The Olympic Games are as secular as you can get. So it is a bit amazing when athletes give enthusiastic praise to Jesus when they win a medal. But that is exactly what happened on at least two occasions. Jesus in our sad and sorry secular society often has been relegated to the outer fringes of Mongolia, but He keeps showing up in the most unlikely places. He is the Man that just won’t go away.
Fiji is a speck in the South Pacific. Many years ago, missionaries carried the Good News of Christ to the Fijian people. They responded with wholehearted enthusiasm, and that enthusiasm for Jesus remains undiminished. The Fijians are tough people, and football comes naturally to them, especially Rugby that was born on the playing fields of Rugby College, so far away in England. They were not serious contenders for a medal, honor would have been satisfied if they had bravely resisted the onslaughts of the Australians and New Zealanders. But they did more than anyone expected. Before playing, they knelt down and prayed to the God of Heaven. Then they gave the world’s best, the New Zealanders, a good beating. That was after they had thoroughly demolished the confident Aussies. After they triumphed over the stunned New Zealanders and won the gold medal, these tough men fell to their knees, and with copious tears praised the Lord Jesus. Standing to their feet, before the world, they broke into song, magnificent in harmony, and gave glory to the Lamb who had died to redeem them. The world gasped in wonderment. Jesus apparently was alive and well at the Tokyo Games.