Poor Steve Bartman. It just

wasn't his night. Nor was it the Chicago Cubs. One moment he's

enjoying a playoff game at Wriggly Field with his beloved Cubs ahead of

the Marlins 3-0 in game six of the National League Championship. Then

with one swing of the bat, the next moment this Cubs fan is the biggest

villain in Chicago since that cow kicked over the lantern in Miss O'Leary's

barn and started that great fire.

All he did was what any normal

baseball fan would do. As former Cubs shortstop Don Kessinger said, "I

think he did what 40,000 would've done." He reached up for a

souvenir. Only this souvenir was a baseball off the bat of Luis Castillo

in foul territory that Moises Alou would have caught for out two if Bartman

had not deflected it.

Alou missed a sure catch and

the momentum changed as Castillo walked and started an eight-run rally

that cost the Cubs the ball game and eventually a trip to the World Series.

As the fly ball descended just into the stands in foul territory, several

pairs of hands stretched to retrieve a souvenir. It just happened that

Steve Bartman's knocked the ball away from left-fielder Alou.

Alou reacted with intense anger.

It would have been out two. The fans around Bartman threw peanuts and

drinks and shouted in disgust. One man wanted to fight him. At the end

of the game, Bartman had to have a security escort out of Wriggly Field,

the anger was so intense.

Forget that pitcher Mark Prior

lost his concentration. Forget that shortstop Alex Gonzalez made an error

on a ground ball that would have been a sure double play that would have

ended the inning and squelched the rally. Forget that Cubs manager Dusty

Baker left his pitcher in too long after an obvious change of momentum.

Forget that the Marlins outplayed the Cubs. Eight runs later, Steve Bartman

became the convenient scapegoat to blame for the Cubs missing out on the

World Series . . . again.

Now Steve Bartman is famous

. . . or infamous. But I have news for Cub fans. He's not the real

scapegoat. When we think about something far more serious than a baseball

game, when we think about eternity, we must admit that Jesus is the real

scapegoat. As John the Baptist declared in John 1:29, "Behold! The

Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

At least 28 times in the New

Testament, Jesus is referred to as the "Lamb of God." God's

Son was willingly sacrificed. He paid the penalty for our sin on the cross

so that we might have eternal life. Jesus was sacrificed for a guilt that

was not his own. He took a punishment that he did not deserve. He took

our place and died for you.

One Sunday evening an elderly

gentleman was guest speaker at a little church and shared a moving story.

" A father, his son and his son's friend were sailing in the

ocean when a storm came up suddenly and blocked any attempt to get back

to shore. The waves were so high that even though the father was an experienced

sailor, he could not keep the boat upright. The three of them were swept

into the ocean.

"The father made it back

to the capsized boat and found a rescue rope and had to make the most

excruciating decision of his life. To whom would he toss the line? He

had only seconds to make the decision. The father knew the son was a Christian,

but he also knew the son's friend was not. The father called out

'I love you, Son!' and threw the line to the son's friend.