The Buffalo Bills football team had an amazing run during the early 90s. The team appeared in each Super Bowl game from 1991 to 1994. No other team in history has made the Super Bowl four years in a row. There are 8 members of the NFL Hall of Fame from that team, during that stretch. They were a dominant force in all areas of the game…except one. During that 4 year period of unprecedented achievement, they never actually won a Super Bowl victory. 4 appearances…4 losses. It had gotten to the point where football fans, and fellow athletes, were rooting against the team getting back to the big game. I think many had a sense of embarrassment for the team.
But it was the first game in that run, the 1991 game, that perhaps stood out and set the tone for the string of defeats. It was during that game that Buffalo had the opportunity to win the game in the last seconds with a field goal. Scott Norwood, an amazingly consistent kicker during the season, lined up for a 47 yard attempt that would have given the long suffering city of Buffalo the championship that they all craved over so many seasons. The kick went up, looked like it would divide the uprights, but then faded to the right giving the New York Giants the coveted victory.
You can imagine the disappointment of the team and the fans of Buffalo. But none of that compares to the hurt that Scott Norwood felt. In his mind, he had let down his team and his city. And what he expected, if not from his teammates, but from the city when the team returned to Buffalo, was an angry mob. After all, it was his fault that there would not be parades, music, and celebration on the streets of Buffalo. But he was not ready for what was waiting for him when the team got off the plane. A crowd of 30,000 people calling for Scott to appear on the balcony. And when he did, he was not greeted by boos and catcalls but, instead, by cheers expressing love and admiration…and forgiveness. Norwood would later proclaim how that day saved him from going down a long dark path. Forgiveness and mercy has a way of doing that.
And it was mercy that the tax collector called for in today’s Gospel reading from Luke. The reading features the well known parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. The Pharisee can be heard proclaiming his virtues to God and all that he had done for the Lord. Prayer, fasting and generously paying the temple tax. All good things, right? What we are called to do during lent. Prayer, fasting and alms giving. As compared to the tax collector’s prayer. In it he proclaims himself to be a sinner and asks for God’s mercy.
Now it is very easy to look at this parable and say it is all about humility. How the tax collector will be exalted in his humility and the Pharisee will be humbled in his self-exaltation. And it is true that there is an element of that here in this story. But, in the end, only God can judge a human heart. Only God can know the inner workings of a person’s true desires and true intent. For we are all sinners to one degree or another. We may be lifelong believers or we may come to faith close to the end of our time on earth. But it is God who judges ultimately and it is God’s mercy and love that saves us. None of it depends on our own performance. Not burnt offerings (as the prophet Hosea relays in today’s first reading), not how much temple tax you pay, and not if you are good enough to connect on a 47 yard field goal. It is when those works stem from the gift of faith that we receive from God. That is the victory that really counts.
