What I do find interesting however is how the media reports such scandals. There's three things I find noteworthy about this story.
1. The News of the World- guardians of good morality?
For the News of the World to report such a story as a scandal they presumably feel that to be unfaithful to your wife is wrong. You might ask then why they cover their paper with pictures of scantily clad women? They clearly make a lot of money out of men, a lot of whom are married, looking at these girl's bodies and paying to do so. I fail to see much difference between looking at a girl and lusting over her, basically desiring to have sex with her and actually doing it.
This is what Jesus said when talking about adultery:
Mat 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Pretty radical words but it's what we are called to. As someone who just got engaged I feel the force of these words more than ever. We are not called to merely limit sexual activity to marriage but to place our whole desire and satisfaction on our husband or wife. If we lust after other people then we are saying that our spouse cannot fulfil and satisfy us but we need to look somewhere else. It's not a wonder that some people who heard Jesus talking about marriage said
"If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." Matthew 19:10
Marriage is a high calling, no doubt, and is not to be taken lightly. It is tragic when someone betrays their life partner for another person. If someone cannot pledge 'til death do us part' then it would be better not to marry.
2. Not that wrong?
However, that does no mean that what Wayne Rooney, apparently, did would have been OK had he not been married. The story has been reported as if it was so wrong because his wife was pregnant at the time. If she hadn't been, or if he hadn't been married, then this still would have been a tragic case. Sex and marriage go hand in hand, like Ant and Dec, you cannot have one without the other.
The apostle Paul said that when we have sex we become one flesh with the other person. We are united in a special bond that can never be undone. It represents the union we get when we are united to God through salvation. It is a real, special, gift that we have and it is not to be used with a prostitute but saved for the person with whom we want to live our life with. It is to accompany commitment, love and dedication.
3. The third thing I noticed about this story is that the most important factor to the press seems to be that this story might cause Rooney to miss the next England game, heaven forbid! Never mind his wife and family, what about the England team? It's strange (not really) that the English press, who care so much about the welfare of the team, broke this story right in between two of England's qualifiers. Rooney had been so slated after the World Cup and, just as he was looking like he would turn things around, by playing so well on Friday night. the press drop this bombshell and will hammer him if he doesn't perform again on Tuesday. It's hard to feel too much sympathy for him but the callousness of the press is staggering. They really do feed on other's mistakes and failures. They love to build people up so they can smash them down again.
The whole affair (pardon the pun) is really not that surprising, it just serves to remind us how corrupt people are, the player and the press. However we should not be too quick to point the finger. Before we judge the papers and the players we should look at ourselves and ask if we really are much better. We may not have committed adultery or been with prostitutes but what about our hearts? Our eyes? If we had the money and the power would we be much different?
We wouldn't because, like Wayne Rooney and the editors of the News of the World, we are sinners who need a Saviour.
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