People who know me now may not know that I used to be a huge fan of the Miami Dolphins. All that changed when the Carolina Panthers became a thing (more on that in part three), but I was all about the ‘Fins before that.
As a boy, I had the team pajamas, and the team toboggan. That was back when it wasn’t cool to have the fuzzy ball on top, so I’d often turn it inside out, but then I just had a bump on top of my head. Clearly a rookie mistake.
As a teen, it was about having the aqua coat with the white arms and orange accents. I dreamed of playing wide receiver and catching touchdown passes from Dan Marino. I even thought about changing my name from Paul to Mark so I could be a third member of The Mark Brothers, the speedy receivers Mark Duper and Mark Clayton.
But this isn’t about proving the legitimacy of my fandom, but explaining the beginning of it. I was 6 years old, and it happened at the end of the church service on January 14, 1973.
After the pastor said the benediction, he looked up and told everyone to go home and cheer for the Washington Redskins (now the Washington Commanders). My mom always told me I had a big compassionate heart, and all I could think on the drive home was how awful it was that no one would be pulling for that other team.
Clearly, I had no idea that other people around the country and the world were fans, and so I decided that if everyone else in my church was hoping the Redskins won, then I’d root for the Dolphins.
I was such a big-hearted rebel.
I tuned in, ate Super Bowl snacks, watched a kicker with a funny name throw a now infamous interception, and held my breath as the clock ticked down. When it hit 00:00, the Miami Dolphins became Super Bowl Champions, the only undefeated team in NFL history (still), and I became a Dolph-FAN.
I write all that for more than just to take you on a fun little trip down memory lane: I think there’s a sobering takeaway from it about what’s happening in our country today.
I became a die-hard Miami Dolphins fan simply because I felt bad that they (in my 6-year-old mind) had been rejected by the pastor and congregation of my church.
I defended who I thought had been offended. When it’s about sports, that’s not a big deal. But what if the stakes are higher than fanbases and sporting events? What if a good-intentioned, compassionate, big-hearted defense turns into an offense held against the perceived offender?
I think you can see how this is playing out in culture now. Generations raised in church to show compassion to the outcast and marginalized have now done what I did when I became a Dolphins fan: they’ve rallied to their defense.
But what if the defense has become an offense? What if the passion that was once focused on helping the hurting has become a rage unleashed on any person or system that is perceived to be the ones hurting instead of helping?
It doesn’t mean that we turn a deaf ear to the cries of the oppressed; God has a lot to say about that. You can read the following verses on your own time to see where He lands on the issue: Psalm 82:3; Psalm 140:12; Proverbs 14:31; Proverbs 31:8-9; Isaiah 1:17; Isaiah 58:6-8; Micah 6:8; Luke 3:11; 1 John 3:16-18; and James 1:27.
Like I said, God is not silent on the issue of defending the helpless, hurting, and poor. It is, after all, why He sent Jesus.
To seek and save the lost (that’s Luke 19:10).
To heal the sick (that’s Mark 2:17).
To bring good news to the poor, freedom to the prisoner, and sight to the blind (all that’s in Luke 4:18).
But in all of His help for and defense of those in need, guess what Jesus never did? He never picked up the offense of the ones He was serving.
He pointed out wrongs without doing wrong.
He confronted wicked and sinful systems without developing a wicked and sinful heart.
He confronted the ones who kept others on the outside without simply replacing the insiders with the outsiders, and leaving the ones who used to be in power on the outside. In short, He didn’t come to reverse the systems, but to redeem the people in the systems.
Maybe we’d be wise to sit at His feet, and learn from Him? Maybe that would help us know how to defend without becoming offended?
Maybe.
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