I have a friend named Rich who passed away a few weeks ago. Rich grew up in the Bronx, New York, and was a huge New York Mets fan. Having grown up just outside of Chicago, I’m a die-hard Cubs fan.

In our conversations, Rich would often remind me of the year 1969. In 1969, the hapless Cubs were having their best season in decades. They were in first place almost the entire season. On August 16, they led the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals by a whopping nine games.

The Cubs then proceeded to lose 28 of their last 48 games, while the Mets won 37 of their last 48 games to win the division by a surprisingly comfortable eight games. It was the biggest end-of-the-year collapse by a team in the history of baseball. The Mets then stormed through the playoffs and routed the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

What makes the story even more amazing is that the upstart Mets had never had a winning season up to that point. They were a ragtag mishmash of past-their-primer veterans, no-name utility players, and a handful of young, wet-behind-the-ears future stars. Nobody gave them a chance. Nobody thought they could win.

Former manager, Casey Stengel, called them the “Amazin’ Mets.” History has come to know them as the “Miracle Mets.”

It was truly a miracle that the New York Mets won the World Series in 1969. In the same way, it is a miracle that my friend, Rich, is in heaven. At first glance, that may sound a bit off-putting. That doesn’t seem to be a very nice way to remember a friend. But then again, it would take a miracle for any of us to get into heaven.

You see, my friend, Rich, just like you and I and everybody else who has ever lived on this planet are sinners. We have all “sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “The wages of sin is death,” the Apostle Paul tells us (Romans 6:23). We all have earned an eternity in hell with all the ugly and hurtful things we have thought, said, and done in our lives.

It would take a miracle to get any of us into heaven.

Thankfully, our God specializes in miracles. God so loved the world – he so loved Rich – that he sent his Son Jesus to suffer the punishment of all the bad things that Rich, you, and I have ever and will ever do. Jesus paid the price of all our epic failures by dying on the cross, 2,000 years ago, on that dark Friday we call “good.”

But as Jesus’ dead body hung limply from the cross, it looked like he had lost. It looked like the devil had won. It looked like death had won.

The greatest comeback in history, however, didn’t happen in September of 1969. It happened on a Spring Sunday morning 2,000 years ago. Jesus rose from the dead, winning the victory over sin, death, and the devil, winning for us a home in heaven.

Although it would indeed take a miracle for any of us to get into heaven, that is exactly what Jesus accomplished for us with his death and resurrection. That is exactly what God did by blasting into our sinful hearts and planting the seed of faith through his Word and the waters of Holy Baptism. That is exactly what God did for my friend Rich.

Rich is now in heaven, and that truly is a miracle.

Andrew Schroer has been a pastor for over 25 years and is currently serving at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Edna, Texas. You can find his latest books, “364 Days of Thanksgiving” and “364 Days of Devotion,” on Amazon.com.