Welcome, everybody at State 38 on our 40-day tour through the Gospel of John, and we are in the most difficult to read chapter in John's Gospel.

But I want to invite you to read it with a broader

perspective that this is the Good Friday story now, starting with the beginning of John

chapter 19. But as the famous preachers say, it's Friday, but Sunday's coming, the Easter

sun will rise. The darkness is settling in in the middle of this

good Friday, but it is a good Friday. I remember one of the first football games I ever watched

on TV. Man, when I was a little kid, I just loved watching football games on TV. My friends and I,

we all had our favorite teams. We would pretend that we were those players. We go out

into our backyards and reenact the plays to the best of our ability. There was this one

particular game that stands out, one of the first games I ever saw. It was the Pittsburgh Steelers

against the then Oakland Raiders. They moved about 27 times since then, but it was the

Oakland Raiders then. Oakland was favored to win. Pittsburgh was up and coming. They had a

quarterback named Terry Bradshaw, and they had a running back named Franco Harris. There's only

time for one more play. Pittsburgh's losing, and unless they get a

touchdown, the game is over. Oakland wins. They'll advance in the playoffs. Pittsburgh season will be

done. Terry Bradshaw, the Pittsburgh quarterback drops back to pass, and here comes Oakland on the

rush, and they're pursuing him, and he he scrambles and he finally throws a desperation

pass. One of the Oakland defenders tips it. The ball goes up in the air. The game's over. Maybe a

few of the fans saw something else. There was one player in particular, the future Hall of Fame

running back for Pittsburgh, Frank O'Harris, number 32, he saw something

else. He saw the football being tipped by the Oakland player, and he saw it spiraling toward the

ground where everybody thought the game was over, but Frank O'Harris realized he had a chance,

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