Thomas Griffin 2/10/24
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The 2023 Super Bowl was watched by over 115 million people worldwide. There is really no sporting event like it. The players involved know that it is not the most important thing in the world though.
Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, and Harrison Butker will all play in the Super Bowl this weekend. They have reached the pinnacle of their sport. However, it is what they are saying about faith that tells the world what they are most about.
Brock Purdy has become a sensational quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. No one could have guessed that he would be playing the way he is when he was a third string quarterback. Recently, Purdy said that the invitation by Jesus to lose your life if you desire to find it has really stuck with him. He said that since he has a starting job in the NFL the temptation can be to say to yourself, “I cannot lose this, no way I can lose this.” Purdy said the words of Christ showed him that one day everything will be taken from us. That message and truth grounds the way he plays and lives his life.
Christian McCaffrey has been a great running back going back to his days with the Carolina Panthers. He has always been a star but taking his talents to San Francisco has elevated his game even more. He talks often about his faith. McCaffrey posted earlier in the year on his social media that he relies on the following Scripture line to keep him focused on what is most important. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). This line reveals why he is always son grateful to God for all he has.
“I didn’t know what to expect going into a professional locker room, who’s a believer, who’s not or any of that stuff,” Purdy told Sports Spectrum. “And I was very fortunate and blessed to have guys like Charlie Woerner, Christian McCaffrey, pastor Earl Smith, Oren Burks, these guys that are just solid believers. We’d meet before road games and just have our little Bible studies. But the biggest thing for me was, man, having fellowship. You’re in a crazy business, you’re on the road, you’re going to different places. But to have guys that believe in the Lord and can help you and pour into you with their experiences and everything, I found that huge.”
In an interview with Queen City News, the great running back said: “When you have a ‘why,’ you can endure everything, and I think when your faith is strong, when you understand what’s going on in your life … you just turn to God and surrender,” he said. “For me, that was the biggest weight off my back was that word — just keep telling myself, ‘Surrender.’ You’re not in control as much as you think you are, and that’s a gift.”
Harrison Butker has been in the Super Bowl before and he knows what it means to be on the biggest state. He also knows what it means to be a main of faith. In fact, it what he is most outspoken about. “I want to be a saint. And that’s the most important thing, and that’s why I’m here on this earth,” Butker recently told EWTN News.
He continued by saying, “I’m not just making kicks so that I can make money and I can puff myself up as this great person that people want to be like one day. I’m making kicks because God wants me to have a platform, at least for right now, to share this message of faith, of growing in virtue, of growing closer to the sacraments and of being a saint.”
Purdy, McCaffrey, and Butker are all extremely wealthy, famous, successful and popular. They have everything that so many people crave. However, these three players all scream to the world this weekend that all of those things are not enough. A relationship with God is the only thing that can actually fulfill us. While we watch the game this weekend, let us remember that as well and be devoted to faith above everything else.
Thomas Griffin is the chairperson of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island where he lives with his wife and two sons. He has a masters degree in theology and is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine.
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