Seven-Day Practical Faith Blog: Victory Lap vs. Victorious Living

As I ponder Good Friday and Easter, I wonder why Jesus didn't take a victory lap.

A victory lap is an extra celebration after winning a race, whether it's in motor sports, track and field, football, soccer, and so on. You take one extra lap around the arena to soak up the admiration and engage with the spectators.

If I had been crucified on a Friday and resurrected on a Sunday, I would've taken a victory lap. I would shove it in the faces of the ones who opposed me. I would've ridden back through Jerusalem on an elephant, not a donkey. The parade would have been like Prince Ali's entrance in Aladdin.

I'm glad Jesus isn't like me in that respect.

But why not take a victory lap? Why did Jesus only show himself to a relatively small number of people, slightly more than 500 per Paul's account in 1 Corinthians 15?

My thought is that Jesus had bigger foes in the overarching drama than the bit players who executed him. His fight was against evil, sin, and death. He brought goodness, holiness, and life - victorious living.

I wonder if we focus too much on bit players in our seven-day practical faith journey. We make enemies out of other humans. Jesus was more interested in loving enemies. He even forgave the whole group, top to bottom, who crucified him, because they didn't understand what they were doing.

We keep personifying our enemies as people who oppose us. People are not our enemies. Satan is the enemy. Sin is our enemy. Darkness is the enemy.

When Jesus was crucified, then resurrected, he demonstrated his power over our enemies. Jesus resisted Satan's temptations to save himself. He took on sin and crucified it as he bore it. Jesus is the light of the world, overcoming darkness.

Throughout our practical faith walk, we wonder what Jesus would do and wouldn't do. We shouldn't take victory laps, since he didn't. Let's live victoriously because Jesus did. Praise be to Jesus for his sacrifice, his victory, and his model for victorious living!

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