JARRYD HAYNE AND THE GOD COMPLEX
By James Wilson
(Ed. Note: Christmas approaches. My next few posts will focus on
preparing our hearts not just to celebrate but to emulate.)
Israel’s King David was a less than solid citizen. He gave his son only a tongue lashing over raping his daughter, parenting that triggered civil war. Allowing private passion to supercede manly monarchy spawned an affair and pregnancy with the wife of one of his officers – murdered on David’s orders to cover up. Character does count. God counts even more, however. David repented sincerely of wrongdoing and repentance is all God desires to make us perfect in His eyes.
David repented of these and other lapses and – no matter how many times – returned to his rightful status as a man after God’s own heart. Paul points out in Romans and numerous other places how much the Lord despises wrongdoing; but He loves wrongdoers without limit. Had He not special and passionate affection for prodigals there is no excuse for making so many of us. High performance athletes – as character flawed as lesser mortals – have a unique platform for the demonstration of God’s mercy when they mess up and then fess up.
Australian Jarryd Hayne is one such. A controversial figure in the world of professional rugby as an outspoken Christian, he has been criticized for reneging on a promise to return to his former team; he instead joined the Gold Coast (of Australia) Titans as their fullback. Rather than backing down – or toning down his witness – Hayne goes on offense. “When you read the Bible and realize everyone hated Jesus you’ve got to…realize how much He stood up and was still Him…Little things like that get me on focus.” Hayne was criticized when he left Australia for America’s San Francisco 49ers; he was shelled again on returning. Today the criticism breaks new ground.
Hayne’s girlfriend, Amellia Bonnici, is with child and expecting around the end of 2016. This sort of news – out-of-wedlock pregnancy – can sink a prominent Christian, and especially one already controversial. Hayne has not let it slow him. He returned to Australia in order to work on this new relationship. The news of the coming child simply inspired him to move Amellia into his Gold Coast apartment and vow he would support the pregnancy and the relationship. In other words, like King David before him, he screwed up and is now stepping up. This Christian would be proud to call that Christian a friend and brother.
Wait a minute and back the truck up! Has nothing has been said about marriage yet – at least in the published record? Is that not what a good Christian would do? Or…would a man struggling to become a good Christian first accept responsibility and deal with the immediate crisis as Hayne has done? Would he not then seek the Lord about marriage – before committing it – even though it is the logical next step, wanting to reject pressure from public (Christian) opinion compounding a dysfunctional situation? I believe he would repent and wait upon the Lord to see what redemption will resemble.
He knows what the Scriptures say and he knows they are the Word of God for all times and situations. He also knows he has already stepped aside from the pattern of courtship and marriage they represent. Without claiming to read his mind we might give him benefit of the doubt that he would now re-enter that path in God’s time and way without jumping the gun and perhaps compounding error. The bottom line is he seeks redemption rather than rescue. This is indeed what Christians are called to do.
For the record, I would like him to marry the girl and make my Christian conscience comfortable. Many or most would agree. But Jarrod Hayne is not accountable for my comfort; he is accountable to the Lord who made and suffered for him. Referring to the earlier shelling – before this pregnancy – he said, “It’s a huge thing to let the haters motivate you. I don’t want that…I want to be motivated because I have an ability and I want to see that come to the fullest.” In other words he wants to do the positive thing rather than react against the negative.
That works for me. Much as I thrill to Baseball Hall of Famers like John Smoltz and all stars like Mike Trout declare their faith and give thanks for guidance and strengthening they receive, I can identify more easily with a Jarryd Hayne, revealed as defective as I am, but with a Lord to Whom he can always return. Let those of us who respond to sports figures as the cultural icons they are learn more from the redemption of sin in their lives than even from its absence.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times, and Kingdom in Pursuit – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at praynorthstate@gmail.com
