There is no one I enjoy watching play the game of golf more than Tiger Woods.
I do not care for his volatile temper or his profanity, both of which have been captured frequently by the cameras that document his every move in a tournament. Concerning his demeanor in competition, there are probably 150 golfers on the PGA Tour who are more gregarious.
But on my list of favorite athletes to watch, Tiger is at the very top. His golf swing is unparalleled in both its athleticism and its purity. The intensity of his competitive focus is nothing short of stupefying, as is the brilliant creativity of his course management. To put is simply, when Tiger is playing his best golf, everyone else on the PGA Tour is playing for second place.
I am deeply saddened by the scandal that currently surrounds Tiger. I am saddened because I chose to believe that Tiger approached his personal relationships with the same rigorous discipline that he demonstrates in his golf game. I am saddened because of the pain and embarrassment that Tiger’s wife Elin has had to endure. I am saddened because the sporting world will be greatly diminished during the “indefinite” absence of one of its most dynamic and history-making stars. I am saddened because of the tawdry revelations made by Tiger’s mistress and the manner in which our culture has devoured those revelations.
Most of all, I am saddened by the broken covenant and the broken hearts that Tiger’s infidelity represents.
I am convinced that no portion of the scandal surrounding Tiger falls outside the boundaries of God’s redemptive grace. I am praying that Elin, Tiger, and their entire family are able to experience that redemptive grace in wondrous ways in the days ahead.
As I reflect on Tiger’s scandal, I cannot help but think of some of the things that it illuminates:
First, Tiger’s infidelity reminds us of the complex and seductive power of human sexuality. In this regard, all human beings stand on common corporeal ground. Plumbers, pilots, preachers, and PGA celebrities are all entrusted with a sexuality, the impulses of which demand a relentless attentiveness to ethics and boundaries. If stewarded faithfully in the context of covenant, one’s sexuality becomes an awe-inspiring manifestation of intimacy that bears witness to the incarnational nature of an intimacy-seeking God. However, when one’s sexuality is conceptualized as yet another appetite to be satisfied, the door is thrown open to a myriad of potentially poor decisions and destructive pathways.
Of course, this matter becomes even more complex in a culture that seems desperately eager to kneel at sexuality’s altar and surrender to its manifold impulses. In such a culture, it becomes increasingly difficult and awkward to speak of sexuality as a precious and powerful gift to be stewarded. Much more common is the tendency to treat sexuality with the kind of aggressiveness and covetousness normally found in the final round at Augusta National.
The urgency, then, of marital attentiveness and sexual boundaries has found new illumination in the story at hand. For the follower of Jesus, the story of Tiger’s scandal is a cautionary tale that inspires, not the ridicule of a fallen man, but a renewed commitment to subordinating even one’s sexuality to the transforming Lordship of Christ.
Second, Tiger’s infidelity has brought to light once again the sickening and seemingly insatiable lust for scandal produced by a culture that can only be described as pathologically voyeuristic.
It is not my intention to be hyperbolic in this matter. Nor is my intention to be unfairly grim in my sociological analysis. (I believe wholeheartedly, after all, that all of creation is in the process of moving toward God’s redemptive future.) But let’s be brutally honest for a moment about the sociological equation that is before us: Tabloid journalism, plus a mistress who is more than eager to sell personal text messages to the highest bidder, plus a culture that refuses to look away, equals a culture that finds itself in deep need of repentance and transformation. Tiger, in other words, is not the only one in need of a “come to Jesus” kind of experience.
Third, some have looked upon Tiger’s infidelity as an opportunity to express their doubt and cynicism concerning the authenticity of his apology. The other day, for example, I read a pastor’s newsletter column in which he lamented that Tiger only apologized because “he got caught.” But, isn’t that the only time ANYBODY repents—when they get “caught?” History and experience tell us that repentance only occurs when one is confronted with an unanticipated accountability. Sometimes this accountability is initiated by our misdeeds becoming public (as in Tiger’s case). Other times, this accountability is engendered by a burdened conscience that can no longer accommodate a particular pattern of behavior.
In either case, however, repentance begins with the experience of getting “caught.” A person is either caught by another individual, or s/he is caught by the weight of his or her own conscience. One could argue, I suppose, that getting caught by an internal conscience is more “noble” than getting caught by an external agent. But I am not at all convinced that such an ethical distinction is anything more than a forced and unnecessary dichotomy that takes the focus away from the main point.
The bottom line, theologically speaking, is that authentic repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit in a human soul, no matter whether the instrument through which the Spirit moves is a public discovery of wrongdoing or an internal guilt. The Church serves best in the process of repentance when, in hope, it resists the temptation to approach the one repenting with cynicism and disbelief and instead becomes an agent of encouragement and prayer. All the Church’s people, after all, are intimately familiar with the experience of being “caught” in the midst of some sin. Therefore, why do we seem to have such difficulty giving Tiger the benefit of the doubt concerning his apology?
Finally, Tiger’s infidelity inspires me to do some honest inventory on my own life. As the season of Advent continues to unfold, I find myself wanting to honor my own marital covenant even more deeply, to create healthy boundaries in my relationships that are even more clearly delineated, and to pray even more consistently for the hurting and troubled families that are all around us. Tiger’s family is one of those. I am praying for that family, even as I type these words.