Jun
10
Written by:
Dennis Atwood
6/10/2010 2:42 PM
You've probably already heard the story many times of the near perfect game that the Detroit Tiger’s Armando Galarraga pitched on June 2. With 26 batters already retired and two outs in the bottom of the ninth (no hits, no walks, no errors), the 27th batter of the game was called “safe” by umpire Jim Joyce on a close play at first base.To everyone watching, the runner was clearly out as the replay showed. But the call had been made. All Gallarraga did was smile in disbelief.
Gallarraga never said a word to the umpire who later owned up to his blown call. After the game, Jim Joyce viewed the replay and then sought out Gallarraga to apologize in tears for making the wrong call and costing the pitcher what would have been only the 21st perfect game ever pitched in major league history.
The amazing thing about this story is that what everyone expected to take place next, didn’t.Usually, the umpire stands by his call and refuses to admit his mistake. Usually the player who has been wronged gets thrown out of the game because he erupts in a fit of anger. Usually the public and the media crucify the arrogant umpire who adamantly denies any wrongdoing. But all this anticipated grumbling never happened.
After umpire Jim Joyce’s penitent mistake and the response of humility and grace by Armando Gallarraga, all anyone could talk about was the element of forgiveness and grace that took place rather than the blown call.
In accordance with baseball rules, the call stood and Gallarraga didn’t get his perfect game. But this heartbreaking sports story will be remembered for a long time to come—not because of the perfect game that wasn’t, but because of the amazing display of grace and forgiveness between an umpire and a pitcher—two human beings who showed us something about grace and forgiveness.
The mark of a Christian is grace—God’s forgiveness experienced firsthand and then expressed to others. Continuing to live by the grace you first received seems be the great challenge for most us. The longer we are on the “inside,” the more we become self-righteous and judgmental of those on the “outside.”
The theme of this Sunday’s lectionary text from Luke 7:36-50 is this: The one who has been forgiven much, loves much. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.
Read Luke chapter seven and find your place in the story. You may discover that it’s time to release the extravagance of God’s grace which may have become locked away in some alabaster jar. It won’t make sense to the world, but it will be a story people remember for a long time to come.