I was watching a huge international soccer (football for the serious fan) match last week, Real Madrid v. Barcelona in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.  Next to the World Cup and maybe the European Championships, it is without a doubt the biggest soccer tournament in the world and this particular matchup (a bonus fielding of El Clásico as they call the meetings in Spain) is about as big as a soccer match comes.

The match was won on two goals by Lionel Messi of Barcelona.  Lionel Messi is widely regarded as the greatest player on the planet and perhaps, without blasphemy to Pele, the greatest of all time.  At 5’7” tall, his nickname little is well given, but his magical skill, poise, and heart of a lion are unsurpassed.What was amazing to me is that when he scored one of those two goals re ran to the sideline and after a bit of team celebration held up the team’s logo on the front of his jersey to the fans with jubilation while gesturing to his heart.  I have seen many other players in countless sporting events point - literally point - to the name on the back of their jersey when they score a touchdown, big shot, or goal.There it was, in front of 500 million plus viewers, the basic difference between athletes.  Some think the name on the front is more important than the name on the back, most don’t.  As I thought about it more it occurred to me that it isn’t just athletes, it is all of us.  The world boils down to either me or something other than me, something greater than me, something more transcendent than me.

The idea is all over the bible from John the Baptists’ “I must decrease and He must increase,” to Christ’s constant affirmation that he was doing the will of his Father and not his, to repeated admonitions that the body is more important than the parts and we are to regard others as more important than ourselves.  If Christ had put the point in sports terms maybe he would have pointed out the name on the front of His jersey and ours, the name written over our hearts.

I wonder how much of what I do points to my name rather than someone else’s name.  I wonder which is really important to me, the name on the front of the name on the back of my daily jersey.

PHOTO CREDIT:

http://www.daylife.com/photo/056h8BwayLcPq?__site=daylife&q=Lionel+Messi