Aaron Hernandez Saga A Stark Reminder of Where Our Trust Should Lie

Put not your trust in princes….or, apparently, in professional athletes.

On Thursday morning, The University of Florida removed a brick tribute to embattled former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.

Currently facing murder charges, Hernandez has been cut by the Patriots.

Not just that, he’s had his stats removed from (and since returned to) NFL.com. He was digitally deleted from EA Sports’ upcoming Madden and NCAA video games. An award-winning picture of him was taken out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Patriots even offered a free jersey swap to fans who wanted to turn in their Hernandez’ threads for those of a more “righteous” athlete.

Now, his alma mater is taking down a tribute to his All-American football career.

From a human perspective, it’s easy to see why teams want to whitewash their history. These steps are being taken before he’s even found guilty in a court of law. Organizations like the Patriots, Florida or the Pro Football Hall of Fame don’t want to be even remotely tarnished with a connection to a guy some are calling a serial killer.

Yet, it isn’t as if Florida’s brick memorial was to Hernandez’ moral character and sparkling personality, it was to his football career. The NFL didn’t try to remove humanitarian awards, they tried to act as if he hadn’t scored any touchdowns.

As an aside, it’s interesting to note that Florida isn’t giving up any of the wins, trophies, championships or money that they collected from the time Hernandez was a player there.

Like my last column said in reference to Ryan Braun, Hernandez had it all. Yet, it looks more and more like Hernandez’ situation was less a fall from grace and more of a graceless ascent. All the way back to his days at Florida, it seems as if Hernandez used his fame and notoriety to engage in plenty of sinful behavior.

How many parents have serious regrets as they’re taking down Hernandez posters and memorabilia from their children’s walls?

Charles Barkley once famously exclaimed, “I’m not a role model.” He was wrong then, and his sentiments would be even more wrong today. (Full disclosure: Barkley and I both work for Turner Sports. Though I don’t know him personally, I think he’s actually a great role model these days.) Barkley and other athletes are role models whether they choose to be or not. They’re role models whether they act like it or not.

In today’s culture, we have nearly unfettered access to athlete’s lives.

Want to find out what your favorite athlete is eating? He or she probably has an Instagram account for just that! Want to follow your favorite athlete as he or she club hops in the offseason or works out the morning after? Just jump on Twitter! Even without social media, the mainstream media provides tons of details about athletes’ lives—some good, mostly sordid—more than ever before.
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It doesn’t just athletes that fit this phenomenon. As a culture, we become attached to politicians, celebrities, musicians, etc and are made to feel like we “really know them”

The Hernandez case is an extreme, but it reminds us of Psalm 146:3-5:

³ Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
⁵ Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.

We all have heroes. Scarier yet for us parents out there: our children all have heroes. None of our heroes may be alleged murderers like Hernandez, but they all have flaws. Flaws which should rightly cause us to question our devotion or adoration. Flaws that could easily turn our heroes into villains at a moment’s notice.

This is why the Psalm needs to remind us that human beings are just that—human.

Anytime we engage in “hero worship,” we are setting ourselves up to be let down. It doesn’t matter if they’re professional athletes or even just family members or good men and women who came before us. We can’t pretend any human “can do no wrong” in the face of an almighty God who tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

As humans, the good we do is but filthy rags and often pales in comparison to the tremendous evil of which we are both capable and often guilty.

So, we look to not princes or pass catchers but the “God of Jacob”. We admire our heroes and role models, yet admit they are sinners just like us—equally in need of God’s grace.

With those sinful men and women, we humbly look to Jesus’ for the kind of hero we truly need, not one who acrobatically catches game winning touchdowns passes, but one who won eternal life for us by his perfect life and death on Calvary.

This is far greater, far more heroic, than anything our earthly heroes could dare to accomplish. Every imperfection is covered over by the atoning sacrifice of our Savior. In his act of grace he performs his own “jersey exchange” of sorts and takes from us one stained with a lifetime of misdeeds and gives us his perfect “robe of righteous” to wear as our very own. That is a true hero.

Our faith, our worship, our trust belongs only in our faithful God who never disappoints and, even better, graciously forgives us all of our sins.

Photo HT: Jeffrey Beall