January 16, 2012--Tebow Ecclesiastes

Thankfully, Tebowmania is over. At least until next football season. This thanks to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, who trounced the Denver Broncos Saturday night 45 to 10, we now know the difference between a real quarterback (Brady) and an impostor (Tebow).

But why did last weekend's and this weekend's Bronco games garner the largest TV audiences since the last Super Bowl? More than 30 million of us tuned in. Not because Tim Tebow is a Hall-of-Fame-bound quarterback but because he is a second-rate quarterback and winning games, often against great odds while playing his best at the most opportune times.

For a large segment of the population (43 percent according to a recent poll), Tebow’s success is proof that God intervenes in human history, even in football games.

For these people of faith, particularly evangelical Christians, it is completely reasonable that God would intervene on Tebow’s behalf. Doesn’t God reward faith? Lord knows Tebow has faith. Why wouldn’t God make Tebow successful in order to demonstrate that faith matters, and that something positive can come from it? Why wouldn’t God allow Tebow to throw for exactly 316 yards, for a 31.6 yard passing average, with a 31.6 television rating at the end of the game, a game where Tebow had John 3:16 ("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.") written under his eyes?

Many people of faith believe they see God’s intervening work in the world every day. They watch Tebow because they know a miracle when they see it, and with him, this year they’ve seen it a lot.

At the other end of the spectrum are those who question God's existence or, minimally, that He cares about the outcome of football games. These agnostics and atheists watch because they want to see Tebow fail, and with it the faith that God actively and routinely intercedes in human affairs. These people aren’t just rooting against Tebow, they’re rooting against what they perceive to be ignorance and superstition.

And between these two eschatological extremes are those who do not know if God is helping Tebow, but want to believe He is.

In many ways this sums up the cultural situation in America, underscored currently by the ecclesiastically-charged political season where at times it seems that God Himself is on the ballot.

During the same weekend when the Tebow-inspired religious drama was literally being played out in Foxboro Stadium, conservative religious leaders were meeting in Texas to figure out who to support for the Republican nomination. Who to get behind in order to deny the Mormon Mitt Romney the designation he is rapidly winning.

With no Mike Huckabee or Jeb Bush to anoint, with a choice of Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, or Rick Santorum, it was, even for the various reverends and "family-values" folks a no-brainer. The latter Rick was their choice.

Let's see if that enables him to finish higher than fourth in the upcoming South Carolina primary.

Perhaps now that Tim Tebow's season is over he's available to do some campaigning. I'm sure the faithful already have some explanation for why God did not intervene in the Broncos-Patriots game (there is the Book of Job to refer to), minimally to affect the point spread. I am at least as sure that Tim could turn out a crowd for Rick, the Republican version of a second-rate candidate awaiting and needing divine intervention. They could make quite a team.