Paterno–It Is Easy To Tarnish a Legacy

The death of Joe Paterno should scare the living daylights out of any of us that are in leadership.  Here is a man that up until November would have gone out with a legacy that was substantial.  All it took was one mistake, one catastrophic mistake.  And in his case, it was looking the wrong way and not taking action.  To Paterno in the scheme of what he was doing and who he was, it might seem inconsequential.  In leadership, the trap is always getting too caught up in who you are and how big you’ve become.  It does not take much to bring down a leader.  It is very sad that Joe Paterno’s legacy will now be forever tarnished. 

As I reflected on this, I thought of the Kings of Judah.  There are eight kings that are mentioned as “good” in the Old Testament after the kingdom split.  Six of the eight made catastrophic mistakes that either cost them their lives or severely tarnished their legacy.

Asa – reliance on the king of Aram for deliverance (2nd Chron 16)
Jehoshaphat – forms an unholy alliance with the Kings of Israel (2nd Chron 18)
Joash – rebelled after the death of Jehoida and abandoned his faith (2nd Chron 24)
Amaziah – bowed down to the pagan kings (2nd Chron 25)
Uzziah – undone by pride and ended life as a leper (2nd Chron 26)
Josiah – made an ill-advised decision to enter into battle against Egype (2 Chron 35)

There are two kings that made mistakes but they appear to be inadvertent and did not severely cripple their legacy.  Jotham allowed the people to run unfettered and didn’t make all the necessary reforms (2 Chron 27).  Hezekiah who made the most reforms as king nevertheless showed the Babylonians all the kingdom treasury.  It is said of Hezekiah that the “Lord did this matter only to test him that he might know all that was in his heart”. 

It is almost impossible to lead an untarnished legacy.  It is far easier to fail than to succeed.  In 75% of the cases above, what started out as good clearly ended up bad.  Again, that should scare us.  I think it is a crucial prayer to God that I might be kept from a catastrophic mistake.  I am reminded of 1 Cor. 10:12-13 when Paul clearly says that an attitude of pride can lead to downfall, but an attitude of humility before God will save us.  God wants us to finish strong.