"Grasping The Great Prize – Horse Race”

In Jesus Holy Name September 6, 2020

Text: Matthew 18:3,4,10 Pentecost XIV - Redeemer

“Grasping the Great Prize – Horse Race”

Yesterday was the Kentucky Derby. It was run at the wrong time of the year, few if any fans in the stand…no famous hats on display. No Kentucky Bourbon available to imbibe. The Kentucky Derby is the most prized event in horse racing. At this writing I do not know who will win. But I know something about pedigrees.

Tiz The Law was the favorite but had to run from Gate No. 17. He was the Belmont Stakes winner. Gate No. 17 is the only gate that has never produced a Kentucky Derby winner. He ran against Honor A. P. and Authentic.

Tiz the Law has the following pedigree of past champions. Constitution, Tapit, Pulpit, A.P. Indy Seattle Slew, Bold Reasoning. California Chrome came from a similar pedigree. Lucky Pulpit, Pulpit, A.P. Indy and Seattle Slew, Bold Reasoning.

Of Course, Honor A.P. is no slouch. His family tree is includes Honor Code,

A P. Indy, Seattle Slew and Bold Reasoning.

Investors purchased these thoroughbreds because of their ancestry hoping for the “Greatest Prize”. Will the winner be as great as American Pharaoh or California Chrome of even his genetic grandparents? Trophies will be on display. Bragging rites and stories will be told. Money to be made on breeding fees.

Do you want an argument? Go to any horse barn and you will hear the conversation. Is he as great as Secretariat? Go to any clubhouse of any golf course, and say… “So and so is, without a doubt, the greatest golfer who ever lived”. You know what will happen. You will have an argument.

People grasp for greatness. Millions will be spent on the fastest race car and team. Millions were spent on buying and training the winner of the Triple Crown.

If you didn’t believe it before, you’ll soon find out… not many people would argue with legendary football coach Vince Lombardi whose line: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” let the whole world know that taking second place is just another name for losing.

People grasp at greatness. So powerful is the desire to be great, or to own something that provides greatness, people are willing to undertake some expense or act in unusual stunts. We grasp at greatness. We desire “likes” on our Facebook page.

It has, almost since the beginning of time been that way. The Bible tells us that Satan desired to be as great as God, and thus Satan to stumbled into his sin of rebellion, and was cast out. It was a desire to be as knowledgeable as the Lord, which led our first ancestors, Adam and Eve to take a bite out of the forbidden fruit. Their search for greatness introduced this world, and into our lives the sins of envy, greed, lust prejudice, and hatred. Behaviors which are displayed when trying to act greater than someone else

Look through your bible. It is positively filled with people who got involved with issues of greatness. The brothers Isaac and Esau got into a family feud as to which would receive a special blessing. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery because they believed he considered himself to be better than they. King Saul struggled for supremacy over David.

Not even Jesus’ disciples managed to escape the ongoing debate over who would be the greatest. The disciples were jockeying for position… just as we saw yesterday in the horse race.

Jesus was on a mission, sent by the Creator of the universe, His father, to seek and save people who are alienated from the love of their Creator. His life, death and resurrection provides an open gate into heaven. Jesus kept telling the disciples that he was going to Jerusalem where he would be arrested, tried, crucified, and murdered, and then rise on the third day, in order to reestablish peace and forgiveness between human beings and our God.

They did not understand so their conversations, their arguments

centered around themselves. Rather than seeing Jesus as the only person worthy of the title “Great”, they fought and feuded over which of them would be #1 in the new kingdom Jesus was going to establish. They wanted to know who was going to drive the Tesla, who was going to sit behind the wheel.

Eventually Jesus had enough and asked them to tell Him what they were talking about. Shamefaced, “Well, Lord,… we were sort of wonderin’ which of us is going to be Your Right-hand man and which of us ought to be sending out our resumes? Jesus was patient. “unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven….

Don’t be “like a little child” “Become like the little child.” What did Jesus mean? The truth is that often those cute, cuddly little children are self centered, self absorbed, and selfish. A baby wants what it wants, when it wants it. A baby doesn’t care if you have a crisis on your hands. He or she doesn’t take into consideration your pains or problems. A baby doesn’t care about you.