Like everyone else, I’ve been listening all week to story after story about the terrible Penn State sex scandal.  It is clearly one of the most disturbing quagmires that have come to light in many years. 

The alleged child molestation of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is beyond contempt.  The apparent cover up by University officials is beyond belief.  The behavior of the students in the wake of Coach Paterno‘s dismissal is revolting. I could go on, but unless you’ve been living in a cave, you already know all of this…

Joe Paterno

The aspect of this that I would like to concentrate upon in this post is simply this:

We place our trust in institutions, in men and women of high reputation and in the system of laws and justice that we have created… and they fail to protect the least of those among us; including our little children.

Let’s consider some of the se things that are in play in this sordid story:

Penn State University is one of the finest institutions of higher learning in America.  Their reputation has been unquestioned and above reproach.  In fact, several years ago, I sent my own son to a rugby camp there; it was a wonderful experience for him.  Now look at what has happened… over a 17 year period, no less. 

Main entrance of Old Main, at Penn State

As for the individuals involved, it is truly sad that Coach Paterno, who has been a role model for over 60 years, whose accomplishments and integrity have been held up for all to respect, has found himself in such a terrible position.  Yet, how can an open-minded person look at the news of this past week and not wonder how anyone could have been so dense that he allowed Mr. Sandusky to still be using the facilities just last week… in spite of all that he had to have known.  Let’s be fair here… Coach Paterno may not have grasped early on the seriousness of what was going on.  He may never have intended to harm anyone… but he was called before the Grand Jury, how could he not have a very good idea of what they were investigating… and Sandusky is still on his premises!

It is all so very sad…

We would be wise to recall that things like this have happened before, in fact they are as old as the Scriptures.  “And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” (Isaiah 5:7b)

There are literally hundreds of references like this in the Bible… and the newspapers have been full of this sort of scandal for decades… The sad reality is that the institutions of men will fail.

There is only One who will not fail, and He is the One in whom we must put our faith and trust.

In light of all that we have heard and read this past week, maybe it’s about time that we put our faith where it belongs, in our Lord Jesus Christ. In His love, let us seek forgiveness.  In His steadfastness, let us place our reliance.  In His faithfulness, let us place our faith.

Related articles

• Penn State Scandal: Riot for Joe Paterno a Permanent Black Eye for University (bleacherreport.com)
• As Penn State’s players struggle with scandal’s fallout, I feel for them (aol.sportingnews.com)