“The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” was a phrase made famous by Jim McKay, the iconic sports journalist for ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Thrill and agony are not only valid for the sport’s participants but sports fans as well. It is interesting to watch the audience at the end of a sporting event. One group is ecstatic, joyful, smiling, hugging their neighbor (the thrill of victory). In contrast, the other group is sober, stunned, depressed, looking at the ground on the way to the parking lot (the agony of defeat).
Vicarious Entertainment
One of the reasons we identify with and follow a sports team is to experience vicariously (hopefully) the thrill of victory. Merriam-Webster defines vicarious as “experienced or realized through the imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another.”
In 2020, Kansas City Chief’s fans experienced the vicarious thrill of victory as “we won,” and the team claimed that year’s Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years. A year later, it was the agony of defeat, “we lost.” The Chiefs were demolished in Super Bowl LV by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31/9.
Entertainment in all of its expressions (sports, movies, books, plays) provides a vicarious experience as we imaginatively participate in the experiences of others. When we read a novel, we can identify with one of the characters and live in our minds and emotions the adventure and drama of the story. Growing up, my western hero was Roy Rogers. Every Saturday morning, I watched his TV show and carried my vicarious experience into the backyard with my official Roy Roger’s hat and BB gun.
Vicarious living can be motivating as well as entertaining. One of the values of an exemplary life is that people connecting vicariously with the story are motivated to achieve similar acts of virtue and accomplishment. The story of Seabiscuit, the champion thoroughbred racehorse of the 1930s and 40s, is a classic example. His story, captured in books and movies, tells the drama of a horse who overcame great odds, defeating the Triple-Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a 1937 match race. The experts considered Seabiscuit too small, his owner too inexperienced, his jockey too big, and his trainer too old. Yet this underdog horse had a heart that wouldn’t give up, perfecting the strategy of coming from behind.
Suffering through the decade of the depression, Americans identified with the disadvantaged Seabiscuit. Millions of people tuned into that famous match race and vicariously won right along with the “Biscuit.” A horse became a vicarious inspiration for many who steeled their hearts to overcome and win.
Vicarious living can be entertaining and motivating but detrimental when we substitute imagined experiences for real, first-hand ones. Rather than a story that motivates personal achievement, it can become a substitute story. We can passively live our lives vicariously through the achievements of others. We can imagine our physical conditioning as we sit on the couch, eating nachos and watching our favorite football team sweat it out on the gridiron.
Our atonement is vicarious, but our discipleship is not.
Christ’s death on the cross as a vicarious (substitutionary) atonement is a primary tenant of the Christian faith. Christ takes our sin and gives us his righteousness as a double vicarious substitution. His experience becomes ours through repentance and faith. Christ’s vicarious atonement is not just a motivational story of self-sacrifice but a real accomplishment with life-altering results.
Discipleship, on the other hand, is not a vicarious experience. It is not something to be experienced through the lives of others but rather encountered first-hand. The exemplary lives of others should motivate us to imitate rather than substitute their experience for ours. The writer of Hebrews drives this point home when he says, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7). Inspired by their courage and obedience, we imitate their faith, resulting in our own experiences with God.
Every generation needs its own encounters with God. The Israelites who left Egypt’s captivity encountered God’s power personally at the Red Sea crossing. Except for Joshua and Caleb, all those adults died before the Israelites entered the Promise Land. God then provided the next generation with their own experience of God’s power as they crossed the flooded Jordan. After the miraculous crossing, God tells the leaders to set up a stone memorial at the crossing site so that future generations could hear about God’s power. The memorial was a reminder that the God who delivered “in the old days” could still deliver today. Each successive generation needs their own Red Sea and Jordan River experiences. They need to know that God not only delivered in the past but continues to deliver today.
During the first year after Jesus called his initial disciples, they just watched in amazement. Then one day, with a hungry audience of thousands sitting on a hillside listening to Jesus teach, their training took on a new level (Matthew 14:13+). Sensitive to the needs of their audience, the disciples suggest that Jesus come up with a meal plan. He had cast out demons, stilled the storms, healed the sick, and even fed multitudes. He could do it again. However, they were surprised when he turned to them and said, “You feed them!”
In another situation, Jesus sent out the 12, and later a group of 70 disciples (Luke 10) to do what he was doing. Luke records that they returned with joy, exclaiming, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us (emphasis mine) in Your name!” Imagine the difference in their faith as they went from believing that Christ could move mountains to believing they could also move mountains – or at least some hills.
Following their partnership in the miraculous feeding of five thousand hungry people, the disciples found themselves out on the Sea of Galilee, rowing into a severe storm. Out of the mist, they see Jesus walking towards them on the water, defying the known laws of physics. Eleven men were impressed at this new display of Christ’s power. Peter was more than impressed; he was motivated. For eleven men, the vicarious experience of seeing Jesus walk on water was enough but not Peter (Matthew 10:28). He wanted to experience Christ’s power first-hand. And you know the rest of the story.
After the wind is still, the waves are calm, and Peter is back in the boat, the eleven men had a worship service (Matthew 10:33). They had seen a miracle, but Peter had experienced one. A faith lesson from these stories in Matthew 14 is “You can either witness a miracle or participate in one.” As Jesus trained his disciples, he gave them opportunities to not only witness God’s power but to experience it first-hand.
First-hand discipleship was not a New Testament idea. In the Old Testament, God wanted each generation to know him not simply by reputation (vicariously) but by experience. In his closing words in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gave instructions for the future kings of Israel. He warned them of things they should not do (multiply horses, gold, and wives) but one thing they all should do.
Imagine how the history of Israel would have been different if each king had written out his own manuscript copy, interacting with the priests as he reflected on its truths. God wanted each king to know him personally and intimately, each new generation experiencing God’s reality.
Discipleship is not a vicarious experience; it is intimately personal. God wants every generation to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). Our mentors, shepherds, and leaders should be catalysts, not substitutes for personal discipleship.
For Reflection
1. How can we use others as catalysts rather than a substitute?
2. Describe someone along your spiritual journey who was a catalyst to your steps of obedience and faith.