There appears to be a consensus forming that Tim Tebow’s career as a football player is over. This, in itself, is a strange phenomenon, since he has a winning record as a starting quarterback in the NFL, a relatively rare achievement for a young player who came into the league with questionable talent and playing for a mediocre (at best) team. Heck, it’s rare for any young quarterback to come out of the gate with a winning record. In any event, people have begun to speculate about what Tim Tebow might do next, now that he has no future in sports proper.
As has been well-reported in this (and every single other) space, Tim Tebow is a no-foolin’ Christian, and one of the career options that is open to him is Mainstay on the Inspirational/Motivational Public Speaker Circuit. Tebow could likely earn his weight in gold doubloons each year, speaking to one packed stadium of Christians after another. But it might not be that easy.
Recently, Tebow accepted an invitation to speak at First Baptist Church in Dallas, the church led by Robert Jeffress, who has had some not-so-nice things to say about some segments of the population. Outcry was quickly and loudly heard. How could Tebow endorse Jeffess’ message by agreeing to speak at his church? After some thought, Tebow cancelled the engagement, saying that he “needed to avoid controversy at this time.” Outcry was quickly and loudly heard. How could Tebow bend his faith to the will of the politically correct establishment?
As ESPN.com’s LZ Granderson says in his piece on this recent Tebow miasma, “Tim Tebow simply can’t win.” He’s criticized for agreeing to speak and then criticized for what he doesn’t say. We’ve touched on this before in relation to LeBron James and his “unwinnable” All-Star game last year. This Tebow story makes it clear: it is life itself that is the un-winnable game.
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (as a window into his larger worldview) makes life un-winnable. We think we can defeat adultery, but must admit defeat to lust. We think we can defeat murder, but must admit defeat to anger. We think we can defeat the inability to love our neighbor, but must admit defeat to the requirement to love our enemies. God’s first word (law, requirement, standard) is a defeating word. It shows us that no matter which way we go, left or right, toward First Baptist Church or away from it, we can never truly do what Jesus would do. WWJD is too tall an order. We must rely on God’s final word (grace, love, forgiveness), which is an enlivening word. It’s even better to say that God’s word of law is a killing word. It destroys us, no matter what we do. God’s word of grace, though, is a resurrecting word, bringing life out of death and glory out of defeat.
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2 responses to “The Squelched Swan Song of Tim Tebow”
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Excuse me? “Not so nice” things about “some segments” of the population? What a pretty way to descibe what Jeffress has said about wide swaths of the populace that actually number in the billions, whom he has castigated as evil, depraved, degraded and loathsome. Tebow, a well-informed Christian, is entitled to think and speak what he wants. He is entitled to associate with a man and a sect that has used the words and image of Christ as a cudgel against those who do not share a worldview that is largely marked by its capacity to hate and to inflict emotional and spiritual harm on the dreaded “others”. Poor, put upon Tim lacked only the courage of his convictions. His acceptance of Jeffress is a bell that can not be easily unstruck, so he may as well have at least whipped those crowds into their version of a holy frenzy. People in these “segments”, the Roman Catholics, the Muslims, the Mormans, and heaven help us, the gays and those that risk eternal damnation for supporting them, know where Tebow’s heart and mind lays.
It is often characteristic of hate speech that it is first nurtured and amplified within like-minded assemblages, so that there is only a reverberating amen and seldom any consideration of or accountability for the intended harm. It is also often characteristic of the most virulent hate speech that, as it spreads beyond its source it is incongruously coupled with a projected sense of victomhood and martyrdom. Never mind that the advocates of such speech are the aggresive agent of all the agitation that ensues. Criticism only confirms their Christ-like qualities and enobles their righteous crusade. In the Country where Jeffress and Tebow ply their trades, it is permissable for them to express their views and to profess and promote their faith, no matter that it strikes many ears as the antithesis of who Christ was and what he did and said and why he came to us. Jeffress and Tebow get to say and believe what they may. The rest of us share these privleges, however, and simply put, we don’t have to like it.
Jeffress is hardly the first public figure to use religion as a club and a shield in advancing a political and cultural agenda. Tebow is hardly the first celebrated athlete to enlist in such a war, but he may be the most cold-footed. Jeffress and Tebow may confuse themselves with Christ, but we are entitled to point out where we differ and where we believe they differ.
For someone criticizing condemnation, you sound pretty condemning.