Well, it's another year of losing for our Phoenix Suns. The ownership is asking fans to be patient - give our young players some time, they say, and in a year or two or three we'll have a winning, playoff-contending team.
But I watch these young players and they are so inconsistent. One night they show promise and the next night they show nothing. All of them.
Except one.
Devin Booker is a joy and delight to watch. Only 21 years old, he is the best player on the Suns and one of the best players in the league.
But not good enough to be an All-Star. Really?
He's eighth in the league in scoring, has improved statistically in every other category and is usually the marked man by his opponents. And still he's good for 25 points a game.
Booker was overlooked for the All-Star game. The reason given was that the Suns are a losing team. If you want to be selected to the All-Star team you have to be on a winning team. So Booker will have to watch the game from the bleachers.
I'm glad Jesus doesn't rejects losers.
I think about Matthew the tax collector. He was considered a loser by just about everyone. Jewish tax collectors collecting monies from fellow Jews. It was well known that many tax collectors took advantage of their position, collecting more than was required and keeping the extra for themselves.
Had Jesus met and talked with Matthew at one time or another? Were they acquainted? We don't know but look at Jesus in chapter nine of Matthew's Gospel. Jesus goes up to the tax collector and says two words: "Follow Me." With that, Matthew hands in his resignation and goes off with Jesus.
In the next scene, Jesus is hanging out with Matthew and his friends, mostly other tax collectors. The scene greatly offends the religious elites, the Pharisees. They ask the disciples, "Why does the teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" In other words, why does Jesus hang out with losers, the lowest of the low in society?
Jesus answer is simple and full of good news - "For I came not to call the righteous but sinners."
Jesus came for sinners. He came for tax collectors and for people like you and me. People who fail to keep God's commands. People who regularly fail to trust in God and trust more in ourselves or others. People who somehow think that their works of righteousness make a person acceptable before God.
God says, "There is no one righteous, no, not one." (Romans 3:10). But Jesus reaches out to those of us who "have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23).
The self-righteous, those who like the Pharisees who believe that their imperfect works and deeds should somehow impress a perfect God, aren't interested in Jesus or His Word of forgiveness and salvation. They believe they are winners who need no Savior.
But us losers - those of us who know that we have nothing to offer a holy God and would be condemned for our sins - are the ones who Jesus seeks out.
He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become righteous before God. (see 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Even today, most people aspire to hang out with the winners in society - the rich, the powerful, the influential.
But Jesus seeks out us losers, dies in our place, rises from the dead on the third day to declare victory over sin and death and the devil, gives us His perfect righteousness, and assures us that we have a place in the kingdom of God.
One day, Devin Booker will make the All-Star team. One day it will happen.
You and me? We don't have to wait to receive the goodness and mercy of Jesus. It's ours now! All the gifts of God are given to us every time we come into His House. We already have our inheritance. We'll enjoy it in full when Jesus comes again and gathers all believers together and takes us to our heavenly home.
Isn't it great to be a winner - in Jesus!
