“[H]e who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 1:6
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UConn was down by 19 to Duke. Then, all of a sudden, the Huskies were headed back to the Final Four.
The furious comeback culminated with freshman Braylon Mullins hitting a near half-court 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to give No. 2 seed UConn a 73-72 lead and a stunning Elite Eight win over No. 1 seed Duke. For more than half the game, Duke appeared ready to cruise into the Final Four. But UConn kept slowly chipping away, eventually cutting the lead to one point in the final minute.
With 10 seconds left to play, all Duke really had to do was hold the ball and head to the free-throw line. But as the Huskies applied full-court pressure, they deflected a pass and the ball ended up in the hands of Mullins with about 2.5 seconds left. He had to shoot it. Nothing but net.
It goes down as one of the most epic March Madness moments we’ve seen in recent memory, and it all came after a massive comeback by UConn. The Huskies could’ve relented and given up, but instead, they kept chipping away. As they say, it’s never over until it’s over, even down to the last second.
In life, when trials, failures and disappointments add up, we’re tempted to think the deficit is too big to overcome. We go through seasons where it feels like the outcome is already decided. We just feel defeated.
But that’s not the story the Gospel tells us.
The story of Jesus is the ultimate comeback story, at least in the sense of redefining what we thought was final. The cross looked like the end, and everything about that moment appeared to say it was over. My church occasionally sings the song “Name Above All Names” by Charity Gayle, and part of the lyrics go like this:
The sun was darkened and the Heavens thundered
And for a moment death had thought it conquered
But it wasn’t over ’til You said, “It’s over”
Your Word is greater still
That’s because three days after Jesus went into the grave, He proved it wasn’t over.
What these come-from-behind, last-second wins remind us is that as long as there’s still time on the clock, the story isn’t finished. We see that with the man on the cross next to Jesus who secured his place in Heaven in his final breaths. God is always at work, and He’s always available, even if it feels otherwise.
Philippians 1:6 tells us that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Life will deal you some big deficits occasionally, and at times things will feel like they’re “over.” But with Jesus, that’s far from the truth.
— Cole Claybourn
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