What is the deal with March Madness? Every year millions of Americans become glued to their TV’s, computers and/or phones to stay updated with games played by teams they largely neglect the other 49 weeks of the year.
Several of my friends and I were discussing this last week and it became a helpful vantage point for better understanding the human heart and its insatiable thirst for glory.
People identify with teams for a myriad of reasons. Some may root for teams because they went to a particular school. Others may follow the team from their city or state. Still others may be rooting for a compelling story-line (like the Cinderella story of Florida Gulf Coast University). Whatever the reason, the intersection is always the same: we identify something favorable in the team in the midst of the event that attracts us. We become “grafted into” their story. We identify with it and pull for it. To some degree, their quest for glory becomes our quest for glory. This can range quite a bit on the “glory-scale” however, the principle is the same. Human beings are inclined toward glory. We want to be caught up in something that is meaningful and bigger than ourselves. The phenomenon is everywhere. March Madness is just an annual conglomeration of it.
People also identify with the brackets. By now most people have pitched their brackets because they are all out of whack (of the 8 million plus people on ESPN’s bracket challenge, no one has a perfect bracket at this point.) Why do we love brackets? We love the opportunity to grasp after omniscience. After all, there is a potential (admittedly minuscule) that you will be able to predict the whole thing correctly. This is attractive. We may be able to do it. We feel so confident with our picks. We can defend them against the other guy who laughs when you repeat Jay Bilas while he repeats Digger Phelps. We pretend like we know. The intrigue and the challenge is attractive. And if we ever pulled it off there would be eternal bragging rights for us (debatable).
When we look at both of these we see our thirst and disappointment We thirst to be like God. We thirst for glory and omniscience. The only problem is when we truly seek satisfaction identity and meaning in these things they leave us disappointed like a missed free-throw in the final minute of the game. They can’t deliver. It is the ultimate mis-match in round 1: our affections vs. broken cisterns. While they do reflect our condition they certainly can’t deliver from it. They weren’t meant to.
When thinking in terms of glory and omniscience we find ourselves brought again to the gospel of Christ. In this we find ultimate satisfaction and unending acceptance in the face of intimate, powerful knowledge. Through the work of Christ glory-seeking, image grasping people can be made new. Their thirsting souls can be quenched by the living water. Their insecurities can be reassured by eternal acceptance. Their desire for absolute control can be liberated by resting in a truly good Sovereign.
Like so much of our cultural narrative March Madness reveals our thirst for true glory and satisfaction. The gospel always rises to the challenge with the clutch answer of eternal rest and happiness.
