Proverbs 24:16 (NIV)
For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.
Everyone loves a good comeback story. In 2001, the Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball team found themselves back in the Final Four against Maryland, a conference rival. The two teams had played twice in the regular season before facing off again in their conference tournament. Duke won the first regular season matchup by two points in overtime. Maryland took the second contest by a convincing 11 points. Duke pulled out another win in the conference tournament, once again winning by two points. When the familiar foes squared off in the Final Four, it was one of the most anticipated games of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Maryland had an 11-point lead going into halftime, and many people believed that they were poised to even the season series against Duke and punch their own ticket to the NCAA Championship Game against Arizona. As the second half started, Maryland doubled their lead, going up by 22 points. It looked like Duke was down for the count. No team that found itself down by 22 points in the Final Four had ever come back to win. While many people started leaving the arena early, Duke’s players and coaches refused to accept defeat.
The Blue Devils came storming back, and eventually defeated Maryland 95-84. Duke would go on to defeat Arizona in the NCAA Championship Game, winning their third NCAA Championship. If Duke’s players and coaches had accepted defeat, they would have missed out on the joy of the championship.
While Duke’s comeback against Maryland was certainly a comeback for the ages, it’s far from the biggest comeback in the history of the world. That title has always been held, and will always be held, by Christ on the first Easter Sunday.
The book of Proverbs teaches us that Godly people may fall down six times, but they keep getting up. We know that there was no one more righteous than Christ, and the story of the first Easter is the greatest example of a righteous man getting back up in history. Today, find out more about what Christ’s comeback against the enemy of death means for us. Adversity may have knocked you down, but you do not have to stay down. The same Holy Spirit that brought Christ back will breathe revival into you.
Life Isn’t Fair
Mark 11:7-10 (NIV)
When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks in the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday before Good Friday, is the commemoration of Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem. The scene that unfolded on that day must have been something amazing to witness. The disciples had gone into town to bring Jesus a colt to ride into Jerusalem on so He could fulfill the prophecy, and the crowd was thrilled to see Him. They threw down their cloaks and palm branches because they didn’t even want the colt that carried Christ to touch the dirt.
While the disciples were likely moved by the love and admiration that people were pouring out to Jesus, Christ wasn’t impressed with it. It’s not that He didn’t love the people, but Jesus understood that the same people who cried, “Hosanna,” would soon be crying out, “Crucify Him!”
Sinless, spotless, and perfect in the eyes of God, Jesus didn’t deserve to be crucified. He didn’t deserve to be turned against by the crowd, but that’s exactly what happened. Sometimes the adversity that knocks us down is not fair. While we love the idea of living in a world where goodness is rewarded and evil is punished, sometimes life just isn’t fair.
One of the keys to bouncing back from your own knockdowns is to accept that life just isn’t fair. When we wallow in the fact that life isn’t fair and we didn’t deserve to be knocked down, it’s harder to get back up. Christ knew that He didn’t deserve death, but He didn’t allow that to keep Him from finishing the mission, hanging on the cross, and raising again. Instead of focusing on what shouldn’t have happened, focus on the fact that the same Holy Spirit who brought Christ back to life is living and working in you.
Where Did Everybody Go?
Mark 14:27-28 (NIV)
“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
Seasons of adversity have a tendency to weed out the people in your life who aren’t really there for you. In the same way that high levels of water pressure break bad plumbing pipes, seasons of intense adversity will often cause weak relationships to crumble.
This doesn’t mean that the disciples didn’t truly love Christ in this story. They had committed their lives to following Him. Many of them had walked away from multigenerational family businesses in order to become disciples. Matthew had left a government job so he could become the disciple that Christ wanted him to be. However, Jesus knew that when things really got tough, when the crew of Roman guards came to arrest Him, everyone was going to leave Him.
Sure, they initially tried to say that they wouldn’t. Peter went so far as to say that he would die beside Jesus before he would deny Him. Christ knew better. The disciples running scared was just another prophecy that He had to fulfill.
Do you remember the story about the Duke basketball team that we read earlier? A lot of their fans walked out of the arena when they were down by 22 in the second half. They didn’t allow that to keep them from coming back. Jesus didn’t allow the disciples abandoning Him to derail His mission. In fact, He told them that He would get up, and wait for them in Galilee.
Don’t become so focused on who isn’t in your corner that you fail to remember the One who is always there.
The Comeback Is Already in You
Romans 8:11 (NIV)
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
This verse from Romans is speaking about a physical resurrection. We don’t have to fear death because the same Spirit who brought Christ back to life lives in us, and that means that though we may die, we will live again. However, this promise goes beyond the physical.
The same Holy Spirit who empowered Christ to make the biggest comeback in the history of the world lives in you! With that in mind, what can hold you down? Even if you get knocked down six times, the Holy Spirit gives you the power to get up seven times. You can come back because the same Spirit who empowered Christ to come back is living inside you.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank You for the power that I find in the Easter story. Help me to bounce back from anything that knocks me down. Thank You for the Spirit who empowers me. In Christ’s name, Amen.