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{"id":13567,"date":"2015-01-21T12:09:50","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T17:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zackhunt.net\/?p=13567"},"modified":"2015-01-21T12:09:50","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T17:09:50","slug":"can-nba-team-act-like-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2015\/01\/can-nba-team-act-like-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Can An NBA Team Act Like Jesus?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I love communion.<\/p>\n

And baptizing my daughter was one of the best moments of my life.<\/p>\n

But washing other people\u2019s feet? I get all panicky and desperate for an excuse to leave anytime\u00a0a pastor or retreat leader brings out the basin and tells me to kick off my shoes. The whole thing makes me super<\/em> uncomfortable. It\u2019s just too intimate and too awkward and too humbling\u2026and I\u2019m guessing that\u2019s exactly why Jesus did it.<\/p>\n

It inverts the power structures that control our lives and forces us to come into contact in the most humbling way with our neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies. It\u2019s a subversive reminder\u00a0that as disciples of Jesus we are called to be humble servants, not conquering kings.<\/p>\n

The washing of feet is powerful image in the life of the church. So, you can imagine my surprise, if not outright shock to see this video\u00a0pop up in my Facebook newsfeed.<\/p>\n\n

That\u2019s Memphis Grizzlies\u2019 guards Tony Allen and Mike Conley washing the feet of kids from the Memphis area before placing a brand new pair of shoes on their feet. It\u2019s part of the NBA team\u2019s partnership with Samaritan\u2019s Feet<\/a>, a non-profit that seeks to provide shoes for children stuck in poverty around the world. It\u2019s a\u00a0relationship that goes back several years. Here\u2019s former Grizzlies\u2019 guard O.J. Mayo washing a kid\u2019s feet back in 2012.<\/p>\n

$\"grizzliesfeetwashing\"$ (Credit:\u00a0 Joe Murphy\/NBAE\/Getty Images<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

I lived in Memphis when this annual event began, but I have to confess that this is the first I\u2019m hearing about.<\/p>\n

Personally, I love it. I know it\u2019s easy to be cynical about stuff like this and write it off as a publicity stunt, but given the Grizzlies\u2019 players history of generosity<\/a> and the simple fact that\u00a0nobody forced these guys to show up (as evidenced by the fact that the entire team wasn\u2019t there), I\u2019m inclined to believe that the guys that participated did so because they genuinely care about the kids whose feet they were washing.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s true, if love and concern for the least of these drove them to be present, then\u00a0I think this sort of thing should be a reminder to all of us in the Church that\u00a0 sometimes Jesus is present where Jesus isn\u2019t present<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That is to say,\u00a0God is at work in the world in unexpected places\u00a0and sometimes, maybe many times, the presence of Jesus is more clearly seen through what we do then what we say.<\/p>\n

So, can an NBA team act like Jesus?<\/p>\n

I think the answer is an unequivocally \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"