The weirdest thing happened this week in Australia and England. Thousands of people on social media, every sports commentator in each respective country and, indeed, both Prime Ministers found themselves having a sharp disagreement over theology.
In case you aren’t a cricket tragic, let me [briefly] explain. Wait! Don’t stop reading… I promise this is going somewhere!
What happened was an English chap, Jonny Bairstow, was a bit too casual about the game he’s being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to be good at. He behaved as though the game had briefly paused, as it does after every six balls bowled, before it had actually stopped. This lapse in judgement created an opening for the Australian team to get him out, which they did.
Even though the game is built on taking advantage of people’s lapses of judgement, this particular instance was seen by the English as ungentlemanly, unseemly, and very wrong. Even though England were behind by 178 with 5 already out and didn’t really stand a chance, a narrative has emerged that Australians stole the test match. When it was pointed out that the Australian team did nothing to transgress the Law (what Cricket pompously calls its rules) an appeal was made instead to the Spirit of Cricket which, apparently, the Australian’s were out of step with.
Whether they realise it or not, English fans are adopting the language of 2 Corinthians 3 where Paul insists that the Spirit is far greater than the Law. It’s not that the Law is wrong, but it’s ultimately impotent to make us better people. All the Law can do is tell you when you’re in our out – the Spirit can make you just and generous.
And on this point, they are absolutely right. The Spirit does transform believers. In the language of the Sermon on the Mount, it makes us not “you’ve heard that it was said” people but “but I tell you” people. The Law (Old Testament or Cricket) is weakened by our flesh (Romans 8:3) and what we need is rescue so that we might live according to the Spirit.
Grace and Peace,
Steve
PS. He was still out. Its a just game