Sunday is the big day.  Of course, it’s the big day for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs and their friends, but it is also a big day for Jesus.

As for me, I will pull out my old Eagles t-shirt and root for the team that was our home team for a dozen years or more.

As for Jesus, he’s got a big day of his own.  First off, he’s featured in $20 million worth of Super Bowl ads.  Along with “This Bud’s for You,” we will see two “He Gets Us” commercials, sort of a “This Jesus is for You.”  You know, the King of Beers and the King of Kings.  I wish much success for the “He Gets Us” campaign.

But Jesus also has a big dilemma when it comes to rooting for the Eagles or Chiefs.  The Christian sports media complex has been all about it.  It turns out that both the star quarterback for the Chiefs and the star quarterback for the Eagles are faithful practicing Christians.  The Eagles up the ante by having a Christian head coach and the Chiefs raise the stakes with a faithful owner.  Or so goes the pre-game Christian hype.

I’d want a little more time for theological reflection before I endorse the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes’ assertion that God healed his ankle badly sprained in a playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  “I wanna thank God, man. He healed my body this week,” Mahomes said following the conference championship win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Maybe so and maybe not.

As I have read about Mahomes and the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, though, I must say I am more impressed than I expected to be.  Both articulate a well-considered faith and off-field lives that give witness to what seems to be the integrity of their commitment to Christ.  Hurts, especially, appears to see more to his faith than “Jesus helped me throw that touchdown pass.”

By the way, a conclusion I have come to as I read about Mahomes and Hurts and their stories is that God uses faithful parents who are intent on raising their sons and daughters in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

While I am impressed with the integrity of faith shown by the two quarterbacks (at least in the Christian press airbrushed versions of their faith), I am less encouraged by the social media and other comments of some of the Eagles’ and the Chiefs’ church-going fans.  For them there is a sense that Jesus will not only root for their team but will likely add a little bit of divine intervention because their quarterback (or head coach or owner) said nice things about him.

So what will it be, Jesus?  The Eagles or the Chiefs?

Scripture reminds us, however, that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and as the AFC is far from the NFC so his ways are far from our ways.  Or something like that.

I’ll be wearing my old Eagles t-shirt.  As for Jesus, who knows?  Maybe he’ll be watching “All Creatures Great and Small” on Masterpiece Theater.

My apologies to those offended by my attempts at humor, blasphemous as they may be.  But perhaps, as one critic has said, it is not so much that he gets us, as we need to get him.

As for me, I’ll close with this ancient prayer:

Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goalposts of life,
End over end, neither left, nor the right,
Straight through the heart of them righteous uprights,
Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goalposts of life.