“TO BOW OR NOT TE-BOW?”
MARK 1:14-20
[14] Now after John was
arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
[15] and saying, “The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the
gospel.”
[16] Passing alongside the
Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into
the sea, for they were fishermen.
[17] And Jesus said to them,
“Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
[18] And immediately they
left their nets and followed him.
[19] And going on a little
farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in
their boat mending the nets.
[20] And immediately he
called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired
servants and followed him.
There’s a new word in the
English language. The word can best be described with a demonstration. You see
it’s a word that is used when
you get down on one knee like this.
You then put your elbow on your other knee and rest your head in the
palm of your hand while you say a prayer in front of thousands and thousands of
people. It’s called
Tebow-ing. It comes of course from
the routine that quarterback Tim Tebow goes through every time he throws a
touchdown. Have you seen him do it? You may not have seen him do it since he
didn’t have many opportunities to do it when his team played the Patriots last
week. If you have seen him do it what do you think? Does it bother you?
Do you like it or are you one of the many people who are screaming, “Enough
of Tim Tebow already!”
To bow or not te-bow. That is the question
and it’s a
question that has stirred the emotions of a lot of people over the past few
months. Personally, I don’t have a
problem with Tim Tebow and his PDF’s. By the way, that stands for public displays of
faith. Of course, we do need to be
clear about one thing. When you
look at all the hunger, poverty, sickness and sin in the world it makes you
realize that God could care less when it comes to who wins a football game or
any other sporting event for that matter.
Yogi Berra, the catcher for the New York Yankees made that clear many
years ago during a World Series game.
When a batter for the other team drew a cross in front of home plate
with his bat Yogi leaned forward and rubbed it out with his catcher’s
mitt. He then turned to the baffled
batter and said, “Why don’t we just let God watch this one.”
Tim Tebow, of course, isn’t
asking God to help him win. He’s
thanking God for giving him the talent to throw a touchdown. All of the fuss
and furor over his PDF’s
though is interesting when you look at it through the lens that takes you back to
that day beside the Sea of Galilee.
So, let’s go back and take another look at what happened. Jesus
is walking along the beach when
he sees Simon and his brother Andrew. He also sees James and his brother John and what does
he do? He launches into a
major PDF. He starts preaching and
proclaiming his faith. Jesus says,
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe
in the (good news.)” Jesus then says, “Come and follow me and I will make you
fishers of men.”
Now it would have been one
thing if it was just Jesus and his four would be disciples but they weren’t the
only ones there. Zebedee, the
father of James and John was also there.
Zebedee’s hired servants were also there in the boat. There were
probably other fishermen who working in other boats as well not to mention the people
who were there buying fish or just walking along the beach. So, what you
have here is a very
public place and what does Jesus do?
He launches into a major PDF. He starts preaching and proclaiming his
faith.
Now in our society that’s a major
no no! These days you can practice
your faith when you’re in your
own home or when you ‘re sitting in one of the pews at the Union Congregational
Church but when you go out in public you better put a lid on it. You better keep
it to yourself when
you’re at the high school or shopping in Wal-Mart or eating a meal at the
Piccadilly Pub or the Horseshoe Grille or Kitty’s Restaurant.
Many years ago there was a political
cartoon that really made you think. The cartoon showed a KKK member with a
sheet over his head, a neo-Nazi skinhead and a minister. The caption underneath
the cartoon
asked this question: “Which one of these three isn’t allowed to speak at a high
school graduation?” It’s sad
but true. Now it’s doubtful anyone
would invite a KKK member to speak at a high school graduation but if it happened
the courts would tell you that he has a right to be there and to be heard. It’s
doubtful anyone would invite a skinhead to speak at a high school graduation
but if it happened the ACLU would tell you that he has a right to be there and
to be heard. Ah, but if someone invited a minister to speak at a high school
graduation the howling would be long and loud.
The problem is that we live
in a pluralistic society and we’ve decided that the way to deal with that
reality is to tell people of faith that when they’re out in public they have to
keep their mouths shut.
That’s the reason you’re supposed to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry
Christmas.” The problem with that approach
though is that after everything is said and done what you end up with is a
meaningless mish mash of mush. The
other problem is that it is fundamentally dishonest. Not only are you being dishonest with the people around you
but you’re being dishonest with yourself.
So instead of playing these
silly games with each other why not be honest with each other and respect each
other. Why not let me be a
Christian and your neighbor down the street be a Jew and the guy you work with
be a Muslim and your brother-in-law an atheist if that’s what he wants? Let
me say, “Merry Christmas” and if
you want to say Happy Hanukah or Happy Holiday or Happy Kwanzaa or you want to wish
me a joyful winter solstice then so be it.
The key here of course is
that when you bring your faith out in public you have to be humble and
respectful. You can’t be like the
football player in the email that made the rounds last week. Maybe the email
made it into your inbox
too. It seems that God is
eating dinner when Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers
walks up to the table. God
smiles and says, “What do you believe in Aaron?” The quarterback thinks about it for a moment and says,
“I believe in hard work and being true to your family and friends, yourself and
to You of course!” God
smiles and says, “Very good,” Why don’t you sit here at my left hand.”
A little while later Tim Tebow,
the quarterback
