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“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.” –– Psalm 135:15-18
(#21) Terry Metcalfe –– (#51) Dick Butkus –– (#74) Bob Lilly –– (#85) Mel Gray –– (#17) John Havlicek –– (#6) Stan Musial –– (#4) Bobby Orr –– (#45) Bob Gibson –– (#22) Bob Hayes … I could spend the rest of the day identifying numbers by the names of athletes who wore them on their jerseys without even referencing Google. At the same time, I may well not be able to conjure the name of someone I’ve met three times in the last month. Why is that? Of course, one reason for this irony is the diminishing elasticity of an aging sexagenarian brain. However, the jersey numbers remain readily accessible because of the reverence I accorded great athletes throughout the years of my youth. In the days before replica jerseys ($100+ a pop) and authentic game jerseys (up to $300+ a pop), we would scrawl the numbers on our t-shirts with permanent markers. With the arrival of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese this year, the sales of WNBA jerseys have increased 1000%.
The idolization of athletes has certainly not diminished since the days of trading baseball cards with friends and pretending you were Fred Biletnikoff diving for a catch. We place athletes and celebrities on ever higher pedestals upon which no one could be expected to remain untainted or flawless. The industry of idolization in our culture is an increasingly risky business. Any revelation of past sin spreads like wildfire, inviting microscopic scrutiny, accusation, recrimination, and the tornadic spiral of online vitriol. Many times the judgment is justified; often it is overcooked; and sometimes it reveals more about the judge than the judged. There is a zealotry in caustic vilification that tends to illumine the utter lack of self-reflection in the judge who, while scorning the judged, ignores the smudges on the shine of his own character.
It could be said that there is no wisdom in venerating humans with statues, for human character is always weaker than granite, and everyone’s resume reveals cracks and flaws.
We can enjoy, cheer, respect, and even honor those who move us, inspire us, entertain us, and amaze us, but worship is reserved for God alone. As the old stone tablet cautioned, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them…”
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