Archive article 17

“Yeast”  and  Tiger Woods

The public confession made by Tiger Woods was a rare moment of public authenticity. That it was done for secondary reasons, as many have already speculated, we shall see in the next few weeks. But for a sportsman, for one who has arrived at the very top in his sport, and who has actually earned more in dollars than any other sportsman, to dare to take on such a responsibility is rare if not unique. His words:

“ That evening Elin did not hit me: my wife has shown great humanity in all of this. I have not been faithful to her. I have been with other women. I have deceived her and this is not acceptable. The guilt is mine alone. I am the only person to blame. I’ve not lived according to the values I said I held,  and I’ve not lived according to the rule about which I’ve spoke. I have not considered the people whom I’ve hurt.”

are simply astonishing. To publicly admit to marital unfaithfulness, to having cheated, to deceitful behaviour, and to take full responsibility for it – “The guilt is mine alone” is in total contrast with the actions of many well-known sportsmen who have not only admitted similar behaviour but have even boasted about it, waving it across our screens like a prestigious flag.    

I don’t think it’s out of place for me to describe Tiger Woods behaviour with the words of the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 5⁸): “...let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.” 

Yeast certainly has the capacity to transform dough without any external manipulation! It lies hidden inside the dough making it swell irresistibly. And you don’t need much of it. Just a little, knelt into the small handful of dough,  makes it bulge with a radical transformation.

When Tiger Woods embarked on this life-style, he probably did not think he would repeatedly betray his wife. He probably thought of a ‘one-time-fling’ which he mentally justified as an exception, a ’one-off’. But the one becomes two, and the cover-ups and lies which accompany such unfaithfulness are simply the result of a damaging yeast which has been taken into the bread of life making it swell with tragic results.

Evil is like this. Satan deceives our modern society with just this sort of a lie: “It’s just an exception to the rule which can easily be covered-up.”  But that’s wrong. And Tiger had the courage to admit that it had ruined his life, his marriage and family life, and damaged his sponsors and the many fans who had come to believe in him.

The Bible verse which precedes the one with which I compared Tiger’s behaviour says this: “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast. . .for Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians 5⁹) The apostle Paul had understood that in Jesus Christ, ‘the Passover lamb’,  there is a purification, a breaking of an addiction to evil. It’s true that all our dependencies, our lies and unfaithful behaviours which trap us and make us slaves to wrong-doing, can be washed away by the blood of Christ. We can be free with a new bread of “sincerity and truth”. . . but only if we will confess our sin. In essence that’s what Tiger was doing. Other well-known sportsman go the opposite way. When discovered they turn it into their trademark. Everyone, at this point, is making a choice – you and me alike. What is our choice?    

                                                                                                       Pastor Paul Finch