Underdogs

​Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, Virginia
Proper 7, Year B
June 20, 2021
 
“There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!”
 
Saturday mornings always had a ritual.  My brother and I would get up as early as we wanted, leaving our parents alone.  We turned on the old black and white TV. to warm up, and we poured cereal and milk for breakfast in front of the Saturday morning cartoons.  No on TV demand then, just on when it is on, and we had our favorites all mapped out. 
 
Along with Rocky and Bullwinkle, our favorite cartoon was Underdog.  Underdog was like a parody of Superman, wherein the lowly Shoeshine Boy would turn into Underdog whenever the forces of evil took hold. Usually, he swooped in to rescue Sweet Polly Purebred, who was a canine television reporter.  Obviously, the willing suspension of disbelief was never the problem for us.
 
By the time our parents awoke, we were all sugared up, and diving/flying from couch to chair, proclaiming, like our hero, “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here.”  When my grandparents came, Grandmother Taliaferro took some old bath towels and safety pinned them you our pajama tops, so we would have real capes to help us fly.  I think yielded was my brother’s first trip to the emergency room.  Maybe they should put a “not for flying” warning label on old bath towels.
 
The thing about Underdog is that he is kind of a deconstructed super hero.  He is not strong.  In fact, when he flexes his muscles, the bulge goes down instead of up.  He has no lasers or knock out punch abilities.  Usually, he prevails through an awkward series clumsy mistakes whereby things get knocked over and fall on top of the ne’er-do-wells.  Sweet Polly Purebred is always grateful.  Then, Underdog flies off, though awkwardly, declaring “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!”  When folks look up in the sky, they do not mistake him for a bird or a plane, they think he is a frog.
 
The lessons for this week are all about underdogs.  First, we have the epic David and Goliath tale, where the small and ruddy last child and shepherd boy defeats the massive imposing champion of the dreaded Philistines.  This elevates the young nobody to hero status right quick, and the story leads to him becoming a mighty king who will unite the Israelites and build a great fortress at Jerusalem.  He does not get there through size, strength, or layers of armor.  He gets there through faith in God, l who will prevail through him, and when he is successful, it is always through faith in God’s guidance.  When he eventually fails, it is because he goes it alone and abuses his power.
 
Next, we have Paul writing to the Corinthians who seem to want success, power, and victory in exchange for their good works and obedience.  It is a kind of early yearning for the Prosperity Gospel that megachurch stars tend to put forth on TV.  Paul writes eloquently about the faithful “having nothing and yet possessing everything.”  He tells them that they cannot earn God’s favor or salvation, as that has already been done and assured through the person and work of Jesus.  Abundant life is not about earning holy merit badges that exempt us from suffering, it is about accepting the grace of being loved and loving others in kind.  It is about reframing what we see as abundance.
 
Finally, we come to Jesus and the storm.  To put this in context, we are hearing from Mark’s gospel near the beginning.  Jesus is a nobody from nowhere too.  He is still in Galilee, but gaining some notice as he has been casting out demons.  His people believed that all forms of sickness comes from some form of evil overtaking a person or people.  As love in person, Jesus counteracts such forces and sends the demons packing. 
 
After a long day of that work, he asks to be taken to the other side of the Sea of Galilee where he might rest and refresh.  As the story goes, he falls asleep in the stern of the boat, and a huge storm comes up form nowhere.  The word for this storm in Greek implies something otherworldly, devastating, and much larger than an afternoon thunderstorm.  Such a thing is like the destructive and capricious Goliath.  Seen as an evil foe as much as a meteorological event, Jesus rises, speaks of having faith, and stills the thing to a dead calm.  And this leaves the disciples wondering… “who is this that even the wind and the seas obey him.”  The story sets the stage for more casting out of demons, but also for the constant challenge of those who find Jesus threatening and who plot against him.  Such challenges will follow him all the way to the cross.
 
We cannot help but root for the underdogs of this world.  When someone unlikely prevails in sport, or business, or even to get to college from a tough upbringing, we love to hear about it.  These events help us see the world turned upside down and shaken out.  They give us hope for humanity.  They speak to our feelings of never being enough.  Many such stories often involve deep faith and good-hearted help from others who believe in the underdog.
 
Over and over in our sacred stories, the people who go for God, and make a difference, are those who have nothing particularly earthly going for them.  At the very least they challenge us not to look at might, strength, status and wealth as precursors for being worthy of love or as signs of holy favor.  The bible is not about super heroes.  It is about ordinary, flawed people made extraordinary through love and faith.
 
And who is this Jesus?  He travels only on foot around a relatively unimportant outpost of the Roman realm.  He never went beyond a 90-mile radius in his whole life.  He had no money and no stuff.  He hung out with the wrong sort of people.  Most of his followers were illiterate.  He had no governmental office, no corporate sponsorship, and no mass media publicity.  People only heard about him through word of mouth, and they came to believe him as God through personal experience and experiencing the power of love over all.  People still do.
 
Who is this Jesus?  He is an unlikely underdog come to save us, all of us underdogs.  And there is no need to fear, this Underdog is here.  Amen.