Chad and Matt were playing Chess at Chad’s house. Not too many people knew about Chad’s obsession with the game of Chess or why it was so important to him, although his profession was Soccer.
“Queen’s pawn to d4!” said Chad with weird enthusiasm.
“Then I will also move my Queen’s pawn two spaces forward”, said Matt.
“In that case, I will move my C-file pawn two squares to c4”, said Chad.
“You’re going to let me take that pawn?” said Matt.
“Only if you want to”, said Chad.
“I can’t resist! Fine, I choose to capture the pawn on c4!” said Matt.
“Perfect, now I move my king’s pawn to e4”, said Chad.
“And I move my knight to f6”, said Matt.
“That’s fine by me because I can capture your c4 pawn with my light-squared bishop”, said Chad.
“I see you captured back the pawn, but next I capture your e4 pawn with my knight. You’re still a pawn down, and the game just barely started”, said Matt.
“I’m not worried about the e4 pawn; I have a bigger plan in mind. I move my knight to f3”, said Chad.
“Come on, Chad, I thought you were good at this game! All I have to do is move my bishop to g4, and now your knight can’t move because I will capture your queen with the bishop if it does”, said Matt.
“I already know that, but I am still moving my knight to e5 anyway!” said Chad.
“You’re crazy, Chad. I take your queen on d1 with my bishop”, said Matt.
“And I move my bishop from c4 to f7. Checkmate!” said Chad.
The Chess game was over after only 13 moves:
- d4 d5
- c4 dxc4
- e4 Nf6
- Bxc4 Nxe4
- Nf3 Bg4
- Ne5 Bxd1
- Bxf7#
“Wait…what have you done?! My king has nowhere to go!” said Matt.
“Yes, you can’t take the bishop on f7 or move to d7 because the knight protects both those spots. It doesn’t matter that I lost the queen”, said Chad.
“Where did I go wrong, and what should I have done differently?” said Matt.
“If you had moved your king’s pawn one square, the bishop could never have reached the f7 square. However, your eyes were on capturing my queen, and you forgot to leave an escape for your king”, said Chad.
“How did you figure out how to do tricks like this?”
“I just sacrificed two pawns and my queen to win the game. It turns out that it doesn’t matter how many pieces I lose as long as I have a way to trap your king. You could say that my queen sacrificed itself much like Jesus did for us”, said Matt.
“Chad, are you seriously making an allegory about Jesus using a Chess game? Don’t you ever stop?” said Matt.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Matt. These things just come out of my mouth. I plan my Chess moves better than the things I say”, said Chad.
They both laughed at how absurd it sounded for Chad to say things without thinking.
“Chad, I have to disagree. It seems like you put a lot of effort into everything you say and do. How do you always know the right move?” said Matt.
“You flatter me too much, Matt. Yes, I usually plan my words and my Chess moves, but I don’t always know the right move. Chess is simple, but sometimes real life is complex and I just plain don’t know. Sometimes I pray about it or try to read something I remember from the life of Jesus that is relevant”, said Chad.
“Can you name one time you didn’t know the right move?” said Matt.
“Yeah, a couple weeks ago…” Chad started to say until
Knock Knock
“Someone is at the door”, said Chad.
“Expecting anyone?” said Matt.
“No, it is unusual to have guests with no warning. Maybe I am in trouble for something,” said Chad before answering the door.
Chad opened the door, and outside was Stacy.
“Hi Chad, I want to talk. Are you busy at the moment?” asked Stacy.
“Never too busy for my friends. Matt is already here, and I was just about to answer a question Matt asked me. Actually, your timing is perfect!” said Chad.
“What do you mean, Chad?” Stacy said, looking extremely confused.
“Stacy, sit down, and you’ll find out! Matt, to answer your question, the last time I didn’t know the right move was after the Sunday when Luke brought hot dogs and told the story of Noah’s Ark and the flood from Genesis chapter 6. I questioned whether I should even be involved or just quit participating in the Soccer and Sunday School ministry.”
“Why did you want to quit?” asked Matt.
“Because I wasn’t sure whether I was any more qualified to teach the Bible to these children than Luke was. Obviously he prefers the Old Testament and stories of God’s judgment, but I prefer the New Testament and Jesus’ teachings of love, forgiveness, generosity, and sacrifice. How can I know I am right?” said Chad.
“So what happened? How did you decide to continue?” said Matt.
“Stacy and I met by accident in the library, and she told me about how a butterfly has to be born again and become a new creature. That is when it hit me that Jesus is what the New Testament is about. Even now I can’t be sure if my beliefs are correct, but I decided to follow my heart and the example set by Jesus. I don’t believe in murder, nor do I think God commanded the killing of animals or humans as was written in the Old Testament.”
“But do you believe in the concept of sacrifice? Did Jesus really have to die for us?” said Matt.
“I don’t know if he had to, or if there may have been another way, but there is a difference between sacrificing someone else to save your own life and sacrificing yourself to save others. If it is what Jesus wanted to do, who am I to disagree?”
“Just like the queen sacrifice in Chess”, said Matt.
“Correct, Matt, perhaps for some reason Jesus sacrificed himself to win a game that we don’t even know the rules of. I just hope Jesus is a good Chess player and that he knows the right move even when I don’t,” said Chad.
Stacy looked at the Chessboard for a minute.
“I see…so that’s what happened”, said Stacy.
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