Over a year ago, two cross-country teammates from a Wisconsin High School approached the final stretch in good position. That’s when they noticed a kid from another school falling down, just ten feet from the finish line. For some reason, these two runners stopped to lift the fallen competitor to his feet and jogged him across the finish line, allowing him to place ahead of them. They didn’t have to do that. Sportsmanship matters, but more broadly, today we want to rethink what it means to “win.” These young men had a different kind of win. Jesus takes us even further, challenging our backwards views of victory and defeat, honor and shame, joy and sorrow. Paul explains Jesus’ conquest, illustrating it with a well-known Roman tradition: a triumphal procession.

What’s a Triumphal Procession?

In Roman times, a triumphal procession was a major event that crowds flocked to, not only to watch the victors march in with their spoils, but also to see the losers led to their execution or at least humiliation. Royalty in slavery and powerful people slaughtered? Always a good show in Rome!

Jesus takes us even further, challenging our backwards views of victory and defeat, honor and shame, joy and sorrow.

We now call this attitude triumphalism, which Webster defines as “smug or boastful pride in the success or dominance of one’s nation or ideology over others.” Romans reveled in the dismal fate and shame of enemies before Rome’s power. But how does a triumphal procession fit with the cross?

He Leads the Powers in Triumphal Procession!

Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Col. 2:15). Christ conquered them and put his victory on display so everyone can see the rulers humiliated and the rightful king vindicated. What rulers does he mean? Paul uses these same two words when he describes our battle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12; cf. 1 Cor. 2:7-8). Jesus talked about binding up the strong man, Satan (Matt. 12:29), declaring, “now will the ruler of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). On the cross he took the power to set us free from Satan’s grip, so that “(through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery*” (Heb. 2:14-15).

He was Christ’s captive, and it was love that captivated him!

He Leads Paul & Me in Triumphal Procession?

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Cor. 2:14). This is where the metaphor challenges our thinking about following Christ. To be led “in triumphal procession” (2 Cor. 2:14) is to be a captive, a slave, one conquered and paraded in humiliation.

1) An Enemy Spared by Mercy. We once lived as “enemies” of God (Rom. 5:10). Often in the triumphal procession, some of the enemies would be spared by the grace of the victor. That’s just what

2) A Prisoner Captured by Love. Unlike most of us, Paul literally was a prisoner for the cause of Christ. But it’s strange that he called himself a “prisoner of Christ” (Eph 3:1; 4:1; 2 Tim 1:8). But the point of all this is that he was Christ’s captive, and it was love that captivated him (2 Cor. 5:14).

3) A Slave Obeying by Gratitude. We are “bondservants of Christ” (Eph. 6:6). Jesus said, “He who would gain his life must lose it” (Matt. 16:25). Jesus defeated death by dying and stole victory from the powers through the cross’s shame. Now we win by losing, gladly accepting the living conquest of Christ’s will over our own. When you take up your cross and follow Jesus (Matt. 16:24), you —like Paul — carry the message of the cross in your body and your life, not just your words.

Spreading the Fragrance of Christ

How could Paul’s difficulties — or ours — display God’s power and glory? Have you ever thought, “It shouldn’t be this hard” or “What am I doing wrong?” If I got the formula right, applying all the Bible principles, living by faith, I would minimize my life’s difficulties. But what if it’s supposed to be hard? What if God is glorified most in us when we suffer?

Our lives get people’s attention and raise questions about everything they thought they knew.

There are some passages you usually don’t see in a framed cross-stitch on a wall, but maybe we should all start embracing them more. Consider these challenging statements from Paul’s letters to the Corinthians:

• “I came in weakness and much trembling, determining to know nothing but Christ alone and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1).

• “We are fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Cor. 4:10).

• “I die daily” (1 Cor. 15:31).

• “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one — I am talking like a madman — with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death … in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Cor. 11:23–30). (Power through weakness is such a major theme in Second Corinthians that you can follow it through the whole book.)

And what’s the result of our march as captives, as we willingly sacrifice and joy in trials? People notice the parade! They smell the “fragrance” as it “spreads” the “knowledge of him everywhere*” (2 Cor. 2:14). Our lives get their attention and raise questions about everything they thought they knew. Some won’t get it. This gospel of sacrifice and yielding self is too strange and hard for them. But others smell the sweet aroma and come join the procession!

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?”

How can he possibly feel he is “enough” to do this job?

I ask with Paul, “Who is sufficient” for such a task? Where does Paul’s sufficiency come from? How can he possibly feel he is “enough” to do this job? He explains the source of his sufficiency – not in his power but his trust in Christ: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor.12:9).

Amen!