Friday Night Theology

Kaka

16 January 2009

What does conformity look like these days? If you happen to be a football superstar - and I've no doubt we've a few amongst the FNT readership - the answer to that question might seem fairly straightforward. As one football journalist put it this week, "People in England are used to their football stars being George Best, Gascoigne, maybe fast living, drinking. He's not in that category at all is he?" The person he is referring to is, of course, Kaka: devout evangelical Christian, 2007 Fifa World Player of the Year, and subject of more than a little coverage this week thanks to £100 million transfer negotiations with Manchester City . This is how Gabriele Marcotti, the respected Italian journalist, responded to the interviewer's question:

He's more from the Jonathan Edwards school of stardom, Kaka's an evangelical Christian, he's very committed to it, this is a guy who nearly broke his back before he became a teenager, he's a guy who's had to overcome a lot of personal trauma and he's spoken quite openly about it and he's found a lot of serenity and strength in God; and he's very committed to it. Everybody by now knows the story that he was celibate until his wedding night...he's got quite a different world outlook than a lot of other players and he'd certainly be different than many of the other stars in the premiership.

And Kaka himself has said this, "I'm a radical, I'm a radical for Christ." "In fact, I'm very radical. I have my life, I have my values. And compared to much of society, especially football, that is radical." Kaka doesn't just do the talk though; he lives his faith publicly. When Brazil won the 2002 World Cup, Kaka celebrated on the pitch by giving the glory to God and revealing a t-shirt which read, "I belong to Jesus." Given the industry in which he is involved, it is hard to deny that was a radical move.

Yet, having said that, it is inevitable that some will suggest that it is not that hard to be 'radical' when you're being offered a reported half a million a week. But this is precisely what makes him more than interesting. In the interview cited above, Marcotti suggests that from a footballing point of view a move to Manchester City makes little sense, that he knows that Kaka is not motivated purely by money, which leaves a desire to spread Christianity in secular Britain as one possible motivation. He says, "He [Kaka] believes in the example of the way he lives as a way of really living the religious message and being able to change people's lives…he really really believes this and he really believes he has a broader message to spread off the pitch as well, through his example, not by preaching, but through his example. He may find that this country [United Kingdom] might be a fertile place for him to spread his word."

It is hard to know whether that really will be what brings Kaka to the UK, but Kaka is consistent that his primary motivation in life has always been his faith and trust in God. If, then, it is his faith rather than money that brings him here, it would seem that he is living proof of what Jesus once said, that although it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, with God "nothing is impossible," (Luke 18: 27). And perhaps with Kaka, we are seeing God do just that - not just on the pitch, but more significantly, off it as well.

Justin Thacker, Head of Theology

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