Hey, Cub Fans! Bartman's Not the Real Scapegoat

By DR. DAVID L. CHANCEY
Pastor

Poor Steve Bartman. It just wasn’t his night. Nor was it the Chicago Cubs. One moment he’s enjoying a playoff game at Wriggly Field with his beloved Cubs ahead of the Marlins 3-0 in game six of the National League Championship. Then with one swing of the bat, the next moment this Cubs fan is the biggest villain in Chicago since that cow kicked over the lantern in Miss O’Leary’s barn and started that great fire.

All he did was what any normal baseball fan would do. As former Cubs shortstop Don Kessinger said, “I think he did what 40,000 would’ve done.” He reached up for a souvenir. Only this souvenir was a baseball off the bat of Luis Castillo in foul territory that Moises Alou would have caught for out two if Bartman had not deflected it.

Alou missed a sure catch and the momentum changed as Castillo walked and started an eight-run rally that cost the Cubs the ball game and eventually a trip to the World Series. As the fly ball descended just into the stands in foul territory, several pairs of hands stretched to retrieve a souvenir. It just happened that Steve Bartman’s knocked the ball away from left-fielder Alou.

Alou reacted with intense anger. It would have been out two. The fans around Bartman threw peanuts and drinks and shouted in disgust. One man wanted to fight him. At the end of the game, Bartman had to have a security escort out of Wriggly Field, the anger was so intense.

Forget that pitcher Mark Prior lost his concentration. Forget that shortstop Alex Gonzalez made an error on a ground ball that would have been a sure double play that would have ended the inning and squelched the rally. Forget that Cubs manager Dusty Baker left his pitcher in too long after an obvious change of momentum. Forget that the Marlins outplayed the Cubs. Eight runs later, Steve Bartman became the convenient scapegoat to blame for the Cubs missing out on the World Series . . . again.

Now Steve Bartman is famous . . . or infamous. But I have news for Cub fans. He’s not the real scapegoat. When we think about something far more serious than a baseball game, when we think about eternity, we must admit that Jesus is the real scapegoat. As John the Baptist declared in John 1:29, “Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

At least 28 times in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the “Lamb of God.” God’s Son was willingly sacrificed. He paid the penalty for our sin on the cross so that we might have eternal life. Jesus was sacrificed for a guilt that was not his own. He took a punishment that he did not deserve. He took our place and died for you.

One Sunday evening an elderly gentleman was guest speaker at a little church and shared a moving story. “ A father, his son and his son’s friend were sailing in the ocean when a storm came up suddenly and blocked any attempt to get back to shore. The waves were so high that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright. The three of them were swept into the ocean.

“The father made it back to the capsized boat and found a rescue rope and had to make the most excruciating decision of his life. To whom would he toss the line? He had only seconds to make the decision. The father knew the son was a Christian, but he also knew the son’s friend was not. The father called out ‘I love you, Son!’ and threw the line to the son’s friend. By the time he pulled the friend back to the boat, the son had disappeared in the raging waters. His body was never recovered.”

Within moments of the end of the service, two youth were at the old man’s side. “That was a nice story, but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his son’s life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian.”

The man responded, “It may not sound realistic, but I’m standing here today to tell you that my best friend was that boy who died. I was the boy who was rescued. And I want you to know that if I had died that night, I would not have gone to heaven. Now I belong to Jesus, and I want you to know him also.”

Romans 5:8 reads, “God demonstrated His own love for us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus is the real scapegoat.

(Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, Fayetteville. The church family meets at 352 McDonough Road and invites you to join them this Sunday for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m.).