Ryan Braun’s PED Troubles Tell a Familiar Tale to Christians
Ryan Braun is a liar!
Ryan Braun is a cheat!
Ryan Braun is a fraud!
The aspersions have been cast from every angle since Milwaukee Brewers outfield Ryan Braun finally admitted he used performance enhancing substances. This, for those out-of-the-loop, was after Major League Baseball tried to suspend Braun following the 2011 season. At that time, Braun appealed and won the case on what many felt was a technicality. Braun professed his innocence and his fans and teammates believed him.
He even lied to his good friend and business partner Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers took to social media site, Twitter, after the appeal and bet his upcoming year’s salary that Braun is clean.
Awkward, at best.
Still, one cannot help but feel just a little sorry for Rodgers who took a man at his word and was clearly happy at his friend’s innocence. As Christians who are reminded by Luther to “put the best construction on everything” in his explanation to the eighth commandment, we know that isn’t always easy. Rodgers is a great example how we can be burned in this sinful world even for our seemingly noble words and actions.
That said, Braun’s entire story rings true for Christians. He had it all—a first-round draft pick, top prospect, rookie of the year, successful major leaguer—life was going great. The pressure to stay at the top, however, can be enough for all of us to erode our own personal ethics and do things we know to be wrong.
While I don’t want to mischaracterize Braun, put words in his mouth or impugn his motives, it is not absurd to think that Braun probably didn’t grow up wanting to be front and center of an MLB PED scandal.
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In Braun’s statement following the suspension, he stated:
As I have acknowledged in the past, I am not perfect. I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions.
A Christian might recognize that as repentance (see Pastor Biebert’s comment below), though it’s easy for a cynic to label it as good public relations maneuvering. It’s even easier to wonder where that confession was earlier.
My mind immediately races to King David who started with humble beginnings as a shepherd boy and grew to be a mighty king. Success did not always suit him well as the unique temptations of his kingship led him to commit a variety of sins—the most famous of which is his adultery with Bathsheba.
Like Braun’s story, King David covered up his adultery with sin after sin after sin until finally God stared him right in the face through the Prophet Nathan and said: “You are the man!”
Too often, as Christians, we fall into the same trap as Braun. We lie to cover our tracks. We hurt others to avoid hurting ourselves through our transgressions. We grow sour and angry as we look to feel anything but the shame and embarrassment over our sins.
As onlookers, we can blame Braun and be disappointed in him, but as Christians, we have no recourse than to see his same story in our own lives, beat our breasts and say, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Our only recourse, then, is to do exactly what Rodgers got himself into an awkward situation doing last time—take Braun at his word. We do so not in a confidence centered on Braun, or in ourselves, but in Christ alone. We hope and we pray for Braun—that he live up to the standards set before him by the legal system and Major League Baseball. Moreover, we pray that he become a more fitting role model for the hundreds of future ball players that look up to him.
We can do nothing else. Ryan Braun may let us down again and again, but we humbly must admit that we are no better. We may not have our sins publicly broadcast on ESPN or debated on the MLB Network, but each of us is too far familiar with his tale to do anything but wish for him the same forgiveness we wish for ourselves.
Photo HT: Steven Paluch
Michael Schottey
Michael Schottey is a member at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Palm Coast, Florida. A 2004 graduate of Michigan Lutheran Seminary and 2009 graduate of Martin Luther College, he is now employed as the National Lead NFL Writer at Bleacher Report.
5 Comments
Hachiro
The aspersions have been cast from every angle since Milwaukee Brewers outfield Ryan Braun finally admitted he used performance enhancing substances.
Sir, thank you for your piece here, rather interesting views, but there is one thing that bothers me and I would like you to consider this:
Ryan Braun has yet to admit to using performance enhancing substances. You and everyone else are making assumptions, and while it may very well be a fair assumption to make, don’t you think that as a Christian you have a duty to not find guilt before knowing the facts?
Michael Schottey
Hachiro,
Braun, by dropping his appeal did admit to using performance enhancing substances. Although he couched his statement with “some mistakes,” he is allowing himself to be disciplined (via a “plea deal”) under Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Agreement following an investigation into Biogenesis which is a supplier of PEDs.
Call it a tacit admission if you’d like, but it is certainly an admission and he is being disciplined accordingly.
Thanks for your read and comment.
Pastor Nathaniel Biebert
Just one clarification… Mr. Shottey wrote that “Christians will recognize [Braun’s confession and willingness to accept the consequences of his actions] as repentance.” Repentance is used in different ways in the Bible. We talk about it in the narrow sense and in the broad sense. In the narrow sense, it means “contrition,” or sorrow over our sin. In that sense I agree with what Mr. Shottey wrote.
But in its broader, more beautiful and more important sense, repentance is defined well by the Augsburg Confession, Article XII: “Strictly speaking, repentance consists of two parts. One part is contrition, that is, terrors striking the conscience through the knowledge of sin. The other part is faith, which is born of the Gospel or the Absolution and believes that for Christ’s sake, sins are forgiven.” In this sense, Ryan Braun has not repented. Ryan is called “the Hebrew Hammer” because his father is an Israeli-born Jew, but he has admitted that he was raised with “no faith.”
It is this repentance that we should be praying that God gives Ryan Braun. Until he does, any confession of and correction to his errors that he makes will be nothing more than self-righteousness, which is even worse than the original sinful action.
Michael Schottey
Pastor Biebert,
Thanks for the clarification.
I had meant that a Christian seeing Braun’s statement would have repentance brought to mind (not necessarily that Braun himself was faithfully repenting, as my next statement on the cynical response was supposed to indicate). That said, I should have been clearer and it’s always nice to have a reason to go back to the Augsburg Confession!
I edited the post to make my original intent a little more clear and directed readers toward your fine explanation of repentance!
Thanks, again.
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