99 To Beat

 

For the past few weeks, 

My mom and I have been watching a show called 

99 to Beat. 

The show started with 100 contestants and will eventually get down to 1 

Who will win $1000000.

The games are not complicated when not under pressure. 

Think party games,

Relay races,

Minute to win it, 

Stacking cards, 

Popping balloons, 

Stuffing a tent back into its bag. 

And the object isn’t to win. 

The object is not to finish last. 

 

The contestants have gotten close,

Which makes it seem that the show was filmed over the course of time. 

Yet they are in the same clothes every episode, 

Which makes it seem that the show was filmed quickly. 

Come to find out,

The show was filmed over the course of three weeks, 

With 15 hour days, 

And multiple sets of the same clothes were provided and laundered for show continuity. 

 

In other words,

There is a lot to the show that we don’t see! 

There are hours and hours of contestants waiting around, 

Talking, 

Sharing life stories,

Getting to know one another. 

As the show gets closer to its end, 

It’s harder and harder for the contestants to see one of their friends fall. 

There are real connections. 

There are real tears. 

 

When Jesus was crucified, 

One of thieves on his side mocked him. 

The other proclaimed he was Lord. 

How did the latter know this about Jesus? 

What led him to make such a bold declaration? 

Was it simply in how Jesus went about the process of dying? 

Or were there countless behind the scene hours that we don’t see? 

“Criminals” held together awaiting execution, 

Talking, 

Sharing life stories, 

Getting to know one another, 

So that as it got closer to the end, 

It was harder and harder to say goodbye? 

 

I think that sometimes we read scripture and forget that it was real people living the stories

And that all the details weren’t written down. 

There are time lapses and emotional connections and food breaks and rest breaks and 

Themes like clothes used for continuity

But real time passes and sometimes we don’t know how much. 

 

May we allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate the words 

on the pages 

of the book 

that is increasingly being used 

as a weapon 

And may we connect our lives to the 

Greatest story every told, 

Jesus,

The servant King, 

The last one standing. 

Amen.