Run the Race

Picture a stadium packed to the top. The crowd rises to its feet. Down on the track, a runner is tired, legs burning, lungs aching. And then she hears it. The crowd is cheering for her.

The letter to the Hebrews was written to believers who were weary. They had suffered for following Jesus, and some were tempted to slow down, or stop altogether. The writer has just walked them through a long hall of heroes: Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, David and many more, all of whom lived by faith. Now, in chapter twelve, the picture changes. Those heroes are not just portraits on a wall. They are like a crowd in the stands. And the readers are on the track.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, the writer says, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Think of a runner. Nobody runs a race in a heavy coat, carrying a bag of stones. You throw off whatever slows you down. And sin, the writer says, is like something that tangles round your feet. Throw it off. Then run. Not a quick sprint, but a long race that needs patience, steady and determined, all the way to the end.

And where should a runner look? Not at their feet. Not at the other runners. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Jesus is the one who started our faith, and the one who will bring it to the finish line. He ran his own race all the way to the end. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. So when you feel tired, the writer says, think about him. Think about all the hostility he put up with, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Then the writer gives the readers another way to understand their hard times. Have you forgotten, the writer asks, the words that speak to you as children? My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. The writer means discipline, the kind of training a loving parent gives. Our parents trained us for a few years, as best they could. But God trains us for our good, so that we can share in his holiness. No training feels pleasant at the time. It hurts. But afterwards it produces a harvest of peace and right living, for those who have been trained by it. So, the writer says, like a coach shouting from the side of the track: lift up your tired hands. Strengthen your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame is not put out of joint, but healed.

Footraces were the oldest and most famous event in the Greek games. The basic race, the stadion, was one length of the track, and at Olympia that was about one hundred and ninety-two metres. Huge crowds gathered to watch. Games were held in many cities of the Roman world, so the readers of Hebrews would have known exactly what it looked like for a runner to strain toward the finish while the crowd looked on.

Run the race. You'll find these words in Hebrews chapter twelve, verses one to thirteen. We are not running alone, and we are not running without a goal. We run with our eyes on Jesus, who has already finished his race. So here is a question to carry with you. What is weighing you down, that you could ask God to help you put aside, so you can keep running?