The World Cup of Soccer—it’s the blazing ray of light and hope in a world bleeding with violence. Here is the round table of peace where knights from warring lands can joust with a ball instead of with nuclear warheads.
Overtime. Italy strengthening its defense to hold off the power of France’s strikers. Zidane, the French super star. The clock ticking down on his final game before retirement . Billions watch the zenith of human talent and skill. Millions of young soccer fans look up to their heroes and what do they see?
Marco Materazzi kicks an insult at Zidane, and Zidane takes a couple of steps and then head butts the Italian defender in the chest kniocking him to the ground.
This violent red carded rage will blurr hundreds of images of the French Super Star’s hundreds of glorious goals. In a flash of anger his head-butt marks his retirement from soccer.
It’s fascinating to watch how we try and recover from the stunn. Jay Leno turns it into a joke about France’s combat response, the game industry turns out a Zidane Super Head Butt video game, and the French President Chirac declares, "Dear Zinedine, in such a hard and intense moment for you, I would like to express the whole nation's affection and admiration for you. You are a virtuoso, a genius of football and an exceptional human being. That is why France admires you."
The rest of us scratch our head and ask, Why do world class athletes rise to such exotic heights in athletic prowess to fissle in stupid, irrational rage? Is this the best a soccer virtuoso can do? Then we come forward with our explanations for what made him do it. “He was exhausted after ninety minutes of contact!” “The Italian racially slurred him. It was his fault for provoking him.” “ It was self defence because the player called his sister a prostitute!” The rationalizations will go on and on. So will the cures.
We need to put him in a twelve step program for anger management. The French team needs to hire a good sports psychologist. (Have you taken a look at how even Christian psychologists get along with their colleagues and stay in long term relationships with their peers?)
Most of us will agree with Proverbs,
“ A fool gives full vent to his anger,
but a wise man keeps himself under control. “ Proverbs 29:11
But before we scold Zidane, what about our own outbursts? How do we ever become wise people who know how to keep themselves under control?
The Apostle Paul doesn’t tell us that we need to go back into our childhood to figure out the roots of our hostility, or spend hours analyzing our previous explosions of anger. By the way Zidane had a long history of outbursts including another headbutt and stomping a guy in the back. . He wasn’t exactly mister nice guy on the soccer field before his final outburst.
I have discovered that talking things through with angry people accomplishes a lot. They come up with a list of many others to blame for their anger. They get deep insight into the causes that led them to the explosion, and they learn their inner dynamics of stress and frustration. After all this talk and illumination of their inner man, however, I don’t see a change in their spirit that gives them the power to resist the next time someone calls their mother a whore or simply burns their toast.
The longer I deal with my own anger and the more that I try to help soothe the anger of others I find that the Apostle Paul was a life referee that called it right. Anger comes out of the rotting stench of our rebellious human nature. It’s one of the characteristic actions of my sinful nature and yours. Take a look at Galatians 5:20 and notice that Paul mentions “fits of rage” in his list of the actions of our “flesh.” Note also that the Apostle doesn’t suggest that we take down his five simple steps to self control our anger.
He proposes something radical. He has the audacity of telling us the truth. We need a totally new Spirit who can give us the gift of a gentle, patient, joyful inner person. A person that when you shake them will not spill the acid of violence everywhere but will pour out the refreshing living water of Christ’s character.
Don’t chalk this up to another TV preacher’s empty promises. Evidently, it’s going to take a lot more than a soccer ball to solve the problem of world rage and more importantly of our own personal rage.
Why not take some time today to read the Apostle Paul’s entire letter to the Galatians in the New Testament and check out how you can receive the gift of the Spirit who can actually conquer human anger.
Let me also encourage you to listen to Truth Encounter for weekly discussions on how you can actually see the effect of Jesus’ Spirit in your own life. Check us out on the web at www.truthencounter.com.