Idiotic Metaphors

I was just a boy in Pakistan when Mohammed Ali fought Joe Frazier through 15 grueling rounds for boxing’s heavyweight championship in the spring of ’71. That fight dominated the schoolyard conversation, because Ali, having converted to Islam, represented the good guys against Frazier who was Christian, or at the very least, non – Islamic. Ideas of religion and faith were mixed in with cultural concepts and that fight was to represent the dominance of one Abrahamic line over another.
In North America the fight had different metaphors, equally absurd: Ali had rejected the Vietnam War draft, rejected the culture into which he was born, changed his religion from the dominant and was seen as the voice of the youth movement which by then had begun its fizzle. So much was placed on two men pounding themselves into oblivion. (Both men spent time in the hospital afterwards with rumours flying of Frazier’s death.)
This wasn’t the first time in history that a cultural event had taken on so much weight. But it was the first I participated in through speculation and posturing. As a Christian I secretly wanted Frazier to win to prove that Christians were better than Muslims; but, as a Pakistani I wanted Ali to knock Frazier out seconds into the first round.
Watching a Saturday Night Live skit (last year) in which Jesus visits Tim Tebow, the Denver Broncos quarterback who led his team to six consecutive victories last November and December, I was reminded of Frazier – Ali, and our constant search for idiotic metaphors. Tim Tebow’s public displays of faith had led to much chattering in the media about the role of religion in sports. Should there be, how much should there be, how blatant should it be, and other such manglings. The SNL Jesus addresses some of these.
Jesus tells Tebow and his teammates he can’t be saving each game for them every week; he asks them to “meet me halfway out there,” and to stretch before the game and read the playbook. Sage advice.
The Broncos lost that weekend’s game and the headlines the next day are telling: “Tebow … run(s) out of miracles,” is one from the Globe and Mail. The subsequent article states, “Tebow, the most famous evangelical Christian in the United States, exists at the intersection of sport and religion, money and violence, playing the quintessential position in the quintessential American game ….
“The Tebow phenomenon emerges as a deeply religious country grows less religious year by year—and Tebow strings together wins in seemingly the unlikeliest of ways, injecting a confounding element of faith ….”
Really? Tebow and the Broncos are winning because of Jesus? And when they lose, will that mean Jesus is a loser? Conflating faith with culture bastardizes both.
As you read this, you will know how well the Broncos have done in the Super Bowl run, but this I can predict from my mid – December perch: the Broncos’ future has nothing to do with Jesus. Our faith is not dependent on Tim Tebow’s arm. Joe Frazier’s ’71 win had nothing to do with the supremacy of Christ over Mohammed. Saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” has nothing to do with the baby Jesus. The number of people in the pews on Sunday morning has nothing to do with the power of the gospels.
Like the 10 – year – old me, we want to see the thing we believe as dominant; we are not content to nurture our faith, to weave it into every second of every day, to learn how to pray and read the Bible and act accordingly in the world. We are lazy and want more: We want signs of power; which, and I don’t claim to be a studied reader of the Bible, may well be the exact opposite of what Jesus preached.