G.O.A.T. - Reflection 5th Sunday OTA

Readings There is a prevalent phrase, especially around sports that has worked its way into our language. G.O.A.T. - the greatest of all time. People like to use that term when referring to specific persons or groups. People look up to the G.O.A.T. Being from Louisiana, there is one person we consider the G.O.A.T. - the greatest of all time quarterback (Drew Brees). There is one football team we consider the G.O.A.T. - the greatest of all time. college team (LSU). If we look around us, on a personal level we might look for those who are the G.O.A.T. in certain skills. If you are getting on a plane, you want your pilot to be the G.O.A.T. - the greatest of all time.. If you are sick, you want a doctor who is the G.O.A.T. - the greatest of all time. If you have legal issues, you want a lawyer to be the G.O.A.T. it is a bonus when the person we consider the GOAT is a Christian, Then we know that the one they look to is truly the greatest of all time - Jesus Christ. For they know that Christ Jesus is not a shepherd of goats or G.O.A.T.s. He was a shepherd to lost sheep. The thing a true Christian (who is considered a G.O.A.T. in worldly things) desires is to be a sheep in heavenly things. Even the greatest of all time can realize they are lost sheep. The true believer knows Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats. What does it take for us to strive to be great sheep? Scripture gives us some direction. Share yo ur bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, Jesus told us we are all called to be the salt and the light. “But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” You are the light of the world. “A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand,” Salt and light have something in common. Not in an obvious way (we taste salt, and we see light); but each of them allows us to experience the goodness of something else. Nobody eats just salt for dinner. We put salt on the food we prepare. We put it on the meat, the vegetables, and in our bread. If you watch great chefs cook they will even put it in deserts. The salt is there to enhance the taste. We need salt, but the food is our dinner. Light is like this, too. We turn on a light not to look at the light, but to look at other things that reflect the light. It is difficult to see beauty without light. Christians are to be the light that shines in such a way that others can see the LORD. Christians are to be the salt that enhances the presence of Christ in the world. As Christians, we should strive to be salt and light; instead of goats, we must be sheep. Many times, those striving to be the G.O.A.T. tends to lose the ability for anything other than self. To be centered on oneself is to become salt that loses its taste or a light put under a basket. Some that are the G.O.A.T. focuses only on being that. They study, practice, and work hard focused only to be the one everyone sees them as the greatest. Look at St Paul. He would have been considered the G.O.A.T. at persecuting the Church during his early life. But, the risen Lord Christ Jesus, the Good Shepherd, turned him to a sheep. And, possibly one of the greatest of all time. He changed. And Paul the sheep said this, “I resolved to know nothing…, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of Spirit and power In human wisdom alone we can never be the salt and light the world needs. Our faith and the wisdom needed rests on the power of God instead of complicated arguments. And that calls for us to be sheep instead of goats. Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by the way you live your life and love one another. Amen.