Reality invades soccer

So...did anyone watch the world cup final?

Ok ok, forget an intro for this post. We all know what happened. It was Italy and France playing for the cup, and both teams fought so hard that it was still 1 all after 3 hours of play. During those rigorous 3 hours the French team captain, Zinedine Zidane incurred a bad injury to his right shoulder, but kept playing. We could all see he was hurting, but he handled it extraordinarily well, in my opinion. Later he missed a penalty kick. It was easy to see he was growing tired, weary and angry as he let out a wordless scream toward the French goal he'd missed by mere centimeters. As the game wore on, I'm sure I wasn't the only one chewing holes in the plastic plate my lunch had been on.

A bit of background on the man of the hour. Zinedine Zidane was born to Algerian immigrants in a poor part of Marseille. He's a real Oliver Twist. He'd retired but had come back to play for this year's World Cup, and he would retire again after this game's finish. He's France's hero. He's famed for his ability to perform at penalty kicks. As it became clear that the game was heading for penalty kicks, there was no question the Captain was under a little pressure.

Then then entire focus of the game shifted as an Italian player named Materazzi came up to Zidane (who speaks Italian) and made a comment that is as of yet unconfirmed. Zidane turned around and rammed his head into Materazzi's chest, laying him flat on his back. My jaw fell open as I watched the ref run up to Zidane and hold the infamous red card aloft. Zidane didn't seem to give much resistance as he left the field. The short remainder of the game was clouded by the incident. Italy won in penalty kicks, but what would have happened if Zidane had kicked for France? And what did Materazzi say that provoked such a response from a man who's composure and endurance I'd been admiring the whole game? What posessed Zidane to make him willing to end his glittering career on that note?

Well, there's alot of speculation. Some pretty impressive measures have been taken. FIFA brought in a deaf lip reader to pronounce Materazzi's Italian words for a listening Italian translator. I won't repeat what they deciphered, but it was something to do with Zidane being a terrorist and unkind words were mentioned about his mother.

I know, I laughed a little too - but this was no typical yo moma joke. It was awful, especially given Zidane's Algerian heritage and the current tensions both in the global threat of terrorism and the racism flaring up in France.

But none of that is confirmed. Zidane had promised to reveal the comment, but has reserved for himself a few days of media privacy. I don't blame him.

So we're all left wondering what happened. ...well, are we really? I think it's pretty clear.
The shoulder injury. Missing the penalty kick. Playing hard for 3 hours. Awful, awful comments. Zidane was squeezed and something came out. What came out was an explosion of anger. What came out was sin.

Here I must interject that my heart broke for him in that moment. Strange at it seems, I've actually be praying for Zidane since this incident. When I saw him headbutt Materazzi, I forgot all about soccer and the blunt reality of the fallen world I live in invaded the world cup: Zidane wasn't just a soccer player. He was a sinner who needed a savior - he just proved it.

Anxious though I am to know exactly what Materazzi said, the most horrible words won't justify Zidane's brief moment of rage. Fits of anger are clearly listed among sinful actions in scripture, and the penalty of those sins is worse than a red card - it's death.

You see, all people are sinners - meaning we rebel against God's rules for our life and opt for our own rules. If God is to remain just, he can't let that rebellion go unpunished. But being a loving God, he sent Jesus - who had no sin of his own to die for - to die for ours in our place. God raised him from the dead because he had died a death he didn't deserve. Once that happened, God gives us the option of a swap - our complete sinfulness for Jesus' complete righteousness. If we admit in our heart that we are sinners, and that we will never be perfect on our own and need someone to do it for us, and accept Christ's death in our place so as attain his perfection in God's eyes, then we not only have the promise of eternity with God, but grace immediately active in our hearts to help us turn from our sin and lead a life pleasing to God.

The bad news is anyone who doesn't do this not only lives without God in this life, but also in the next life. The sad truth of rejecting Christ is hell. This is the just punishment for our rebellion against God. I don't mean to scare anyone with talk of hell - and I certainly don't mean to insinuate that Zidane is going to hell because he headbutted another player. A thousand times no! If anyone goes to hell it has nothing to do with the sum total of our behavior during our life - whether we go to heaven or hell is decided by whether or not we realize our sin and turn to Christ for help, accepting his death on our behalf and his grace to renounce our sin and turn from it. This is the only deciding factor - it has nothing to do with headbutting or cigarette butting or butting in line. We are all born with sin, and thus all heading toward hell. There's nothing especially bad about Zidane - every person on the planet is in the same boat. We've all got a big problem, and there's a fix for it if we're willing to turn from our rebellion, accept Christ's death for us, and live by God's rules.

Like I said, I've been praying for Zidane. When I see high profile displays of sin like this I'm reminded that I'm no different. I have the potential for headbutting someone who says nasty things to me after a long day at work. I have the potential for far worse things! If I'm any more like Jesus than anyone else, that's completely God's work in me. I couldn't have worked that change on my own. So even though I can know that Zidane's behavior was wrong based on scripture, I don't judge him. I'm a sinner too. Thank God there's a savior for any who call on him!

The best headline I could imagine coming out of this dramatic game would be that Zidane would realize his need for a savior. But in my oppinion is that anyone coming to Christ is worthy of headlines.

Oh, and for the record - I don't want it to seem like I'm letting Materazzi off the hook. As his words are still unconfirmed, I won't comment on them. But if it's as bad as people are speculating, he evidenced his need for a savior too - and a headline saying that he recognized his need for a savior would be just as great.