The old joke goes something like this - A man driving on the Interstate gets a call from his wife, who says, “Be careful.  I just heard on the news that a car is driving the wrong way on the Interstate.”  The man replies, “The news says it’s just one car?  They’re ALL driving the wrong way!”

How easy it is to get so caught up in the details that you fail to see the obvious.  In the LSU football game last Saturday, play came to a stop when the officials went to the replay booth to determine whether or not an LSU receiver had actually made a reception at the other team’s 45 yard line.  After a long review, it was determined that he had indeed made the catch.  The officials then placed the ball on the 45 yard line, and play resumed.  But nobody noticed that the ball was put in play at the LSU 45 yard line!  This took 10 yards away from LSU, and nobody noticed.  None of the LSU coaches on the field noticed, none of the LSU coaches up in the booth noticed, none of the LSU players noticed, none of the officials noticed.  Nobody noticed!

Apparently, everybody had been so caught up in determining via slow-motion replay whether or not the receiver’s foot was in bounds as he caught and maintained control of the ball that they simply failed to recognize exactly where on the field the ball should have been placed for the next play.  They got the tiny details right, but messed up the big, obvious part. 

In this instance, the mistake ultimately made no difference in the outcome of the game.   But, in another game against a stronger opponent, a mistake like that could easily be disastrous, could easily be the difference between victory and defeat.   

How does something like this happen?  How can football officials be so incompetent?

Incompetent referees have haunted the game of football since it began.  And sometimes, this incompetence leads to game-changing, and even history-altering consequences.  [For a bitter example, see the infamous “No Call” against The New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship Game in 2019 that prevented The Saints from going to, (and probably winning!), the Super Bowl.  Still hurts, right?]  I suppose incompetent referees are simply part and parcel of the game, and you just have to either live with it or find something else to do with your time.

Perhaps the bigger question in the mistake in Tiger Stadium last week is this -  how did nobody on the LSU side see what had happened, and say something about it before it became too late?  Sure, you have to live with incompetent referees.  And that applies to coaches as well as fans.  But, while it’s one thing for coaches to vehemently protest a blown call, knowing that nothing can be done to change the decision, it is a different thing entirely for coaches to fail to even notice a mistake like this one.    

Jesus had frequent encounters with the “referees of life” in His time – The Pharisees.  These people were so caught up in getting “right” the tiniest details of The Law that they missed the big, obvious things.  Read all of Matthew Chapter 23 to get a picture of just how ridiculous Jesus found these guys to be – “straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel” – is one of the descriptions He used in His rant against these so-called “religious leaders”.

But Jesus didn’t find any of this to be “ridiculous”.  It was deadly serious to Him because he saw that these “leaders” were actually keeping people away from God by their hypocrisy, resulting in eternity-altering consequences. 

It reminds me of a Facebook post I saw a few days ago in which people were arguing over the question of what a person should wear to attend a worship service in Church.  I’m thinking – “Really?  Is this really still a debate?  I’m happy if somebody has the willingness to just show up!”  

And yes, I realize that if you scratch me deep enough [which means not very deep], you’ll find a hypocrite.  But I hope, and I pray that I am not getting so caught up in the details that I am missing the big, obvious things.  And I hope and I pray that you will let me know when you see me missing the big, obvious things.   

Ambrose Ramsey | Shepherd