At the recent Commonwealth Games…

which was held in Birmingham…

the Australian, Jemima Montag, won the gold medal in the women’s race walk––

an event that she won at the previous Games held on the Gold Coast.

For this event, the distance was halved––

from twenty kilometres down to ten––

and, rather than being held on the open road like it usually would––

or like the marathon––

this time, it was entirely held within the main stadium.

About halfway through the race, she broke free from the pack…

and then built a huge and increasing lead…

so that…

coming into the final lap…

she was able to enjoy the crowd and its cheering…

and acknowledge her supporters…

in a way that she could not have done if the race had been on the open road…

with the spectators spread out along its distance.

Apart from that strong sense of the presence of the crowd…

and its support and encouragement spurring her on…

she also spoke about the inspiration that she found in her late grandmother…

who…

Jemima discovered after her death when reading her journal and her letters…

was a Holocaust survivor, who had spent time at Auschwitz.

When she competes, now, she wears a bracelet–– 

as a lucky charm–– 

made from one of her grandmother’s necklaces.

And, from her grandmother’s writings…

in which she spoke about just trying to make it through the next hour…

or the next day…

Jemima said she has learned to concentrate on the moment…

to focus on one step at a time…

one kilometre at a time…

and not to think about the finish line.

Of course, not all athletes would share the same approach as Jemima.

Sprinters, for example––

especially those running the hundred metres…

and whose entire race is over in about ten seconds or less––

probably visualise the whole of their race…

and especially their desperate lunge for the finish line.

But all of them, in some way, have something that they look to…

something that inspires them through the hours, weeks, and months of training…

something or someone that spurs them on to do their best…

to reach the finish line…

to try to win the race.

 

Our reading, this morning… 

from the book of Hebrews…

continues on from the one that we heard read last week…

with the author recounting tales of great exemplars from Israel’s past…

who had endured much… 

and persevered… 

because of their faith and trust in God.

And yet… 

the author claims…

they did not receive what God had promised…

and they would only find the fulfilment or completion of that promise together with his readers.

And, then, he launches into an extended athletic metaphor:

“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith”. 

It’s a highly evocative image––

an athletic stadium filled with spectators.

It’s unfortunate that he describes them as “witnesses”…

because…

at first glance… 

it gives the impression that we’re somehow on trial…

and all of these ‘witnesses’ are there to judge…

to find fault…

to criticise…

more like one-eyed barrackers at a football match than spectators at an athletics meet.

And, to be honest, so often that’s how the whole ‘communion of saints’ image––

on which this is based––

seems to come across.

But the sense, here, is of a cheering, supportive crowd…

who are urging us on…

longing for us to cross the finish line.

And this cheering, supportive crowd actually comprises those who have gone before us…

those whom the author has just been talking about…

those greats from the past…

who have run their own race…

faithfully…

with perseverance and with trust in God…

but who, in a sense, never won;

who never got to stand on the victory podium––

metaphorically speaking.

And… 

in keeping with this whole image…

the author urges us to dispense with everything that might slow us down…

and, specifically, “the sin that clings so closely”. 
Now, he doesn’t specify what he means by this.

But, given the context, it’s probably referring to a lack of faith or trust…

or anything that would undermine our faith or trust.

And the image that he uses suggests divesting of it like clothes that would get in the way––

and remember…

in antiquity…

runners ran naked.

And… 

as a further incentive and motivation…

he also urges us to ‘look ahead’ to Jesus.

And it’s interesting that, here, he simply refers to him as Jesus.

There are no other honorific names or titles.

Our focus is to be on Jesus, the man…

the one who…

himself…

ran this same race that we now run…

endured the same pain and hardships…

persevered…

and remained faithful and trusting to the finish.

And won the race.

 

Of course, there are problems with all of this.

There always are with metaphors.

The analogy is never exact.

And there are often aspects that are unhelpful…

or consequences that are not intended.

In this case…

apart from the image of the crowd as ‘witnesses’––

as I have already mentioned––

there’s the whole thing about it being a competitive event.

That’s not a helpful image for how we live a life of faith.

It’s not a ‘competition’!

It’s not even a struggle to achieve our own personal best.

The point of the metaphor…

here…

is on the running…

on the persevering…

on the striving to be faithful…

and on the looking, always, to emulate the example of Jesus.

And, of course, there’s a huge problem when we focus on this image of a competitive race…

with a prize at the end…

that we’re aiming to ‘win’.

Haven’t we seen the danger of that sort of image…

down the centuries…

in a number of ways?

Haven’t we seen that in the idea that we have to earn God’s love and approval?

Haven’t we seen that in the notion that faith provides some sort of reward…

usually envisaged as ‘heaven’…

or ‘eternal life’?

If we do what we do…

if we live our lives…

because of some expectation of some future reward…

then we have missed the point.

We have missed the point of who Jesus was;

and why he came;

and why we should bother to emulate his example at all.

We do not put our faith in God…

we do not emulate the persistence and endurance of Jesus––

or our forebears in the faith––

if the focus is on ourselves.

We do not live a life of faith for our own sakes.

We live it for the sake of others.

 

So, in many ways…

perhaps the most powerful piece of our reading this morning––

for me––

is not the inspiring athletic image…

but the mention that our forebears in the faith only attain God’s promises with us.

It is only through each one of us…

striving…

enduring…

persevering…

faithfully emulating Jesus…

that any of us––

including those who went before us;

and those who will come after us––

will truly experience the sort of world…

and the sort of life…

that God intends for us all.