I was dismayed by the backlash Robert Green faced following the goal that he let in during England’s opening game in the World Cup against USA. I don’t know why I was so surprised because the media do it again and again. If something goes wrong, someone has to be to blame. And it’s not just the media.
The whole result of the match seems to be being blamed on him. One man seems to be held accountable for the failings of the entire team, and is pilloried for his mistake. Nothing seems to have been made of the rest of the team, and no allowances for him doing his best, it being just one of those things, or what they would call in F1 a ‘racing incident’.
We live in a culture of “getting your own back”. If someone, be it a person, an organisation or the great amorphous ‘them’, has done something to us, we feel the situation has to be righted. They must be held accountable.
One of the big problems with that attitude is that you get caught up in it. Perceived righting of the situation becomes a focus in our lives. It is always there festering at the back of our minds. The focus of our lives is not meant to be revenge and blame, but love and service. Yes there is a place for challenge and to seek justice, but we need to decide what really is important. What needs challenging, and what is someone just trying to do their best and sometimes getting things wrong.
At the beginning of Galatians 5, Paul reminds us,
Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.
He goes on to tease out what that means for us.
As God’s people we are free. Attacking each other will mean we destroy one another. How true that is. To live always on the attack eats away at us. It does nothing to rectify the situation – but it can take a hold of our lives and destroy us, and it can destroy the lives of others caught up in it. What is more positive is serving each other with love. We have been given life, and that is what we pursue.
Luke takes us to Jesus setting off to Jerusalem, the journey towards his death. They have a mind to call in a village. The disciples go on ahead to get things ready, but they are not welcome. The people know that he is going to Jerusalem, and for whatever reason, don’t want him in their village. James and John are incensed by this, and want to call down curses upon them, but Jesus says no, and goes on to find another village.
That he has been apparently slighted by this village is not important to Jesus. What does matter is getting on with the job in hand, continuing the journey. He could have taken offence, started a row, flounced off – but in the greater scheme of things, it didn’t matter. He was big enough to walk on by.
The same was true of the would-be followers. They were welcome to follow Jesus, he wanted them with him. But their mind had to be on the job, not on what they had left behind. He wasn’t going to beg them to come with him, it was their choice – and they were free to make it.
Someone once said to me, decide what battles you really want to fight, and walk away from the others. To do that you need to know what your focus is.
Jesus’ focus was on doing God’s will, going his way. That is what informed his every decision.
Are we big enough to do that? Can we focus on God’s way, and not what we think people should be doing? Can we walk on by when we feel people have slighted us, because walking God’s way is what matters?
Hold on to the freedom God gives us, but use it as a reason, not to attack and destroy, but to love and to serve.
