I used the following illustration from a Sports Illustrated column written by Rick Reilly entitled, “You Make the Call,” and later published in his book, “Hate Mail from Cheerleaders.”  This scene from his column actually happened.   I used this illustration in my sermon because I thought it poses an interesting ethical dilemma. 

You make the call…You are the coach of a baseball team.  Your team is up by one run, in the bottom of the last inning. They have a runner on third, and there are two outs. Up to bat is the other team’s best hitter.  But on deck, is the team’s worst hitter!  Do you pitch to their best hitter or intentionally walk them so you can get to the weak hitter?  You will probably strike them out.

A good manager would always pitch around the best hitter! 

Let’s muddy the waters a little…What if the teams are made up of 9 and 10 year old kids?

Do you pitch around the good 10 year old so that you can strike out the 9 year old and win the title game? In this league, everybody gets to bat, there’s a four run per inning max and there is no stealing bases. The emphasis is supposed to be on learning and fun.  These are little kids!  Do you pitch around the strong hitter to get to the weak kid? 

Let’s make the water a little more murky…Maybe you think that the kids should ‘learn’ about losing, not every kid gets a trophy.  The kid you want to pitch to…the weakest hitter on the team…He is a cancer survivor. His picture was in the paper because the Make A Wish Foundation granted his wish.  Because of his radiation treatments, the boy’s body may not produce enough of a stress responding hormone if he is seriously injured, so he has to get a cortisone shot or it could be life-threatening. He wears a helmet when he plays centerfield because he has a tube in his head. Do you walk the best hitter and put him on first so you can pitch to the 9 year old cancer survivor who happens to be the worst player on the team?

Compassion and empathy are not in the rules.  You would break no rules by walking the strong 10 year old to pitch to the weak 9 year old.  In your twilight years you could admire that first place trophy on your mantle.  Your decision reveals your character and your ethics.

If ethics are behavior based on what is acceptable core values it is important to know what those core values are.  In baseball stealing bases is a thing, but outside of baseball stealing is unacceptable.  For instance, you couldn’t go into a sporting goods store and steal a set of bases.  There are parameters and boundaries that have been defined in communities.  When people go outside of the lines—that is when the community has to have the conversation about breaching trust.  If the lines keep being moved—it becomes problematic. 

This was discussed in the sermon because Jesus was talking about the importance of the sower’s seed being planted in good soil.  Ethics, morals and character are the things of good soil.  If the soil is bad, then don’t expect a healthy crop.