Ok, since March Madness is on the minds of so many (including my own), I thought it would be fun to see how we can relate this excitement to our own faith. There are a number of angles we could take, but this is the one that most intrigues me.
One of the reasons March Madness is so much fun is because there are so many upsets. In fact, as I was writing this article I saw CSU Northridge (I’m not even sure what CSU stands for), take a lead on Memphis, a #2 seed, the team that almost won it all last year. Now they’re down, but we love underdogs don’t we. At least for a while.
So here’s the question, was Jesus an underdog? We know a lot of famous underdogs in the Bible- obviously David (at least in fighting Goliath), but you could also think of Jacob, Joseph, and many others who overcame dramatic odds.
But what about Jesus? In his death on the cross, he snatches victory out of the jaws of defeat. That sounds pretty dramatic, maybe a little underdogish. At the same time, defeat was never really an option. All along, God knew that Jesus would win through the cross. It was all part of the plan. Now I don’t know if Satan really knew, that’s an interesting question of it’s own.
The Devil is pretty big and intimidating sometimes. We’re told “the path is narrow”, and humans are inclined toward sin, so I guess you could say he has numbers here on earth. Does that make Jesus the underdog? At the same time, Jesus is the Triune God, three in one, those are impressive numbers. You could add to that the legions of angels at his hand and the Church universal.
I guess what I’m trying to get at, is that sometimes (especially during Lent) we play Jesus as if he’s getting trampled over in such a way that his victory is in doubt, an upset. I’m not sure I’d say that. Now those viewing it might have seen it that way. They could not have understood things without his incredible victory. But was victory ever a question?
No, the Father had a plan and he sent the Son to accomplish it. So I’d say it’s ok to embrace the tension in the Passion, but let’s also keep focused on how powerful our Lord is.
So if you see any other aspects to this Jesus/faith underdog story, go ahead and throw in your comments.
Oh, and who do you have winning it all. I’ve got NC in my “real” bracket. But go Gophers!
That’s an interesting take. Jesus was viewed as an underdog, even though he knew that he would “win.” Perhaps the closest modern analogy is a team like the Giants against the Patriots two seasons ago. As huge underdogs defeating an unbeaten team, they would be quick to say, “Nobody believed in us!” But, they obviously had to have believed in themselves going into the game.
It’s funny how often athletes will say that same line again and again when Jesus clearly owns it.
I like the analogy of the Giants. It does seem to fit. Especially given the fact that the last game of the season made it clear that the Giants could take on the Patriots. Jesus had taken on Satan and the authorities how many times during his ministry, yet people thought he’d finally been defeated. Not so.
As to the “no respect” line of athletes. Maybe they can finally point to Jesus in a more orthodox way now. Instead of simply thanking Jesus that he gave them the victory that day (which might be true in a way, but is still questionable on the “does Jesus have a favorite team” grounds), they can now reflect on the fact that, “as no one gave us any respect, no one respected Jesus on Good Friday either, but he won!”. I’m looking forward to hearing that one!
I was reading over everything and found them very interesting. Webster’s defines and underdog as
1 : a loser or predicted loser in a struggle or contest
2 : a victim of injustice or persecution
Based on the second definition alone would define Jesus as an under dog in a big way. But I am okay with that simply due to fact that world loves an underdog. Unless you are a die hard fan for the favorite you will usually cheer on the underdog to win. Now comes the hard part for us (tell the world of the underdog).
Also another thing that defines an underdog is not the fact that we know he will win but the struggle he went though to get there. No one can debate the struggle still going on today to show the struggle that Jesus went through.
Lastly those people that know Jesus, know that that he has won and will win in the end. However the rest of the world is still debating. In this aspect Jesus is still the underdog because he is still struggling to win the hearts and souls of the world.
GO!!! Underdog