A Culture of Gloating

The Dallas Mavericks have defeated the Miami Heat in the NBA finals.  This means that the Mavericks are the NBA champions for the season just finished - except in Cleveland, Ohio, and surrounding communities.  For many folks in this part of Ohio, this news is really about the defeat of one man - LeBron James.

When James played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, he was admired (worshiped?) by many in Cleveland.  When he announced his departure to the Heat, he was reviled by just as many in Cleveland.  Many folks this past month have been cheering for the Mavericks, not because they are such great Dallas fans but because they did not want LeBron to win that championship ring he "deserted" Cleveland for.  And now he didn't win it after all, and the gloating and the jokes are flying thick and fast, coming from bars and offices, factories and even newsrooms.

Not long ago, when Osama bin Laden was killed, our country was cautioned against overt displays of celebration (so as not to rile up "our enemies," it was said).  Even on the football field these days players can be penalized for "excessive celebration."  Here in northern Ohio, though, gloating runs rampant right now - and not because "our team" won such a great victory, but because one young man, judged by many to be a "traitor," got his comeuppance.

As I wondered where this culture of gloating comes from (and as you see, it appears in a variety of forms, from sports to politics to schools to neighborhoods), I remembered that Henri Nouwen wrote that we live in a culture of competition rather than compassion. 

• Rather than seeking the good of our neighbor, we seek our own good at her expense.
• Rather than working for the success of our neighbor, we work to make sure that our success is greater than his
• Rather than admiring our neighbor's accomplishments and praising her for them, we find tiny things to pick apart
• And when our neighbor falls, rather than pick him up and help him to stand, we break into cheers and song and victory dances.

And these days it seems as though merely celebrating our neighbor's fall isn't enough for us - we have to ramp it up from celebration to scorn to gloating.  We have to rub it in, we have to ridicule, we have to ride the gloating like a tidal wave, heedless of the damage it may be causing both to our neighbor and to our own souls.

It's damaging to our own souls because gloating is not merely about "excessive celebration."  It really is about the First Commandment - it's about our sinful desire to judge everything as "good" or "evil," about our desire to be proven right after all, about our desire to appear to be as wise as God.

You may well ask, "Didn't King David celebrate his victories over his enemies?"  And I might agree.  But who is the enemy here?  Is it really LeBron James?  Or even Osama bin Laden?  As theologian and philosopher Pogo the 'Possum was fond of saying, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Lord, teach me the compassion of Jesus.  Let me look always to the good of my neighbor, whomever he or she may be, and encourage that good.  Teach me to celebrate only the defeat of the real enemies - sin, and death, and Satan - by the cross and resurrection of Jesus.  Amen.