Tebow time is over, at least for now. Last weekend, the Denver Broncos suffered a humiliating 45-10 defeat at the hands of the New England Patriots—a score that could’ve been far worse had Tom Brady felt a bit more vindictive. So while we still have a few more weekends of football left, some Broncos fans like me are already looking ahead to the draft and free agency and training camp, a mere six months away.
But given the cultural impact of Tebow, it feels kinda fitting to look back and take stock of this strange, strange story—and to see what lessons can be learned from it all.
Tim Tebow may not be that great a quarterback yet, but he was a pop culture juggernaut in 2011: After leading the Broncos to an unlikely mid-season win streak, the outspoken Christian quickly moved from the sports section to the front page, launching a passionate, at times insane dialogue on heart and talent and faith.
A late-season slump slowed the Tebow train, but an astonishing upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers revved the thing up again. When he threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in overtime, Tebow helped spark a firestorm on Twitter—an astonishing 9,420 tweets a second, the highest tweet-rate ever for a sporting event. When folks started connecting the dots between Tebow’s 316 passing yards and John 3:16, curious Internet surfers made the verse the hottest search on Google the next day.
In the wake of the victory over the Steelers, 43% of American polled believed that Tebow’s success owed something to divine intervention.
For me, that’s where the Tebow story got a little ticklish.
Hey, we talk all the time about how celebrities influence the way we regular folks act. It’s part of our job here at Plugged In. And it’s fantastic that, in Tebow, we got the opportunity to see a celebrity impact culture the right way. He’s a good guy, and I’d like to think that he’s inspired others to be better people, as well. We know that Tebow’s improbable success spurred some of his fans to pick up a Bible or go back to church. And that’s great.
Right?
But here’s the thing: When I hear people on talk radio say that Tebow’s play is blessed by God, or read people on Facebook say that God is working through Tebow’s win-loss record, I get uncomfortable. I’m not saying God didn’t or doesn’t work that way … clearly, the word “miracle” finish seems pretty appropriate in some of the Broncos’ victories this year. But for those who see God’s hand in an improbable victory, what do these same people see in a humbling defeat? If one’s faith is sparked by a player’s win-loss record, does that faith survive playoff humiliation?
“God showed up on Sunday” people would say during Tebow’s run. Did that mean God didn’t show up against the Patriots? Or was He just unable to keep the Pats’ defensive rush away from His boy?
Sports can make folks a little bit nuts. Anyone with a firm faith can see that God’s working through Tebow, but that work encompasses far, far more than his on-the-field play. And to see that, all we have to look at is Tebow himself.
Before and after the game, according to Time, Tebow met with 20-year-old Zachary McLeod, a man who suffered a horrible brain injury in high school—an injury so severe that he can barely talk. This isn’t unusual: Tebow meets with sick or hurting folks before and after every game.
“Overall, it still wasn’t a bad day,” Tebow told the magazine after his shellacking to the Pats. “It was a good day because before the game I got to spend time with Zac McLeod and make him smile. Sometimes it’s just hard to see, but it depends on what lens you’re looking through.”
He went on:
Sometimes I pray before games, during games, after games ... regardless whether I win or lose … whether [I'm] the hero or the goat, it doesn't matter, I still honor the Lord and give Him glory because He's deserving of it. Just like my faith shouldn't change, neither should that … You can still honor the Lord with how you handle things.
We’re a performance-driven society. We love our winners. We always have. We love our happy endings. The entire entertainment industry—and that includes sports—is predicated on those two basic premises. Those are, in the end, deeply biblical premises: After all, we as Christians know the game has been won already. We know we’re destined for a happy ending.
But when I comb through my Bible and when I look in my own life, I find that God often makes his greatest impact felt in losses—in the darkness and setbacks that make up all of our lives.
Look again at John 3:16—the verse that sparked so much interest after Tebow’s performance. Look at what it says:
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The verse speaks of an unspeakable loss—the death of the Son of God. And yet through that loss, everything was won.
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