YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
In a movie called “The
Replacements”
Gene Hackman looks out at his football squad
And says,
“You gotta have heart---miles and miles of heart”
Hackman plays Jimmy
McGinty---the coach
Of a rag tag football team
That is replacing the regular team
Who are out on strike
As the movie ends
The regular team has settled their strike
And are coming back the next week for the playofss
---IF they make them
McGinty-Hackman doesn’t say it
But you almost get the feeling
That McGinty would rather
Go to battle next week
With this rag tag team of losers
Than his regular team
“You gotta have heart---
Miles and miles of heart”
I wonder
If this is how Jesus felt some 2000 years ago
That he would rather do battle
With the “losers” of his day---the Apostles
Than the perennial and accepted religion
HEART---figuratively, the center of a person
That which gives a person direction
The apostles and disciples HAD HEART
They were focused on God and
others
They had COMPASSION
They CARED and they LOVED
In Mark 7
Jesus condemns some of the teachers of the law
For following tradition
Without obedience to the LAWS OF GOD
( love, kindness, forgiveness, and compassion )
The Pharisees and teachers question Jesus
About his disciples eating with unclean hands
Jesus responds,
“Isaiah was right
When he prophesies about the hypocrites
As it is written:
These people honor me
With their lips
But their hearts are far from me
They worship me in vain
Their teachings
Are but rules taught by men
You have let go of
The commands of God
And are hanging on
To the traditions of men” Mark 7:6-8
The implication here
Is that the teachers of the day
Were so bogged down in tradition
That they forgot the laws of God
Loving God---loving and caring
for others
You gotta have heart
MILES AND MILES OF HEART
The implication here is
That Jesus’ disciples and apostles had heart
They may have not known the
tradition
But they knew the law of God---LOVE
The Apostles had heart
Do you and I
Would Jesus look out at us
Like McGinty did of his band of replacement players
Would he look at us and admiringly say
“YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
MILES AND MILES OF HEART”
My friends
You are the REPLACEMENTS
In today’s world
Would Jesus
Pick you for his team
He would
If you have
MILES AND MILES OF HEART
Robert P. Wallman
3-14-12
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