What would Jesus do? Would He ignore the facts and stand by the erroneous outcome of a game based on a technicality or would He graciously concede the game to the rightful winner?
The outcome of the basketball game between Lumen Christi and Ninilchik, as reported in Sunday’s paper, brings up an interesting question: What would Jesus do? In a nutshell, the game was thought to have been won by a buzzer-beating, three-point shot. The referees did not notice that the clock, with half a second on it, did not start when the inbounded ball hit a Lumen Christi player and they counted the shot at the time, awarding the win to Lumen Christi. Upon later review, the referees’ official report acknowledged that the shot could not have occurred in regulation since the clock did not start until after the shot was in the air. This was after the ball was inbounded, it hit a Lumen Christi player, was picked up by another Lumen Christi player, and then shot. Time had expired, the game was over, and Lumen Christi lost. Those are the facts, and no one disputes them — except for which team won the game.
It is a fair assumption that being a Christian school’s team, it has Christian players, it has Christian coaches, and apparently there is a Christian official making the decision if the outcome of the game stands or is awarded to the rightful winner, or to the loser, based on a technicality. The true character of this group of believers is on display for the entire community as part of their Christian witness. Sadly, it appears that winning is more than important than acknowledging the officials’ mistake and correcting the official outcome of the game.
Thus, we arrive at the opening question: What would Jesus do? Would He ignore the facts and stand by the erroneous outcome of the game based on a technicality or would He graciously concede the game to the rightful winner? I suggest that the latter would be His choice, based on what I have read in the Bible.
— Frank Jeffries
Anchorage
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