George Clooney, Nico Harrison, and the peril of popularity

George Clooney is defending his call for former President Joe Biden to exit the 2024 presidential race. In his July New York Times op-ed, he argued that the Democrats needed a new nominee. In a recent CNN interview with Jake Tapper, he called the action his “civic duty.” 

When Tapper asked if people were still angry with him, Clooney responded: “Some people, sure. You have to take a stand if you believe in it. Take a stand, stand for it, and then deal with the consequences. That’s the rules.”

Then he added, “I’m okay with criticism for where I stand. I defend their right to criticize me as much as I defend my right to criticize them.”

Those of us who try to be Dallas Mavericks fans know something about public criticism. When General Manager Nico Harrison traded the team’s superstar and icon, Luka Dončić, outrage was fierce and remains so. Calls for his firing persist from fans and some in the media as well.

In an interview earlier this week, Harrison was asked about the “outraged fan base” and replied, “Well, the beauty of Dallas is it is a passionate fan base. For us to reach our goals, we need that fan base.” 

He repeated himself later: “The fan base is amazing, part of the fire Nico chants, although you’d rather the fans cheer for the team, and may not be the story, it’s a great fan base, and you need that fan base to win.” His hope is that the team wins championships in the future and thus regains the support of the fans.

Texas Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young was asked about the “fire Nico” controversy and made a point I thought was especially insightful: “The attachment to players is part of today’s game. It always has been part of the game, and maybe now more than ever, the younger generation is attached to players specifically.”

Apollo 13 returned on this day in 1970

Nico Harrison is right: outcomes largely color perception. If Democrats had won the last election, those angry with George Clooney (or with Joe Biden for staying in the race so long) would perhaps be less vehement. If the Mavericks win a title under Harrison’s leadership, many fans will be more forgiving.

On this day in 1970, the US lunar spacecraft Apollo 13 returned safely to Earth. If the ill-fated expedition had ended with the deaths of some or all of the astronauts, our sentiments about it would have been starkly different. As it is, we remember the mission not as a tragedy but as an act of courage.

I am writing this article on Maundy Thursday, a night that makes my point above any other in history. On this night in Jerusalem, Jesus’ disciples forsook him in the Garden of Gethsemane as the religious authorities tried and convicted him for heresy and sentenced him to death. Tomorrow, the crowds would shout for his crucifixion, and the Romans would comply.

Only John among the apostles was at the cross, along with Mary and some other women. Everyone else abandoned Jesus and his movement. But when our Savior rose from the grave on the third day, the outcome of his death radically rewrote the script and framed his suffering in a completely different light.

Now we know that the King of kings chose to die for his subjects, rose from the grave in triumph, and will return one day in glory.

“This time it will be God without disguise”

On this Maundy Thursday, we know what those at the first Maundy Thursday did not: we worship a living Lord. However, many in our secularized culture do not.

Their spiritual state is analogous to that of the first disciples on this night. To them, Jesus is, at best, a dead religious figure. If they believe in his resurrection, they clearly do not see its relevance for their lives, or they would trust in him as their Savior.

Here’s where our situation differs radically from the first Maundy Thursday: When the outcome of the current historical era is over, it will be too late. Unlike his resurrection on Easter Sunday, when Jesus returns as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), there will be no more opportunity for people to repent of their sins and turn to him as Lord.

CS Lewis was right: “When the author walks on the stage, the play is over.” He added:

God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on his side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else—something it never entered your head to conceive—comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature.

It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we have really chosen, whether we realized it before or not.

Now, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.

The choice that “will bring heaven into us”

Popularity is not the measure of success, as a glance across the pages of Scripture reminds us. Few of its heroes achieved their significance through popular acclaim. Far more were imprisoned, ridiculed, rejected, and executed than were applauded and celebrated.

But while the crowd’s opinion of Jesus does not change his status, our opinion of him does change ours.

He honors the free will he gave us when he made us in his image (Genesis 1:27). As a result, we can know him as intimately and transformingly as we choose. He is as close as our next prayer, but he can answer only the prayers we offer and bless only the obedience we render.

The English Puritan minister John Flavel (1620–91) noted that a saving knowledge of Christ “will bring us to heaven,” but a disciple’s knowledge of Christ “will bring heaven into us.”

As CS Lewis said, “Now, this moment, is the chance to choose the right side.”

Choose wisely.