The Journey 99: Transformation In My Community
Read: Luke 7:1-10
Tebow-ing or Tebow-hating? There is another phenomena that has come up in the NFL league and that is Tebow-ing and Tebow-hating. It is all connected to one of the star attraction, a quarterback in NFL-Tim Tebow. Yesterday he drew a crowd of about 15,000 to an outdoor Easter church service where he told the gathering that it's important to be outspoken about ones faith. This created huge controversy across the country as Fox news and other new channel held panel discussion yesterday on Tim Tebow and whether he has the freedom to express his faith and his convictions publicly. But Tebow is least bothered. In fact he told the gathering that he welcomed the attention on his convictions as well as the "Tebow-ing" prayer pose he often strikes on the field because it puts his faith and prayer in the public conversation. But while his open confession of his faith has been an inspiration to many, it also has brought about “Tebow-hating,” a conscious effort to degrade the or make fun of the faith conviction of Tim Tebow, because they feel that football game is no place for evangelism. But Tebow says he has no plans to change. But there is another aspect which even critics of Tebow admire him for. His passion for community and charity work. During NFL games, Tebow regularly brings sick children to his games through his foundation. Tebow brought Joey Norris, a young boy with cancer, to the playoff game against the New England Patriots, and where the Broncos suffered what he called a devastating loss. Here is one star player, who is on the centre of attraction, who not concerned about his image because he feels it is his faith that is more important than his image or his position.
This week we are going to meditate on “ Transformation in my community”. The portion that we are going to meditate is from Luke 7: 1-10. This is one of the portions where a person who is in authority and wields enormous power, acknowledges the person of Jesus Christ for the sake of his servant. Here is a person who loves his servant very dearly, which was very rare in those days, and he wants Jesus to heal him. But the beauty of the character of the centurion is that he tells Jesus that “ Jesus only has to command to heal his servant and not to take trouble by coming to his house” . Jesus acknowledges the faith of the centurion and says that “ he has not found greater faith in Israel”. Here is a person in authority, who is not concerned as to what others will think about him if he publicly seeks help of Jesus Christ, a person who is not concerned about what others will think about his faith proclamation or his faith tradition, and a person who is ready to loose his image for the sake of Jesus Christ and also because of his attitude of compassion for his servant. I think this God wants us to do in the community. We all are very concerned about our image, and we will take care that no body dents our image and thus we have clever and sly ways to keep apart our public image and the faith image that we need to portray as a Christian in two different platforms so that none of these images gets dented. The centurion along with Tim Tebow teaches us that we should not be ashamed of our faith. This is what Paul also said in Romans 1: 16. What God requires is public affirmation of our faith in the community and take stand for what we believe.
That is what Tebow-ing is all about.
Interested in Tebow-ing or Tebow-hating?