Day 32 in the Wilderness- Joy and Agony together

As we celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, we are profoundly aware that this journey into Jerusalem is not triumphal in the way we usually think of triumph. Jesus does not win a contest. In fact, his journey into Jerusalem is his final journey, culminating in his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, trial before the Sanhedrin and Pilate and crucifixion at Golgatha. The triumph is that Jesus dies on our behalf so that in his resurrection we are raised with him above our sin into new life. It is a paradox of the Triune God who is willing to participate in the very depths of human existence so that he can redeem us to new life by his death.

When I was thinking about the paradox built into this event, I was struck by the Olympic mantra "The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat" and the whole idea that the world is made up of one winner and everyone else is a loser. Christ turns this around by his willingness to be THE loser, dying on the cross for the sins of all people, so that all the rest of us can be WINNERS instead of sinners.

It was the Paralymics and not the Olympics where I saw this radical reversal of what we normally think of in Olympic competition. When the Paralympians marched in their Vancouver opening ceremony weeks after the "other Olympics" they were accompanied by their trainers and people who would help them compete. They each had a "disability" that they had to overcome just to compete in the games. And yet there was a joy and a triumphal attitude in these athletes that was contagious. And there were not just one winner and many losers but all winners by virtue of what each had overcome to get there. One athlete in particular grabbed my attention, Lauren Woolstencroft from Canada. She was born without either leg below the knee and without her left arm below the elbow. And she won, not one or two gold medals but 5 gold medals in virtually every downhill skiing event possible. She was truly an Olympic Golden Girl and a testimony to the way that faith can transform hardship and trajedy into joy and triumph.