So the title is sorta cryptic, but it is what I want to talk about: the phenoma of Tim Tebow. The celebrity-obsessed nature in man is shown at its absolute worst and its absolute best when people talk about Tim Tebow. This entry is a response to a long facebook conversation about Tim Tebow as a "Pharisee".
Now, why would someone who wants to blog to young Christians bring him up. Well, one major reason is that there is a large amount of evangelical missionic fundamentalism in Tim. Those big words basically sum up his background: grew up in the Phillippines with his evangelical Christian missionary parents and grew up with a very real and active faith being preached and spoken about in his home. This upbringing where faith is prominent and ingrained is something I completely understand, well, short of the international missionary work piece.
I see Tim Tebow wear his faith on his sleeve and when you do this it seeps into everything you do. Tebow is a man of faith that plays football. That does not make him special. Take Ray Lewis a man of great faith who wears his faith on his sleeve, most people smile and move on. But, what is it with Tim that when he prays the camera zooms in and singles him out. I submit to you that the reaction to Tebow is mostly racial. It is because the NFL is approximately 70% African-American players people take for granted their faith heritage. Even when there were devout Muslim prayers fasting through Ramadan the reaction to them were muted. Faith to African-Americans has generally been taken for granted, because everybody "knows" Jesus and "goes to church". So when Maurice Jones-Drew, Larry Fitzgerald, Ray Lewis, or even Demarius Thomas of the Denver Broncos point to the sky or cross themselves or pray there is nothing said because that is "who" they are.
But let this young white quarterback kneel and pray it gets a new nickname "Tebowing". No my friends its called praying and its been around for a loooooong time. Again, post-modernism in America has been predominantly "white" and faith has been rationalized out of the intellectual circles, where access is mostly monochromatic. When celebrities express faith it is usually rationalized or glossed over. Tebow is scrutinized both for his faith (which is on his sleeve) and his play on the field. Never before have we really seen a young white quarterback who is so up-front about faith and his relationship with Christ. So the world does what the world always does, picks the person apart as they lift them on a pedastal. A friend offered some verses in Matthew as a judgement against Tebow: "5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:5-6 ESV).
So I want to close this with some encouraging exegesis. In the context of these verses Christ is comparing the walk that he desires a follower of his to have and the walk of a Pharisee. Remember that this is still the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus wants to make clear that there should be a difference between the motives of a disciple and the motives of a Pharisee. This is to be taken on two different levels: 1) Maintaining a private relationship with Christ is preferred to a deliberately public one; 2) But, do not avoid opportunities to express your faith not for the glory of man but for the purposes and glory of Chirst. Using this scripture to judge Tebow or anyone else is incomplete revelation. Christ says repeatedly to not be ashamed, David says in the Psalms repeated that he will make the name of God glorious, countless other examples. Remember, that our responsibility is to not become hypocrites. Hypocrisy is the sin and hypocrisy is rooted not only in our actions but our motivations which only God can judge. I admire Tebow for working very hard at humility in the face of superstardom. My prayer that all of us would learn to do the same in the face of life. Humility is knowing our abilities and our value but then yielding to a God who has all power and knowledge to direct our lives.
There is more but just a few thoughts:
Ernest
