Would Jesus hit a home run?

The Pirates won. Raise the Jolly Roger.

How cool has this been as a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. I rooted for the Pirates since my birth. My mother and my grandfather both watched and listened to many games and taught me to do the same. I was 2 days short of one year old on October 14, 1992.

If you are a pirates fan I do not need to tell you the significance of that date. In an age before instant replay, Sid Bream rounded third, the throw came in, the slide, he was out but called safe. 1992. That was the end of the playoffs and the end of winning for the baseball team from Pittsburgh (at least for a generation).

I grew up knowing that the Pirates were losers. In 2009, there was a funny but true saying floating around the state of PA, Pittsburgh is the City of Champions and the Pirates.

Despite giving us false hope in both 2011 and 2012, Clint Hurdle and the Pittsburgh Pirates not only had a winning record in 2013 but won the wildcard game at Pnc Park .After Johnny Cueto drops the ball after being rattled by a "black out" Russel Martin hits a homerun off of him. The Pirates lost in 5 games to the Cardinals but the future seemed bright.

A slow start in 2014 did not stop the Pirates from making the playoffs but once again as the host to the Wild Card Game. This time they had to face Madison Baumgardner and the SF Giants who seem to win the World Series every even year (2010,2012,2014). The Pirates got crushed.

The promise going into 2015 is WE WILL WIN THE DIVISION!  Some, maybe a little over zealous proclaimed, "Heck, the pirates are wining the whole thing"

They once again had a slow start but have started to play some better ball as of late and as of June 2nd, 2015 they are three games above .500 and just six games back of those stupid Cardinals.

So, why a blog on Baseball? Why not? Baseball is awesome right? It is. Trust me.

I am writing this blog after the Pirates squeak by those same Giants that won the World Series (and beat us on Oct 1 by the score of 0-8) last night. And Last night we were the victor by the score 4-3.

 This was a great game despite starting 10:15 on the east coast. The Giants score 2 runs in the first inning against an early candidate for "Cy Young" Gerit Cole (of course those runs were unearned because of an error). He clearly didn't have his "A game" but still managed to pitch 7 innings giving up just 2 runs (0 Earned Runs) thanks to miracle 6th inning where he escaped the bases loaded with no outs.

The Pirates just scored 4 runs. You see, they could have/ should have scored more if it wasn't for two amazing defense plays by Giants outfielders. the First came with the Pirates trailing 0-2 with bases loaded with just one out in the top of the fourth. Andrew McCutchen rockets a ball that appears will split the center and left fielder easily scoring three runs. But a diving catch causes Cutch to get a Sac Fly and score Gerit Cole from Third.

Again, later in the game the same situation was set up. After El Coffee draws the walk Cutch is up with the bases loaded and only one out. He hits the ball. Once again it appears that this ball with split the center and right fielder but this time the right fielder makes an above average play on the ball and once again Gerit Cole scores from Third on the Sac Fly.

Two times at bat, two times he doesn't get a hit but helps the team tie it up right before Walker hits a two run double to take the lead for good.

Watching the game, you could tell McCutchen was upset. He has Homerun and RBI power. And if two above average plays were not made he would have had 6 Runs Batted in instead of 2.

Early in the game, Gerit Cole who pitched a brilliant game despite not having his best stuff had one of the worst bunts I have seen since AJ Burnett hurt himself bunting in BP back in 2013. His goal was to get a SAC bunt by bunting the ball toward the third basemen to get Chris Stewart from Second to Third with just one out. But instead the ball feel straight down and the catcher was able to pick it up and throw down to third and get Stewart out by a foot. Not even close.

Reflecting on this game I started to think about Jesus. I like to think Jesus would like to play baseball after all it was his idea. Somewhere in the mystery of the Trinity He implanted the concept of baseball into the hearts of individuals and there the game was made.

I started to think of what would have happened if Jesus was batting instead of McCutchen in those situations. Could he have hit the home run? After all, God is all powerful. He is mighty. So, of course Jesus could have hit a home run but would he had.

You see, I think this comes down to what we believe about Jesus. The First Century Jews were waiting for a Messiah who would have metaphorically hit home runs. He would come and been their political king and set them free from the bondage of the Roman Empire. But Jesus knew something that sports teach us.

Sometimes in order to win, you must lose first.  What appears as defeat individually in the game of baseball can be a win as a team. McCutchen had a Sacrifice Fly (well actually two of them yesterday). In order for someone else to score.

The game of baseball teaches us that in life sometimes we must sacrifice ourselves in order to benefit others. Of course, this is counter to the American Dream which teaches us that we must go to college so that we can get a nice job, nice family, nice paycheck, nice house, etc etc etc. The problem isn't in the money but it is chasing after something that does not endure and only benefits oneself.

We ask ourselves, "What am I called to do?" Where your passions and a need meet there is your calling. There is your destiny. And if there is sacrifice involved you might be in the right business.

I look at the life of Jesus and my heart melts. I think of all the ways I am selfish with my time and money and I ask him to show me ways in which I can use the resources he has blessed me with to bless others. It is a process and it hurts.

Jesus die a cross. I don't know if you knew that or not but his sacrifice didn't begin on Good Friday. It began by Him choosing to become a finite human, It continued as he choose to belong to a  family of poor people, It Continued as he associated with those who were called, "tax collectors and sinners." It continued as he didn't get married or raise a family but instead chose to invest in 12 unlikely religious men that changed the world. It continued as he obey his Heavenly Father by investing in women; some of other nationalities.

And of course the cross. Where he was naked and died. People mocked him as he was naked. They yelled, "You have saved others why don't you save yourself?" I wonder if that thought cross Jesus' mind. I could just escape. I know I can. I am God! I could hit a home run! What a miracle it would be for me to just break through these nails that hold me here. It would be easy. And with the bases loaded Jesus gave himself up. He died. God died. He made a sacrifice for us. We were abandoned on third base with no way of getting home but He hit the sacrifice fly to score us.


I know, like all analogies it can only go so far.   But I return to my original question: Would Jesus hit a home run? No. He would hit the sacrifice fly every time. For you. For me. For us.

May we hit more sacrifice flies. May we give of ourselves in the same way that Jesus gave himself up for the ransom of many. We don't do this to earn God's love. You see when Jesus died he declared that it was finished. That means we are accepted now by God.

We have scored. But Now it's our time to bat. Will you go to bat for others? Will you try to hit the home run or just give yourself up so that they may score?