Silver Medal

One of the unique things about the Olympics is the way that it structures event winners.  Each event honors not only the winner, but also the second and third place finishers.  Most of our sporting contests these days simply have a winner and a loser.  If you lose the Super Bowl, you are the silver medalist in football.  If you lose in the finals of Wimbledon, you are the silver medalist of tennis.  But compare the countenance of an Olympic silver medalist to someone on the losing team of the Super Bowl and it’s quite a contrast.  Super Bowl runners up are often despondent in the face of losing the big game.  Silver medalists - even bronze medalists - are often filled with enthusiasm simply to be on the platform.

As much as I like the Olympic approach on this side of heaven, I don’t believe there will be any silver medals in the new creation.  When Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, there won’t be three levels on the platform.  There will be just one.  The Gospels tell us there were three crosses on Calvary.  But only one of those crosses saves us.  There were many tombs around Jerusalem.  But only one is empty.  In the age to come, we who belong to the one who hung on the cross and walked out of the tomb will stand on the platform with him.  We will all wear gold medals because we are in Christ.  He has won the victory.