On Saturday, November 17th, we will mark the 29th inauspicious anniversary of an event that rocked the world of professional football and television broadcasting. It was a day that will live in football infamy. Where were you on November 17, 1968?
If you can’t pick that date out of the air, here is some help. On Sunday, November 17, 1968, the Oakland Raiders were playing the New York Jets in Oakland. It was a long, hard fought game that lasted longer than the three hours allotted in the network schedule for NBC. In the final two minutes of the game, with the Jets winning by 10 points, someone at NBC decided that everyone east of the Rocky Mountains would much rather watch the movie, “Heidi,” than watch the end of the game.
Apparently, the NBC switchboard lit up like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza on December 24th. The callers disagreed with the network’s programming decision. Oakland went on to win that game, snatching victory from the very jaws of defeat and marking one of the great comebacks of professional football. That comeback also probably sealed the fate of several soon to be former NBC employees.
I can’t imagine investing the emotional energy to watch an entire football game and then not seeing who won. We want to know how things will turn out.
In the Gospel reading we will have for this coming Sunday, Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The theological, social, and political meaning of that prediction must have overwhelmed Christ’s disciples. They asked the obvious question: “Teacher, when will this happen?” (Luke 21:7)
Jesus elected not to answer their question. If you read the rest of the New Testament, you will see that there is a lot written about the “End,” but no mention of the time table. God never answered that question and anyone who says that they know when is someone you can be reasonably sure doesn’t know what he or she is talking about.
With all we don’t know about the “End” here is what we do know: we know who wins. If you haven’t read the New Testament, God does and, by extension, we do. Knowing the outcome will need to be enough. Actually, it is everything.