We love comeback stories. We are fascinated by them. One of the greatest comebacks in sports history happened in a boxing ring. It was a match between Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas on February 11, 1990. The fight promoters billed it as a fight, “Tyson is Back”. You see, Mike Tyson was undefeated, his record coming into the fight was 37-0. Of those 37 wins, 27 of them came by knockout before the 5th round…and of those, 17 of them were knockouts in the first round.

This fight was really a stepping stone for Mike Tyson who simply had to get through this fight with the lesser Buster Douglas to get to the “real” fight with the number one  contender Evander Holyfield. However, Buster Douglas didn’t see the fight in the same way. In fact, Buster Douglas lasted through the first round. To everyone’s surprise, he lasted through the second round too. He lasted through the fifth round, the sixth, the seventh, and then, with ten seconds left in the eighth round Tyson gave him an uppercut that knocked him to the canvas.

When Douglas hit the mat, there seemed to be a sense of…that took longer than we expected. No one was surprised by the outcome, they were surprised that it took so long. But what was even more surprising was that Douglas got up. The underdog got back up. He had taken an incredible shot that had knocked out more than three-fourths of the other fighters that had come before him. And after a nine-count, the fight was back on.

Everyone expected that Douglas would be knocked out in the early seconds of the ninth round, but to everyone’s surprise, it was Douglas who began to press forward. And then in the 10th round, Douglas landed a nearly identical uppercut that knocked Tyson to the mat…and the champion could not get up. Douglas had knocked out the undefeated undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Two rounds earlier Douglas had been lying on the mat, and now he is putting on a belt. It remains today as perhaps the greatest comeback in all of sports history.

These kinds of stories are awesome. We love stories where against all odds, when all hope seems lost, a champion arises.

It is Easter week. A week where we celebrate the greatest comeback in history. You see, Jesus, after he was falsely accused, arrested, and unjustly tried, was beaten, mocked, scourged, and nailed to the cross until he died. By all accounts, He was defeated. And to prove their victory they placed his dead body in a tomb sealed by a heavy stone with guards posted at the watch.

But little did they know that God was orchestrating the greatest comeback. Three days later the stone was rolled away and Jesus rose from the dead. And when he did he delivered a knockout blow to death itself. The Bible says that “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us (Eph. 1:7-8).” You see, Jesus’ death was our redemption. And because of this lavish gift of God’s grace, our comeback is possible. For those who put their faith in Jesus, death is defeated (Eph. 2:8-9). This is how this miraculous comeback is described: “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved (Eph. 2:4-5).” Do you see that Jesus’ comeback makes our comeback possible? When Tyson was lying on the mat after being KO’d by Douglas, the television announcer said, “This is the biggest upset in the history of heavyweight championship fights.” When the Bible describes Jesus’ comeback it says, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Cor. 15:54-55)” Jesus’ resurrection truly is the greatest comeback.