The Umpire

Scripture Reading: Romans 3:19-20

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Writing about baseball umpires in his book Men at Work, George Will said, “Baseball umpires are carved from granite and stuffed with microchips…they are dispensers of pure justice. Once when Babe Pinelli called Babe Ruth out on strikes, Ruth made a populist argument. Ruth fallaciously argued (as populists do) from raw numbers to moral weight: There are 40,000 people here who know that last one was a ball, tomato head!

Pinelli replied with the measured stateliness of John Marshall: Maybe so, but mine is the only opinion that counts.”

The world and its culture can shout as loud as they want and argue as vociferously as they desire about the moral standard they want to be true. They can marshal their arguments and claim their majority opinion. They can vote and make laws that violate the laws of God. They can do all of that and more, but in the end, the only opinion that counts is God’s.

When we stand before the law of God, when we look at ourselves in the mirror of that law, we see ourselves as guilty sinners. Our mouths are stopped. We know we are not and cannot be justified by the law of God because we have broken it too many times and in too many ways.

What then?

The law is meant to drive us to Christ for mercy. The law shows us what is wrong, but can’t fix it. What it can do is point us to the One who can fix us – Jesus Christ.

umpire