Does Agony mean Defeat?

Vinko Bogataj of Yugoslavia at a ski jumping 

event in Oberstdorf, West Germany in 1970.

From when I was a boy, I remember weekends and watching sports with my dad.  From the television, I could hear the familiar intro music to “ABC’s Wide World of Sports.”  Jim McKay promised us that they were “spanning the globe” to bring us “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”  I always made it in the room in time to see a great ski jumper have a bad run and wipe out on the slope and into the crowd.  I don’t remember his great jumps, but we remember him for his failed attempt that day.


We all face such agonies.  We have done our best time and time again, then we face a difficulty that sets us back.  Sometimes this is of our own doing.  Sometimes it is by things beyond our control.

However, agony does not have to mean defeat.  What we do in the midst of the agony determines defeat or victory.  Yes, there are agonies we bring upon ourselves: the consequences of poor choices, running after things of the world, etc.  There are agonies that happen to us beyond our control, for example a change in health, the loss of a loved one, a natural disaster like in Japan recently.  But how will we respond in those agonies?

Jesus was in agony as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane late Thursday night and early Friday morning of what we call Holy Week--the week before Easter.  He was in agony in the deepest way--praying until His sweat came like drops of blood.  His response to the agony was to throw Himself into prayer and upon the will of God, His Father.

The agony did not immediately pass, but He was sustained in the middle of it.  The will of God brought forth more victory than an immediate fix to the agony.  Though it appeared that all was lost, God never abandoned His Son.

He offers the same for us and for those in the midst of agony around us and around the world.  How will we respond?  Will we, as Jesus did, throw ourselves to the will of God?  Will we offer hope and comfort to those who are in agony now?  Will we demonstrate that agony does not have to mean defeat?