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Last weekend North Carolina State swimmer Owen Lloyd was stripped of his conference title and a race victory for doing what any college-aged athlete would do: celebrating the victory with his teammate.
But in the eyes of the NCAA judges onsite, Lloyd had the audacity not to contain his excitement until the proper amount of time had elapsed.
Here's what happened.
Lloyd, who swam the race of his young life, finished the 1,650-yard freestyle in 14:37.04 to seemingly capture the event's conference championship, and give him an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
When the realization set in, he tore off his goggles and swim cap, and turned to his right to celebrate with fellow NC State teammate Ross Dant, who had finished second in the lane next to Lloyd. And in his exuberance, Lloyd tumbled over the lane marker between them, thus disqualifying himself from the race.
The infraction? ... According to NCAA rules, "Any competitor who interferes with another swimmer during a race shall be disqualified from that race, subject to the discretion of the referee … A swimmer who changes lanes during a heat shall be disqualified."
Only, Lloyd never interfered with Dant, as he also already had completed his race. And while, yes, there were still other racers still competing the very long race, his actions in no way impeded them either.
But one judge saw the incident and reported it to the onsite NCAA officials, and Lloyd was disqualified. Conference title gone in the blink of an eye ... because of the letter of the law.
To his credit, Lloyd was a class act about the disqualification. He said after: "It happened to be unfortunate that in the mile, where there’s the opportunity to pull ahead farther, that someone was still swimming. That did not cross my mind at all that potentially I’d be disrespecting them or showing emotion that I shouldn’t while they were still racing. I was kind of just letting it flow.”
There will be some who read this, and immediately think: "Well, you know, a rule's a rule. If you bend one, then you gotta bend them all."
But my simple answer would be, no you don't.
We are humans capable of a high degree of thought -- most of the time! -- and by consensus, we can reach entirely different decisions than what the rules call for. Even in moments such as these, we have the ability to step back and ask: What is right, and what is just, here ... right now in this moment? ... And, yes, admittedly, sometimes the two answers won't be the same. And in those cases, it's perfectly acceptable to go with the "just" answer rather than the "right" answer!
You may have sensed where I was headed with this many words ago, but in case you didn't, here's my point: In the context of faith, I fail to understand the biblical literalists who do not acknowledge that God chose to become incarnate in the form of a human being named Jesus. And by doing so rewrote all of the old laws, and commandments and dictates that were recorded down through history, in some cases thousands of years before Jesus was born.
I do not dispute that the NCAA enacted the rule forbidding interference between swimmers for very good reasons. The intent is well and good, and I'm sure in the vast majority of the times the rule is invoked, it is "right." But then there are the cases in which I'm sure that the rule is right, but not just. As in the case of Mr. Lloyd.
Jesus encounters similar situations all throughout the gospels.
For instance, in Matthew 15:10-20, the Pharisees approach Jesus to ask why his disciples break the Jewish law of washing their hands before they eat. Their bigger concern, of course, was that this was a sign that Jesus' disciples were not conforming to the ancient Jewish purity laws, which in theory would make the food they were eating unholy, and thus they would be unclean.
Jesus, however, rebukes the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, gathers his followers together, and shares with them: "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."
He further explains that: "Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."
In other words, a person could follow the biblical laws to the letter, and still not be holy. Whereas, someone who may be sinful according to a commandment in the Bible, also may be just.
Jesus tells the marginalized, oppressed, hurting and voiceless all throughout the gospels, that even though they might have been considered unclean in their communities, that God loved them for who they were anyway. Period.
This is where me and the biblical literalists will struggle to find common ground.
Just as NC State's Lloyd was guilty of a rule infraction, he still won the race and should have justifiably been named the conference champion. You can't convince me otherwise. ... And by the way, his teammate who benefited felt the same way and gave him his championship medal!
And out here in the broader world, just as we each are guilty of sin to one degree or another, we are still loved by Jesus, awarded grace by God and are justified in his eyes. We each still receive our first place medal which is symbolic of our salvation. And no one can take that away from us. ... Even if they consider themselves a staunch defender of the 600-some rules contained in the Bible.
Later in the gospel of Matthew, when one of the Pharisees who was an expert in the Jewish laws tries to lay a trap for Jesus by asking him which is the greatest commandment, Jesus has none of it, replying: "‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
We are called to love in the same way as Jesus. ... That's how we find faith in God's love, mercy and promise, rather than in the letter of the law. ... Amen.
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