Of course, God roots for everyone.  But when someone is getting pushed around I think God chooses a favorite. 

Last night Alabama beat Texas in the BCS championship game for the national title.  Congratulations Alabama.  By the time I tuned in, Alabama was winning handily.  It looked like there was no hope for Texas, especially since their star quarterback had been injured and was out of the game.  Their back-up QB was young — they called him a ”true” freshman which means he really was 18!  Imagine his perspective  — “I am one year out of high school and leading my team on national television toward a possible comeback victory for the title!”  No pressure, young fellow.

The Penn State Game Is The Only One That Really Mattered To Me

Frankly, I didn’t care about either team.  My college football season ended quite nicely when Penn state beat LSU in the Capital One Bowl.  Last night’s game didn’t matter to me.  I didn’t care who won…until I sensed an underdog.  Texas had been getting their tails whipped and were now trying to scrape out a late game comeback.  Suddenly, that was my team.

Funny how that is.  Could have been either team.  I tend to root for the underdog.  Why?  Is it more fun?  Does it lower my expectations to help me brace for disappointment?  Or, is it possible a tiny bit of God’s preference for the underdog lingers in me?¹

God Cares About The Underdog 

I happen to believe God has a special preference for our most vulnerable — the underdogs in our world.  We talked about one group of special underdogs — poor children — in a few previous articles.  Check them out:  How Are Our Children? , The Most Vulnerable Among Us, and Who Is My Child? 

I also happen to believe our preferential treatment of the most vulnerable among us is not to be determined by our (too often capricious) judgment about whether the person or group deserves our help.  Pamela Couture of Saint Paul School of Theology in Missouri  says it this way:  “In the biblical story, the emphasis is not on the qualities of individuals but on the gift of generosity and freedom God gives to all people.  All people then are expected to extend these same gifts to one another.  Biblical law also commends as normative the community’s generosity toward those who may be socially and economically vulnerable.” ²

Uncomplicated Applied Theology

So maybe I was working out a little applied theology last night.  Sure, college football is just a game, a sport, for fun.  But orphans are the real deal.  Widows and strangers are all around us.  Not only are they the underdogs, they aren’t even in the game yet.  I happen to believe God has made it quite clear what should matter most to us:  widows, orphans, and strangers in our land.  In other words, anyone who is most vulnerable, the underdogs among us. 

I like the underdog.  I’m gonna’ root for them.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, Ph.D (2010).

1. Trust me, I’m not suggesting I have some super-spiritual sensibility.  Not at all.  I do believe, though, that all of us have embedded within us a bit of God’s image.  Perhaps my caring about an underdog is a bit of evidence that God hasn’t given up on me! 
2. Couture, Pamela (2007).  Child Poverty: Love, Justice, and Social Responsibility.  St. Louis:  Chalice Press, p18.  This book was developed as part of the author’s work with the United Methodist Church Council Of Bishops Initiative On Children And Poverty.  In 2001 the Initiative developed a preliminary theological statement: http://archives.umc.org/initiative/statement.html