Can we live in victory and defeat while following Jesus?
Can we live in power and in weakness?
In success and in suffering?
When we start to follow Jesus we are so full of the Spirit, optimism, and hope for radical change in our life.
And that might last for awhile, but in a month or a year, the difficulties of life catch up and we are left wondering, “Where is the victory of Jesus? Where did all the Holy Spirit assists go? Why am I still struggling in life?”
The Gospel of Mark shows us that the life of Jesus combined both of these. And so can we.
We just need to learn to map our living in victory and our feeling vanquished by Jesus’ geography.
Victory inThe North, Defeat in the South
The Gospel of Mark clearly contrasts two sides of Jesus’ ministry. One side is in the north. The other in the south.
In the North
In the north, around the Sea of Galilee where he was born, Jesus ministers in power. Signs, wonders, healing, and exorcisms. They are all there.
The people are amazed. The unclean spirits are silenced. And storms are stopped.
In the North Jesus was embodying Israel’s hopes for a “Messiah”, from the kingly line of David, the great deliverer who would come in power that Isaiah prophesied about (Isaiah 9, 11, 22).
In the South
In the South, around Jerusalem where all the “powerful” people lived, Jesus ministered in weakness. Very few miracles.
The people start to turn on Jesus, especially the leaders of Israel who see him as a threat. There are hardships and opposition.
And in the South, the storm of death sweeps over Jesus on the cross.
There in the South Jesus was embodying God’s promise of a “Suffering Servant” would who bear the weight of the people’s sin, who would carry about all there transgression through his own death. Isaiah also prophesied about this person ( Isaiah 42:1–4; 49:1–6; 50:4–7; and the famous 52:13–53:12).
Living in Power and Weakness
So often we think that when life is going good that God is with us, that Jesus has our back, and the Spirit is filling us up.
But then when things are going back we think God is a failure, Jesus is a joke, and the Spirit has abandoned us.
We want our lives to look and feel like Jesus in the North.
And we are sad, mad, and confused when life begins to feel like Jesus in the South.
But God’s plan didn’t change when Jesus moved from the North to the South. The Spirit didn’t move in Jesus in the North and then leave in the South.
From Victory to a Different Kind of Victory
In fact, Jesus didn’t move from a life of victory to one of defeat on the cross.
He actually moved from one kind of victory (that uses power) to another victory (that works in weakness).
The ultimate victory over sin, death, and the devil is accomplished in the South, on the Cross.
So when we are feeling weak, full of suffering, and without victory, that is probably the place where the biggest breakthrough is about to happen in your life.
Live in and look for the power and the victory in your life. But don’t doubt in times of weakness and defeat.
It is all part of it.
And God is with you throughout.