Skin in the Game

When I was young man growing up on the South Side, my friends and I wore fedoras, drank beer, smoked cigars and frequented the horse racing tracks around Chicago. We were goofy teenagers, trying to act like adults. We were too young to drink legally, but back then, most vendors weren’t too careful about checking IDs. At the racetracks, we learned quickly that there is a big difference between watching a horse race as a spectator and having a little money involved. Every race was more thrilling when you had a few dollars riding on the outcome and close races, photo finishes, became almost unbearable when you had ‘skin in the game’.

In a recent book with the title, Skin in the Game, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb observed that we should be very careful taking advice from experts who don’t have skin in the game. He points out that educated philistines have been wrong about nearly everything over last few hundred years. Their well-reasoned analysis is often worthless if they don’t have skin in the game because they are not directly at risk if their advice is faulty. Often, academics and politicians are insulated from the effects of their bad decision making. They are in effect playing with other people’s money. A good example of skin in the game is the rider who is up on the back of a bull. An example of someone without skin in the game is the fan watching in the stands and eating popcorn.

Applying this concept to religion, Taleb points out that true religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it. Early Christian martyrs gave their lives in witness to Christ rather than deny Him. Living as a Christian in the first few centuries was incredibly difficult and dangerous and being known as a follower of Christ would mark one as an outcast, an enemy of the Roman state.

Today, in Nigeria where, on average, 30 to 35 Christians are killed each day, and over 7000 Christians were killed in 2025, Mass attendance hovers around 95 percent. There is a risk associated with attending Mass in Nigeria currently, where just last weekend over 170 worshippers were kidnapped in three separate attacks.

Perhaps the faith is weak in the Western world because there is so little risk associated with believing In Christ. In France, although there have been some recent encouraging signs, like a recent uptick in baptisms, Mass attendance is hovering around five percent with only an estimated 2 percent attending Mass every Sunday. France has been called the eldest daughter of the Church and once sent missionary priests to evangelize the New World. Yet currently, other than the elegant buildings erected centuries ago, the faith has largely faded from view.

Just as there are authentic manifestations of skin in the game, there are, of course, fraudulent versions. One cannot help but think of the modern sports fans with their faces painted with the team colors. Think of how some stand for the entire game bare chested in wind and snow, howling themselves hoarse, hoping (and praying) their behavior will affect the outcome. Even the common practice of wearing the jersey of a favorite player to the game can be seen as an attempt to say, “I’m in this with you.” even though it costs the fan nothing.

Why does God put up with a fallen humanity that refuses to live according to His commandments, a humanity that insults Him, His Son and His mother routinely, a humanity that does beastly things to one another, destroys his creation, and almost reflexively sides with His enemy the devil, in ways beyond telling? Could it be as simple as the fact that God has skin in the game? That is, in a very real sense, Jesus is God’s skin in the game. When Jesus became one of us, when Jesus took on human flesh, God was no longer an interested spectator. Once Jesus became human, God the Father is intensely involved with the drama unfolding here on earth. God loves the Son but not as an intellectual exercise. God loves Jesus who gives His all in what seems, at first glance, a foolhardy mission. And God loves Him so completely that He will refuse Jesus nothing. So that when Jesus pleads from the cross, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do,” the Father responds whole heartedly.

     Usually, when we return a rented item we won’t receive our deposit back if it is dirty or damaged in any way. Christ came to us unblemished, born of the Virgin. But he returns to the Father beaten and battered beyond recognition. And yet, His scars bear witness to His courage, His willingness to put His skin into the game, His willingness to risk His life to save us from our inevitable fate. The wages of sin is death and someone has to pay. Jesus volunteers for the mission. It is out of love, he cries, “Father, send me.” And He returns to the Father bearing His scars, with the nail marks in His hands and feet, the gash in His side, the thorn marks on His forehead and says, “Yes, Father, I have loved them. And I love you. And if this is what it takes to redeem them, so be it. Have mercy on them as you have mercy on me. Receive them as you now receive me. Allow them to enter into the Kingdom and remain with you and me forever. Because they are truly ‘my body’, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone and I want them to dwell with us forever.” And His damaged flesh, His wounded skin is the price of our admission.