Playing to Win

The Monday Mystery Part 4: The Presentation

“Lord now you let your servant go in peace, your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people. A light to reveal you to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel”
-Canticle of Simeon (based on Luke 2:25-32)

Welcome to the fourth entry of The Monday Mystery. Each week I will write a reflection on a mystery (i.e. an episode in the life of Jesus or Mary) from the Rosary. My hope for this series is to provide fuel and inspiration for your own meditations. When you finish reading the reflection, I encourage you to do a ‘test run’ of the mystery by praying a decade of the Rosary (i.e. one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and one Glory Be) while meditating on the mystery.

Last month a friend told me about a dramatic prayer gathering she attended in the Holy Land. It featured some big names in the Christian world, including one I think even most non-Christians might recognize (at least in North America). Among several striking things that happened there, my friend told me the group received a clear sense in prayer that the Great Commission (i.e. the mission Jesus gave to his apostles to make disciples of all nations) would be completed in ten years.

Has my friend finally gone overboard? We’ll find out in ten years. If she’s right, that means that Iran, China, North Korea, and even Green Bay Packers fans will all convert within my lifetime. I had no idea what to make of her words. But I knew that whatever I would end up making of them, the Lord was using her to challenge my attitude and approach to mission. Three questions immediately came to me: Do I believe that the whole world can become Christian? Do I believe that God can win? Does my theology even allow for that?

These I think, come down to another question: why does the idea of converting the whole world seem so far fetched? In principle, it shouldn’t be. Even if we leave aside the fact that God is all powerful and wills that all be saved, there are nearly two and a half billion Christians in the world. If each of them fully committed themselves to the mission and helped just two or three people convert, the world would become Christian within ten years with plenty of time to spare. We live in an age where we can instantly communicate with people on the other side of the world, and we can travel there in less than twenty four hours. It has never been easier to produce something and have it reach millions of people overnight. If it is possible to win, we’ve never been more capable of it than now. Why the defeatism?

I think it’s because in practice, we have not seen any sign whatsoever that what my friend envisioned is likely or even possible. Our world is shot through with rebellion against God. Since God has mysteriously granted humans the freedom to choose or reject his offer of salvation, even he cannot guarantee that everyone will accept him. It’s logically possible that everyone could become Christian, but we’ve had two thousand years to convert the world, including centuries of Christianity being the dominant cultural influence in the world. And yet we haven’t even come close. Even if we take the two billion number at face value without asking any hard questions about it, we’re not even a third of the way there. 

And if we do ask those hard questions, and look closely at indicators of belief and practice, the numbers plummet. For American Catholicism in particular, the numbers paint an apocalyptic picture; only 17% of Catholics attend mass every week. The numbers are better in other denominations and in other countries, but there aren’t many stats we can (or should) hang our hat on. My own experience in evangelization has led me to believe that many of even those who check the doctrinal and demographic boxes do not have a strong relationship with Jesus, certainly not one that’s strong enough to motivate them to determinedly evangelize even two to three people. 

So don’t get me wrong, I think there are very sensible reasons to doubt whether the world will be converted in ten years. But I still think we shouldn’t dismiss it out of hand. Ten years ago, a prominent Catholic speaker sparked a firestorm of controversy when he posted a video suggesting that we could have a reasonable hope that hell is empty. In addition to several theological concerns, critics also raised a practical issue: if everyone is probably going to heaven anyways, why go to all the trouble of evangelizing the world? Although I don’t completely agree with this, I get the point. I also think the flip side applies. If we automatically assume that the Church’s mission is doomed to failure, don’t you think that would also negatively impact the effort we put into pursuing it?

As you may have guessed from my gratuitous swipe at the Green Bay Packers, I’m a Detroit Lions fan. As such, I am intimately acquainted with what happens when an organization doesn’t believe they can win. But happily, I’ve also seen what can happen when a team does believe they can win. It has been immensely gratifying and entertaining to see Lions coach Dan Campbell lead such a heavily limited and demoralized roster into legitimate playoff contention in just two years. A huge part of this is that they play to win. Even, and especially when the Lions are outmatched, opponents have to be ready to face gutsy trick plays, fourth down conversion attempts, and flat out effort. Granted, the Lions still had more than their fair share of duds, and I don’t think they’ll win the Super Bowl this year, but they have a chance to have an impressive season. They’re certainly a thousand times more entertaining to watch than the teams which would fold and check out emotionally at the first sign of adversity.

What could the Church do if we put forth this kind of disciplined scrappy-swagger in our efforts to evangelize the world? One thing that’s discouraged me about the state of the Church is the complacency and mediocrity we face at nearly every level of Church life. So many seem so content to maintain the Church as a social club or cultural institution. Authentic conversion and spiritual growth seem secondary concerns, if they are attended to at all. What if we played to win? Or at least what if we put forth a fraction of the effort, intentionality, and attention to results which we see in the business and sporting worlds? 

Whether you think my friend is out to lunch with her ten year prediction or not, God has commanded us to go make disciples of all nations. I think faithfulness to that command demands at least putting forth an effort that wouldn’t instantly be put to shame by other religions or comparable secular undertakings. Today’s mystery sheds light on how we can put forth that effort in the face of overwhelming evidence of defeat and abandonment by God. Simeon believed that God  would send the Messiah. He did so in spite of it being no less than seven hundred years since the Messiah had been prophesied, and in spite of Israel having been repeatedly corrupted, subjugated, and humiliated up into his present day.

He persevered because he knew God, and he knew that God always keeps his promises. And he knew that God’s modus operandi is to allow defeat to seem certain only to deliver his people at the last moment in the least expected ways. If you haven’t already, read the stories of figures like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, David, Daniel, Jonah, and Ester. Simeon would have known and drawn strength from these in times of doubt. As for evangelizing the whole world, maybe things are hopeless, but maybe, like he has countless other times in the Bible, God is merely allowing things to look hopeless only to show his power and glory when he delivers his people to victory. Either way, Simeon provides us a model of faithful waiting, and of playing to win.

As you do your test run, imagine you are Simeon. Place yourself on the temple steps and watch Joseph and Mary walk toward you carrying Jesus. God has kept his promise. What kept you going during all those years of waiting? How did God show himself to be trustworthy? What do you feel now that you have seen your first glimpse of hope after a lifetime of persevering through evidence to the contrary? May God bless you as you pray.