For those of us in the sports ministry world, we should seek to have a Biblical framework and theology of leadership, competition, winning/losing, opponents, effort, etc. Jesus demands to be Lord of our life and so being a Christian demands integrating faith into every area of life–including sports. As sports ministers, we need to be able to educate Christians in what it means to play/coach/spectate sports for the glory of God. In this way, we can (as agents of God) redeem sports and redeem culture and properly use sports as a laboratory and not just a bridge.
With this in mind, we hope to maintain an ongoing series on the blog called Sports & Theology (the idea, of which, is totally stolen/borrowed from the Resurgence’s feature of Film & Theology).
This leads us to Kobe Bryant.
Kobe has made news recently with his comments about former teammates. Lets examine what Kobe has said and wrestle together with what the gospel would have to say about these issues.
First, to the original comments. Recalling the 2005-2006 season, Kobe Bryant recently said this:
“I almost won an MVP with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown on my team,” Bryant said before Wednesday’s 93-75 exhibition loss to Portland. “I was shooting 45 times a game. What was I supposed to do? Pass it to Chris Mihm or Kwame Brown?”
Bryant was referring to 2005-06 when the Lakers’ roster included Brian Cook, Stanislav Medvedenko, Devean George and Parker, Mihm and Brown.
Bryant continued, taking aim at his favorite whipping boy, Parker, calling him “the worst. He shouldn’t have been in the NBA but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. So we let him walk on.”
So, what does the Bible have to say about this? Another way to approach this would be, how would have this looked in the Garden before sin? How should we relate to teammates?
There are a lot of directions we could go. You could discuss Ephesians 4:29 which says: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Or, you could discuss the nature and character of teams. Teams are littered throughout the Bible (think Trinity, Adam & Eve, elders, etc.) and there is a lot to mine from a discussion of what those teams looked like. These are all worth-while discussions. However, if I were going to talk to Kobe directly about this, I would probably start with idolatry.
I would start with idolatry because I think almost every athlete struggles with sports being an idol. Kobe is known as one of the most intense, competitive athletes that has ever lived. So, why is he so intense? Why is he so “competitive”? Is his intensity driven by making the glory of God known? Doubtful*. I can attest, if we are not driven by the glory of God, we are usually driven by the glory of the self. I think you can see this in his comments. Why does anyone tear down others? It’s so we can prop ourselves up. By tearing down his teammates, I think it’s clear that Kobe is displaying his need to bring attention to himself. He needs attention; it’s like a drug. He needs to be seen as a great basketball player because it gives him self worth. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a good basketball player. There’s nothing wrong with being intense. There’s nothing wrong with being competitive. I think all of those things can be done to the glory of God but often times they’re done to the glory of the self.
What do you say though? What would you say to Kobe? Do you see anything wrong with the way he commented on his former teammates?
* [Disclaimer: I do not know Kobe Bryant personally. I’m clearly making some assumptions here based off of his comments and what I know of my own depraved nature.]
