During these usually dark, damp, dreary days of winter, and after almost 30 straight days of rain, Seattle has suddenly been transformed into a hot spot. The rain-forest city of Seattle now basks in the sunny golden glow of victory, the dazzle of a long-awaited Championship: the Seahawks are Super Bowl bound for the first time ever!
No small part of the team's success is symbolized by a flag that has been flying atop that icon of the Seattle skyline, and the failed target of Osama bin Laden's terrorists: the Space Needle.
Since the playoffs began there has flown the 12th Man Flag a tribute to the loyal, LOUD Seahawks fans, those exuberant crowds that make up the 12th Man at any Seahawks' game. The supportive roar of the hometown fans, their ability to shake, rattle and roll the visiting team, have made the 67,000 people in the stands a real part of the team's success. Their energy and enthusiasm is the 12th man on the field at all times.
The 12th man is about the only sports phenomenon that has stood up to scientific scrutiny. For example, the proverbial hot hand, whether in basketball or in poker, is nothing but a random, statistical run. What there is, however, is a home field advantage. In every sporting contest, the home team wins about 66 percent of the time. True, there has been a slight decline in the home court advantage over the past century (whether this is due to upgrade in travel to and from the events, or better fields and courts that make all teams feel at home is still being discussed). But the decline is only marginal. What is true is that winning away games, where people aren't pulling for you, is very hard.
Feeling the support of those around us is often the difference between success and failure. Do you remember as a child how we longed for all eyes to be on our stunts, or in more grownup words, our efforts and endeavors?
"Watch me! Watch me!" we pleaded as we turned crooked cartwheels or swung wildly at softballs.
"Listen to me! Listen to me!" six-year old karaoke singers croon and ten year old pudgy-fingered pianists implore.
Even teenagers who usually like to pretend their parents don't exist sneak hopeful glances into any audience, wanting to know that Mom or Dad are there. Even if they won't acknowledge their existence.
Knowing the crowd is with you is exciting, exhilarating, empowering. That cushion of support makes athletes a little faster, musicians a little more creative, teachers a little more eloquent. The home town advantage gives intangible, invisible, but authentic authority to the home team's actions.
In today's gospel text the first thing Mark notes is that Jesus and his new disciples journey to Capernaum. Archaeological evidence suggests that Capernaum was the hometown of Big Four fish disciples: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. When Jesus and his companions entered the Capernaum synagogue they were on home ground. In fact, the Greek text suggests that going to the synagogue to teach was something Jesus had done before. It was a familiar scene. Although Capernaum may not have been his childhood home, Jesus was still at home in that synagogue. It was his chosen home base, his home field.
Mark doesn't relate what it was Jesus actually taught. Just that his words astounded the locals. They were impressed not just with WHAT Jesus said, but with HOW he said it: with authority, and not as the scribes (verse 22). This undercurrent of acceptance stirred up more than admiration. It changed the atmosphere in that synagogue enough to antagonize an unclean spirit. It's the crowd's 12th Man support of Jesus' words and presence that prompts the unclean spirit to reveal itself.
No one brought the possessed man to Jesus to have him healed. The unclean spirit revealed himself to Jesus and then announced Jesus' true identity before the synagogue: "I know who you are, the Holy One of God." With the unclean spirit's presence revealed and Jesus power unveiled, it takes only an authoritative word from Jesus to banish the possessing spirit. In front of the supportive crowd Jesus rebukes the spirit and commands it to "come out." Called out by the "Holy One of God," surrounded by a roomful of people who are in awe of Jesus' abilities and in sync with his spirit, the unclean spirit has no options. With a convulsive wrench it departs from the man and is heard from no more. Not surprisingly witnessing this powerful demonstration of Jesus' authority further amazes the synagogue. In fact so great is the crowd's response to Jesus' words and actions that this one event becomes the initial springboard for Jesus' Galilean ministry. From that one Sabbath day event in that one small synagogue Jesus fame began to spread (verse 28).
Do you remember what happened when Jesus went back to his real hometown, where the people looked at him as some kind of freak show, where the crowds were filled with the sentiment "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Mark 6:5 says "And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them."
Do you have a 12th Man in your life? It's important, if we're to do great things for God, to have a 12th Person in our lives at all times. How are we doing as a church, functioning as everyone's 12th Man or 12th Person? Are you a 12th man or a 12th woman to your kids, your parents, your teachers, your co-workers, your pastors?
Even Jesus needed a 12th Man, and chose 12 disciples to be part of that 12th Man.