There is something about finals football that makes sacrifice particularly easy to see. NRL players give plenty to the game. They give their time, their bodies, their energy and, for many, years of their lives.
They do it for their club, their teammates, their coach and the fans who turn up every week to support them. And while we often talk about what a player expects from his teammates, I think there is a more important question hiding underneath it:
What is he willing to give for them?
A priest said something in his homily at Mass this past Sunday that has stuck with me. He said the Christian life is about sacrificing yourself for others, rather than sacrificing others for yourself.
It is a simple distinction, but one that cuts right against the instinct we can so easily have to put ourselves first. Interestingly, sport gives us a small and very visible picture of what that looks like.
Nathan Cleary, Dylan Edwards and Isaah Yeo all took the field for Penrith in their preliminary final against Newcastle despite serious injuries. They certainly weren’t the only players in the finals carrying injuries, either.
Across the competition, players regularly take the field knowing they are not at 100 per cent because their team needs them. But sacrifice on a football field isn’t only about playing injured.
It can be making the tackle when you know you might come out second best. It can be passing the ball instead of taking the glory yourself. It can be playing a role you don’t particularly enjoy because that’s what the team needs.
The Roosters showed it against the Dolphins, putting their bodies on the line repeatedly in a brutal contest to earn their place in the grand final.
And then there were the Knights, who gave everything they had for 80 minutes in their preliminary final – and for more than 40 of those minutes, they had to do it with one fewer player on the field.
Nobody was able to give the Knights back what they had lost. So everyone else had to give a little more. That is what makes a great team. And perhaps that is where sport gives us a glimpse of something much bigger.
The Christian life is not ultimately about asking, “What will everyone else do for me?”
It is about asking, “What can I give?”
Jesus doesn’t call us simply to give things up for the sake of giving things up. He calls us to give ourselves in love.
That is a much harder challenge than simply sacrificing something. Because the question isn’t only about who I am willing to give myself for, though that is obviously paramount.
It is whether I am willing to give of myself at all – or whether I expect others to sacrifice themselves so that I can have the glory.
Sport reminds us that the greatest teams aren’t built by everyone asking what they can get from one another. They are built when each person is willing to give something of themselves for the good of everyone else.
And perhaps that is the challenge for us beyond the football field, too.
Am I willing to give of myself for others, or am I still expecting others to give of themselves for me?
