When all seems lost …

Following along the story of the life of Jesus, the tale of His journey on Earth at one point seems to come to a tragic end.

It’s easy to imagine how full of despair His disciples must have been that Saturday following their Master’s horrifying public crucifixion. They had left everything to follow Him, and now all was lost.

At least, so it appeared.

Before moving on to the real end of the story, let’s face the fact that in life, some things don’t end well. Sometimes, loss is very real. Sometimes, when it seems we see a victory before us, it’s snatched away and we face defeat. John Huffman tells a story of such sad defeat …

Vanderlei Lima went to Athens to do what no other Brazilian had ever done — win a medal in the Olympic Marathon. This race was special. The runners would retrace the 2,500-year-old route of Phidipedes, the original marathoner. When Lima neared the last leg of the race, he was in first place. Throngs of flag-waving spectators cheered him on. It was one of those moments when people of various backgrounds put their differences aside.

The joyful celebration turned to bewilderment, however, when an eccentric spectator, a defrocked Irish priest wearing a red, white and green kilt, bolted from the crowd and tackled him. There was no injury, but the delay dashed Lima’s hopes of the gold medal, as in the ensuing chaos he lost twenty minutes, and two other runners sped by him to win the gold and the silver. This world-class athlete expressed this reaction: “I’m not going to cry forever about the incident, although it broke my concentration; but I managed to finish, and the bronze medal, in such a difficult marathon, is also a great achievement.”

Sometimes, strange things (like mad, defrocked Irish priests popping up) happen “out of the blue” that ruin our efforts; sometimes relationships are permanently lost; sometimes missed opportunities won’t come with a second chance; sometimes a disease will have no cure or no healing. Sometimes, we human beings experience defeat.

BUT …

But even those defeats that last for our lifetimes will be set right when Jesus Christ returns! From then on, no more will sin, death, injustice, unfairness, or evil ever again exist as we enjoy for all eternity the righteous reign of King Jesus.

The end of defeat itself is provided us because that period of time when all seemed lost to the disciples was just a moment of victory in the making. Sin had been defeated on the cross, death was just about to defeated by the resurrection of Jesus. Nothing was lost for the disciples; in fact, more than they could ever imagine was about to be gained!

By Jesus defeating sin and death, He provides for us a coming day when “defeat” itself will forever be defeated!

Scotty