Who will win the big contest? For those interested, that question has reached its peak. For those assuming I was referring to the Presidential Election, you might be disappointed. Think baseball. The Chicago Cubs are playing the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 tonight to determine who wins the World Series.

Both teams have not seen a World Series victory in decades. Some have waited all their lives to see their team even get to the World Series and feared that they would die without experiencing that feeling of winning the ultimate test.

The people living in Judea in Jesus’ day were part of a throng of Jews who had been waiting hundreds of years for victory. They had been subjugated by foreign powers and, even though there were some tastes of liberation from foreign powers through insurrections, inevitably those rebels would be killed by the ruling authorities. Then Jesus came.

No insurrection movement ever looked like it, but the band of disciples knew something was worth grabbing onto and hoping for in this Man. His teaching was different—it came “with authority”—not like other teachers. He did amazing signs and wonders give credence to the claim that “the Kingdom of God has come near”.

But, in the end, as shown by the disciples’ reaction to the cruel and thorough torture of the cross, all hope had disappeared.

Wrigley Field, 2010

Come back to the 21st Century with me for a moment. My daughter and I were at Wrigley Field on September 18, 2010 for a Dave Matthews Band concert. Approximately 50,000 people were crammed into the stadium seats and on the field.

The scene was electric with this being billed as the “last show of the summer” for that year. One thing you must know about the “way” of Dave Matthews Band concerts: when the band starts to play, everybody stands for the entire three-hour concert. Virtually everybody knows every word of every song and sings along. At around 11 PM the band played a song called “Time Bomb”. The show had nearly finished and everybody sang:

Baby, when I get home
I want to pick up the pieces
Hammer in the final nail
And lean me up against Jesus

Baby, when I get home
I wanna believe in Jesus
Hammer in the final nail
Help me pick up the pieces

Baby, when I get home
Help me pick up the pieces
Hammer in the final nail
I want to believe in Jesus

Who Will Win?

On and on the chorus went. 50,000 people sang a song about the cross. For that moment in Wrigley Field, in a way unknown to many who were there, the scene of the cross had dominated the crowd and band with 130 decibel intensity.

What could cause that? Why sing a chorus of “I want to believe in Jesus”? Perhaps a revolution—one so powerful it had affected even the not-so-outwardly religious concert goers.

I am not sure who will win the World Series—or the election. But I take hope in what I saw that night in 2010 at Wrigley Field. Jesus won on Good Friday, and the revolution has begun!

I am not sure who will win the World Series—or the election. But the revolution has begun! Click To Tweet

Introducing N.T. Wright Online

Our Latest Course: Ephesians

The following two tabs change content below.

David P. Seemuth, PhD

David Seemuth is the Founder and President of the Wisconsin Center for Christian Studies, Inc, which exists to bring transformation to Christian believers through the renewal of the mind. He and Prof. N.T. Wright collaborate in online course development and launched N.T. Wright Online in 2015. David has been an Adjunct Professor at Trinity International University for over 35 years and teaches in the area of Biblical Studies, specializing in the New Testament. He also served as an Associate Pastor at Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, WI, for 30 years.

Latest posts by David P. Seemuth, PhD (see all)