Victory vs. Values

For the past 24 hours, I’ve been engrossed in the fallout of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. For those of you who aren’t sports fans, reporting came out a few months ago that, during their 2017 championship season and stretching into 2018, Astros players used replay technology during games to steal the opposing pitcher-catcher signs and communicate them to their batters so they’d know what pitches were coming. After the story came out, Major League Baseball conducted an intensive investigation and yesterday released its findings, which confirmed the independent reporting and announced harsh punishments for upper management. The team was fined $5 million (the maximum amount allowed under the MLB constitution), was required to forfeit its top two draft picks for the next two years, and its manager and general manager were both suspended for one year. Shortly after the announcement, Houston’s owner turned the suspensions into something more permanent, firing both of the leaders.

As a Rangers fan, there’s admittedly a certain amount of schadenfreude in this story for me, but beyond its effect on my favorite sport and my favorite team, the story has spoken to a bigger issue I’ve noticed in our world today. The commissioner’s report codified something that fans had long noticed about the culture of the Astros organization: they were driven by a win-at-all-costs mentality. Norms were ignored, social contracts were breached, and ultimately rules were broken, all in pursuit of victory.

In that respect, they are far from alone. Crossing over to a different sport, the New England Patriots had their own similar scandal more than a decade ago. Already 3-time Super Bowl winners, the 2007 Patriots were caught videotaping the New York Jets’ defensive signals from their own sideline in pursuit of a competitive advantage. Fans still debate whether the penalties for “Spygate” matched the crime, but like with the Astros, the scandal confirmed the Patriots were an organization willing to cut corners to win.

In entertainment, no story has been bigger in the last year than the flurry of reports about film producer Harvey Weinstein, one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. While accusations of sexual harassment, abuse, and even rape have obviously and rightly dominated the headlines, other details have emerged which were once spoken only in off-the-record whispers: that Weinstein bullied actors, directors, and fellow film executives in order to make sure his films were of the highest quality and won the best awards. Weinstein was a tyrant in the entertainment business, willing to crush anyone in his path to accomplish his goals.

And of course, Washington D.C. has made winning at all costs a matter of course. Mitch McConnell, tasked in 2016 with putting Merrick Garland, Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, up for confirmation in the Senate, refused to do so in violation of his constitutional duty. Over the holidays, Nancy Pelosi proved that Democrats were not above flouting constitutional obligations either, refusing to send articles of impeachment to the Senate until she liked the terms of the subsequent Senate trial. Finally and most obviously, Donald Trump has routinely shown that he values victory over values by violating established norms, instructing subordinates to ignore congressional subpoenas, and routinely finding ways to ignore and work around the legislative branch.

From so many places, we are receiving the message that Vince Lombardi made famous: winning isn’t the most important thing, it’s the only thing. Cheating is acceptable because flags fly forever. Bullying is ok if it results in good content. Values can be violated as long as you hold the power.

We hear these messages every day, implicitly and even explicitly. But there’s another message that needs to be heard, a counterexample that needs to be cited. When Jesus was in the wilderness, he was tempted three times by the devil, who hoped he could convince the Lord to stray from his path and settle for earthly glory. The final temptation is one we need to pay attention to today: “The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’” (Matthew 4:8-9).

What Jesus was promised was unimaginable power, victory over any perceived enemy—all he had to do was sacrifice his values. He could have the best this world had to offer, just so long as he would give up what God had called him to. Perhaps you know how Jesus responded: ““Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’” (Matthew 4:10).

Jesus was more interested in God’s glory than his own, more concerned with the gospel than with his own gratification. His integrity was not for sale; his mission was not up for compromise. He sums up why in Mark 8:36: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world but lose his soul?”

There are a lot of people today—athletes, entertainers, leaders, and more—who are more than willing to put that wisdom to the test. They’ll break any rule, violate any value, and bully any person in the name of reaching their goals. They’re so fixated on winning that they’ll lose pieces of who they are along the way and not even notice.

But we don’t have to follow them.

Even when their way seems to work—when cheating produces championships and ugliness wins elections—we can follow Jesus along the narrow way, because it ultimately leads somewhere far greater. We can cling to the cross of Christ even when we could trade it in for an earthly crown. We can say with Jesus that, no matter how we are tempted, we will we worship the Lord our God and serve only Him.

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world but lose his soul?