of Jesus Christ.⁵

 

Football didn't exist in the first century but somehow I get the impression that if it did, Simon Peter might have been the evangelism linebacker. Throughout scripture, we know Peter as the loudmouth who blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. Peter's the physical Disciple that is always ready to jump in head first. He's the playmaker of the Disciples. But Jesus has a little linebacker in him as well.

We see this in our lesson today. Luke tells the story of calling his first Disciples a little differently than Matthew and Mark. In those two Gospels, it is a simple straightforward story. The first thing Jesus does following his testing in the wilderness is walk by Peter, his brother and the sons of Zebedee. There is no convincing or dialog. They just jump up and follow.

 

In Luke's gospel, Jesus first builds momentum and followers in Galilee. In Capernaum he heals a man in the synagogue. He then heals Simon Peter's mother-in-law of a high fever and concludes the day curing all those who were sick with various kinds of diseases. (Luke 4:40b) Luke doesn't indicate that Peter was there but it is logical to assume that Peter knows what happened. This may explain why Peter allows Jesus to commandeer his boat to preach to the crowd pressing in on him. Peter is indebted. His mother-in-law is well and Jesus had something to do with it.

 

Jesus gets in the boat and asks Peter to put out to sea. Peter does without hesitation or conversation. But they had to have had a least a moment of pause. Think about it. He is washing his nets after a night of bad fishing. He says, ".we have worked all night long but have caught nothing." (Luke 5: 5a) If you don't catch, you don't eat. Peter had a really bad day at the office. He's tired. He's ready to go home and go to sleep. But out of obligation, he lets Jesus in his boat and puts out to the edge of the sea.

What did he teach about? We don't know. It doesn't matter. The story is about Peter. He and Jesus are really the ones in the spotlight. Whatever he was preaching about, it has little effect on Peter. Maybe he took a nap during the sermon. I know that sounds strange but every now and then, people take naps during sermons. Whatever Jesus said, it didn't seem to change Peter's attitude because when Jesus finishes speaking, he says to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." (Luke 5:4) Peter all but says, "Oh come on." Instead, he says "..if you say so, I will let down the nets." (Luke 5:5b)

 

You know the rest of the story. They caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. (Luke 5:6b) It was so powerful, so amazing that it blew Peter away. To keep it within the super bowl metaphor of this weekend's sermon, the evangelism linebacker absolutely leveled Peter emotionally. The super catch flattened him like Dwight Freeney taking out Rex Grossman. For the last several years Tom Jackson and Chris Berman of ESPN have done a halftime program on

Monday night showing the five hardest hits on the previous Sunday. They show the collisions and then in unison say, "He got "jacked up."⁶ They mean the football player was absolutely annihilated by the tackle. Peter got "jacked up"; he is literally laid out by the miracle and from his knees he says, "Get away from me Lord (I can't play in your league. I can't even be around you) for I am a sinful man." (Luke 5: 8b)

But Jesus doesn't go away. In fact, he invites him to join his game. He's not concerned about Peter's initial resistance to putting the nets down again. Jesus isn't put off by Peter's admission of sinfulness. He's not even put off by Peter telling him to go away. Jesus thinks Peter's a super catch and says, "Get up; follow me. If you think this catch is special wait to you see how super the catch is when we are after people."

 

One reason I like this story better than the ones found in Matthew or Mark is it feels more honest. In the other gospels, the fishermen just drop their nets and follow. For most of us, it isn't that way. For most of us, we need to be convinced. We wrestle with what it means to follow Jesus. We struggle with what it means to get into this game. When it comes to leaving everything, giving up your livelihood and your home, we are more likely to say to Jesus, "Get away from me." I know this because I've heard all of the excuses. "I'm too busy. You don't need me. I'm not good enough. Find someone who is more spiritual." You name it, I've heard it. No one has come right out and been so bold as to say, "Go away" but I get the message.

 

I know this because I've heard it but I also know this because I have some of those same feelings. If I was in that boat with Jesus, "he'd jack me up too." He'd lay me out and I'd fall to my knees and say, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

None of us feels worthy to stand in the presence of our Lord. But it's not about worthiness. It is about the love of our Savior. From this point on, Jesus will teach about the love God has for us. Jesus says God is like a shepherd who will leave 99 of his sheep behind and search for the one that is lost. God is like a broken, disappointed father who will run down the road to greet a lost child. God is like the woman who will turn the house upside down to find one coin. Story after story, lesson after lesson, shared by Jesus so that we can understand that God's love for each one of us is unending. There is nothing you can do that will take you out of the game. There is no sin so great that you can't lay it at his feet. When you really get this, when you really claim this, you understand that God claims you as a super catch, it will lay you out. It doesn't matter if you are starting your spiritual journey or you've been out for a lifetime. When you own it and claim it, it changes you. It lays you out and when you get up, you are never the same.

 

This is what happens to Peter. Jesus said to Peter: "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people" (Luke 5:10b). He's asking him to get into the game, his game, the only game that really counts--saving lives. Peter answers by getting up and following Jesus. When he does, Peter teaches us about discipleship. Jesus doesn't need super star evangelists to catch people. He needed regular guys like Peter and Andrew and James and John, the Zebedee brothers. The first followers of Jesus who shared the gospel, person by person, were ordinary people like you and me. At the outset of his ministry, Jesus is putting together a prophetic team, a group of people who will live out the gospel as passionate evangelists. No one person can do it alone.

 

We know this truth because we know that the success of the Colts in the Super Bowl will depend on the team. We know the names of the super stars. Manning, Harrison, Wayne, Addai, Freeney, Vinatieri. But there are some names that we don't know, names like T. J. Rushing or Dylan Gandy. They're Colts and they're a part of the team. Gandy didn't play all year but was on the bench, ready if called on. Rushing got into 6 games and made two tackles. Without the team, they can't win.

 

And the cause of Jesus Christ can't either. It is why Dewey Gray is making crazy videos about being the evangelism linebacker. He knows that if you are on Christ's team, if you've said yes to follow Jesus, you have to witness. It is why Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy had a full ad in the USA Today on Friday. They understand the importance of witnessing. In a brochure which you can download from the internet, Dungy sums it up. "Jesus (He) has taught me that my job is more than just showing my guys how to block and tackle. It's also about influence. I want to show both players and fans that being a Christian and being successful are not mutually exclusive."⁷

 

The brochure is an evangelism tract trying to catch non-believers. And they know that every catch is a super catch. If you download it you will be inspired by the simplicity of the story of Dungy and four others, Jeff Saturday, Tarik Glenn, Dallas Clark and Hunter Smith. They are part of the team we know as the Colts. They have their roles. But they are also part of Christ's team. And they know their role on His team as well.

This is the question of the day. Do you know yours? The team needs you. Jesus needs you. God needs you. It is not just for the super stars like Billy Graham or Max Lucado or Bill Hybels or even the ministers in this congregation. It is everyone's responsibility. You can't be too busy or too shy or too self-conscious. It's about bringing people to Christ and moving us closer to that day when Christ's kingdom comes on earth.

 

That is the difference between a super catch in the Super Bowl and a super catch for Jesus. We don't know the outcome yet of one but we do know the outcome of the other. One day, when the catch is finally overflowing, Christ will reign. This is our promise; this is our hope. So the only question left to ask is, "Are you ready for the game?"

**********