No one wins
a national basketball tournament by giving up. No one wins an election by
refusing to seek votes. No one wins a race by walking when everyone else is
running. You just cannot win by giving up.
Yet that is
what we as believers are called to do. This is nothing original or new. It
follows the example given to us by Jesus himself. Is it easy? No, it isn’t. It
is diametrically opposite to what we sinful human beings tend to do or want to
do.
As we
approach Easter, Resurrection Sunday, we must first go through Good Friday, the
goodness being recognized in the willingness of Jesus to surrender his life and
his relationship with his heavenly Father for the sake of the redemption of
mankind. For six hours Jesus suffered the agony of a Roman crucifixion. Those
six hours on the cross included three hours we humans experienced as darkness.
Jesus
experienced something else. Our only hint as to what was happening to the Son
of God was the cry of dereliction, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
During those hours of darkness the union that had existed for all eternity was
broken. Jesus had surrendered to curse of the cross and the burden of the sins
of all humanity. The result in that moment was he faced it all alone.
Two actions
followed to indicate that was not the end. The first were in the last words of
Jesus from the cross, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” Even in the moment
Jesus felt the weight of our guilt and the absence of his Father, he found
victory.
The second
confirmation of this victory would come later. An empty grave on the first day
of the week proved the power of redeeming love over the curse of death and the
grave. In surrendering to the will of the Father and the suffering of the cross
and abandonment, Jesus found the ultimate victory.
Resurrection
Sunday is a believer’s confirmation of victory through surrender. Such victory
never comes without a price. For Jesus there was the Gethsemane experience in
which his own humanity was so clearly revealed. That was followed by the
betrayal and desertion of his disciples. Then came the Jewish and Roman trials
and the condemnation to a crucifixion. Yet through it all, he never lost faith
in his Father to bring about the final victory.
For the
Apostle Paul the lesson of victory through surrender came in a different way. Surrender
did not come easily. It was not automatic. Through the process, however, Paul
did learn the believer is at his strongest and victory is most assured when
surrender is complete.
2Co
12:7-10 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing
greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of
Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded
with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My
grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with
weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am
weak, then I am strong.
When
Paul recognized his strength came from a surrender to the power of God within
him, then he was able to know power never before experienced. Victory had come
through surrender.
So
it is with every believer. To die with Christ, to surrender to Christ, is to be
raised to a new life which only he can provide. Jesus’ surrender to the will of
the Father was the victory God needed to bring salvation to man. Our surrender
to the will of the Father makes that victory personal to each of us. Good
Friday is the surrender we will never have to face. Resurrection Sunday is the
victory which is now our guarantee.
