Does God care who wins the Super Bowl? And the answer here
in South Carolina is probably No - the Panthers aren't in it, so
why should God care? But in Western Pennsylvania today, where I
spent the last eight Super Bowl Sundays, the answer is OF
COURSE!!! Duh. The Steelers. Get out the Terrible Towels.
Does God care who wins the Super Bowl? What a question!
Actually, it is not original with me. It comes from an article
in an old issue of Sports Illustrated from several years ago by
William Nack. (1)
Of course, our national attention WILL be focused on Tampa
this afternoon. The Super Bowl has grown into a phenomenon that
has transcended being a mere sporting event - about a zillion
people are expected to tune in from a million countries and hear
the broadcast in a thousand different languages. People will
watch who otherwise would not bother with a football game, which
advertisers know all too well - they are paying multi-millions
for 30-second spots. Is it worth it? Apparently. Surveys
indicate that lots of people every year tune in to the Super Bowl
just to see the new commercials. Intriguing.
So, who is going to win? Pittsburgh is favored, as you
know, but Steelers players say they would just as soon have it be
Arizona. However, Pittsburgh was favored each of the four times
it won the Super Bowl back in the '70's - the one time the
Steelers lost the big game was the one time the opposition came
in as favorites. So, which would you prefer, players?
In the mint, a one dollar bill and a twenty dollar bill
become friends. They get split up and go into circulation. Six
years later they happen to be in the same load of bills returned
to the mint for destruction. So the one says to the twenty, "How
was your life?"
"Oh, marvelous," says the twenty, "I went to Vegas, to
Europe, last year to the Super Bowl, just wonderful. And you,
what about your life."
"Awful," says the one dollar bill, "every week the same:
church, church, church." Hmm.
So now the church and the Super Bowl meet. Who does GOD
want to win the game? Does God CARE who wins the game? Come to
think of it, can our prayers have an influence on the outcome?
Why not? Did Jesus not say, "I will do whatever you ask in my
name?" (2) Will there not be players praying in those locker rooms
in Tampa in just a few hours? What do you think?
My mind is suddenly filled with images of Sunday afternoon
heroes, kneeling in the end zone in a brief prayer after scoring
a touchdown, or groups of players dropped to their knees, heads
bowed, in the middle of the field at the conclusion of a game. I
hear post-game interviews with sweaty stars: "Great game, Biff."
"Thanks, Bud. The first thing I have to say is that I owe
it all to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We kicked some BUTT
out there today. WHOO-OOH!"
Does any of that make you feel funny? It does me. I
confess I am more than glad that there are public figures
acknowledging the importance of faith in their lives. That is
GOOD! But I am dismayed by the implication that Jesus Christ
helps anyone "kick butt." On or off the field.
In that old Sports Illustrated article, the reason,
according to at least some of the players, that one team as
opposed to others is in this afternoon's game is because God
decided it should be so. This is God's will. God enables
someone to make a spectacular catch while condemning another to
give up a fumble. In the theology of the locker room, the course
of every game and season has been scripted by God to serve divine
purposes. So it is not human error that leads to those fumbles -
God orchestrates them. The game is already decided before anyone
walks out there. Uh-huh.
The Cardinals and the Steelers each have a number of
Christians on their rosters. That is normal. The presence of
Christians in NFL locker rooms is not a new phenomenon--they have
been studying the Bible together for years--but their numbers and
visibility have increased dramatically in recent seasons. Why?
Sports Illustrated quotes Randall Balmer who teaches religion in
American culture at Columbia. "This is a way of seeking
stability in their lives," he says. "It has to be a dizzying
world [huge salaries, incredible temptations, the danger of being
injured or cut from the team]. For the more sane among them,
faith is the refuge."
OK. We can buy that. But can we buy the assertion that
some of these players make that they are mere instruments of
God's will in the outcome of these games? Does God take an
active interest in the final score of athletic matches? Did God
favor Pittsburgh over Baltimore or Arizona over Philadelphia two
weeks ago? Does a believer on one side of the ball have an
advantage over a non-believer on the other side of it?
Richard Wood is a Methodist and Quaker minister and the
former Dean of the Divinity School at Yale. He says, "It doesn't
seem to me odd that God would know in detail what happens in
football games. What seems to me odd is that God would care.
The idea that God intervenes in sports is one that most Christian
theologians reject as absurd at best and blasphemous at worst."
The notion that God cares whether the Cardinals or the Steelers
win the Super Bowl suggests that God is in detailed control of
what human beings do, which is certainly questionable - I cannot
imagine saying that it was God who arranged for you to have Corn
Flakes or Eggs or a sticky bun for breakfast this morning. That
kind of micro-management flies in the face of the human freedom
we believe God graciously gives. But, moving that up a notch, we
have terrible wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, the genocide
in Darfur, an economy in shambles here that threatens stability all acrossthe globe, plus all sorts of other problems, and to suggest, in
that light, that God has some direct involvement in a ball game
tends to trivialize the whole notion of God's involvement with
the world.
One more theologian. No heavy duty academic credentials
here, but he is too big and too strong to ignore - the late,
great Reggie White, defensive end for the Packers and the Eagles
and also a Christian minister. Reggie bristled at suggestions
that God takes no part in the outcome of games. "How do they
know?" he asked. "They're not God. They can't find anything in
the scriptures that proves it." He noted that the Bible is
filled with evidence of God's decisive role in human conflicts.
"God intervened in David's fight with Goliath," he said. "When
Jesus died, [God] intervened in Jesus's victory over death."
True, Reggie, true. But to put the outcome of an athletic
contest between teams of spoiled millionaires in the same
category as the dramatic rescue of the chosen people or the
redemption of humanity is a bit of a stretch.
Does God take sides in a game? How about in a war? The
only "side" I see God taking in scripture is the side of the
poor, the outcast, the downtrodden, the helpless. Scripture is
full of references such as those in our lesson: "Since there will
never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command
you, 'Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your
land.'" Over and over the Bible makes it clear. The Bible talks
about the poor more than it talks about the resurrection. In
fact, it talks more about the poor than about prayer...even the
prayer for victory in the Super Bowl! The Bowl that God cares
about today is the one in which our kids are involved, the S-O-U-P-E-R Bowl of Caring.
So should the players be praying for a victory this
afternoon? I am with Yogi Berra on this one who is reported to
have told a player coming up to bat who had just crossed himself,
"Aw, why don't you leave God alone; let him just sit back and
WATCH for once."
So, does God care who wins the Super Bowl? No. As we come
to the Table, remember God does care about the players, God cares
about you, and you and you and you and you. God cares about me. And that is all any of us will
ever need.
Amen!
1. 1/26/98, pp. 46-48. It is from this article that most of the quotations from players and
theologians comes.
2. John 14:14
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