Press On
Press On by Rev. L. John Gable
August 26, 2018
In 1983 the Westfield chain of shopping malls in Australia decided to stage an ultramarathon between the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, a staggering 543.7 miles. The race would begin and end, to no one’s surprise, at the Westfield mall in each of those cities. World-class ultramarathon runners flew in from around the globe to participate in the event. They planned on completing the course in five or six days by running 18 hours each day, then sleeping for six. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?
On the day of the race, there was an unexpected registrant. He was a 61 year old potato farmer named Cliff Young. Unlike the other runners, sporting breathable shorts and shirts and high-tech shoes, Cliff wore overalls and gum boots. Was he really serious about running? Absolutely he was. When asked he said he wasn’t intimidated by the distance. “I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or tractors. Whenever storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d always catch them.” He concluded, “I think I can run this race.”
At the starter’s signal the pros disappeared over the horizon. Cliff didn’t exactly run after them. He shuffled.
At the end of the first 18 hours the “serious” runners settled down to rest, but Cliff kept on going. Sometime before dawn on the second day he passed all of his competitors and never looked back. He completed the Westfield run in five days, 15 hours and 4 minutes, having shuffled a full 10 hours ahead of the second place finisher.
I am not a runner. I wish I was. I’ve tried. I try still. When Doressa and Sarah recently promoted the upcoming Run for Water event benefiting World Vision I thought “I’ll do that”, but I quickly realized I will have to find another way to support that cause. I am not a runner, but I am running a race, as is each of you. You may not know whether your particular race is long or short, a sprint or a marathon; all you know for sure is that you are on it.
Only you know the path or the difficulty of the race you are on, because it is your race to run and each of our races is different, uniquely our own. Maybe your race is life itself, you are just struggling to keep going, one day at a time. Maybe it is a besetting sin or an addiction you are battling, or a habit you are trying to break that faces you every day. Maybe it is a troubled relationship with a spouse, a child, a parent, a neighbor, a friend, a co-worker, or an anxiety or fear or depression which persists.
Perhaps your race is a health issue, a dis-ease which plagues you, or an issue of employment: finding a job or keeping a job, or finding meaning at work or in retirement. Perhaps you are walking through the valley of deep darkness, of grief or loneliness, or you are experiencing what St. John of the Cross described as “the dark night of the soul.”
Perhaps your race is a matter of faith. You are finding it hard to believe or to believe at the depth or intensity or with the sense of joy you once did.
Regardless of the course you are on, each of us is running a race, a race that is uniquely our own, whether it is known to others or not. And whether this stretch of your race is easy or difficult, whether you are running on the wings of Nike or in the gum boots of Cliff, the consistent and enduring message of Scripture, God’s Word to us, is simply this: PRESS ON!
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he uses the analogy of a runner in a race, an athlete in competition, to describe the life of faith and it makes perfect sense for him to do so for two reasons. First, Paul is writing in the first century to the gathering of believers in Corinth, Greece, a mere 118 miles, no more than three hours (by bus) from Olympia. It is also just across the Corinthian Gulf from Delphi, another site of the ancient games, and Corinth itself hosted the Isthmian games every two years at which athletes from around the empire came to compete. The second reason the athletic imagery makes sense is, whether a competitor or not, it is so self-explanatory. Everyone understands the discipline and training and dedication needed to compete, so the analogy works perfectly for the life of faith.
Each of us is a participant in this race called life or faith. We aren’t necessarily competing against one another, at least not nearly as much as we tend to think we are or act like we are; rather we are competing against ourselves, against the human condition itself, and we are called to run this race to completion, despite its difficulties and obstacles, in order to win the prize. We know about the laurel wreath and olive branch of the Olympic games, but are you aware that the winner of the Isthmian games received a wreath made out of wilted celery? This underscores the point Paul is trying to make? We are running to win, not a garland of shriveled vegetables, but a crown of glory, eternal life and salvation! So, press on!
The writer of Hebrews picks up this same theme and gives us good encouragement. After citing a litany of the great saints of faith who have run this race before us in chapter 11 (a worthwhile read for you later today) he writes, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”, picture the runners entering the stadium for their final lap at the end of the marathon, the stands filled with crowds on their feet cheering them on. So we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, those saints of old whose stories are recorded in Scripture and throughout Church history, those saints who have touched and blessed and encouraged us in our walk of faith, as well as those seated and standing around us still today who do the same. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses encouraging us to “press on.”
“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.” Friends, we carry far too much baggage, figuratively and literally, in the race we are running. This is good encouragement to us to give away, let go of, repent of, accept the grace and forgiveness for stuff /regrets/remorse/shame/resentment/you name it, that you’ve been carrying for far too long which only wears you out and drags you down. How many of us feel defeated not by the difficulty of the road set before us, but by the grain of sand wearing blisters on our feet?
By “unburdening ourselves from every weight and sin that clings so closely,” we can “run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” This race we are on isn’t won by the swift but by the persistent, not by the eager enthusiasts but by the endurers, not by those who can sprint but by those who can persevere. You can’t win the race unless you finish the race, so “press on”!
Admittedly that is easier said than done, isn’t it, so that is why we are directed to focus our attention on Jesus who is both the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” Pioneer, some translations say “author”, or “founder”. Jesus is the One we are following in this course of both life and faith and He is a sure leader. He has endured this trail, even as we have and are. He knows the way because He is the Way. He is also the “perfecter” of our faith. He has run the race to the end and “has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God”, which means He has secured the both the way of salvation and the “joy” of bringing others with Him, so it is Him and Him alone we are called to follow.
So we “press on” in our race looking to Jesus, considering all that He did and endured for us and our salvation, confident that not only has He shown and provided the way for us, but that He also makes this journey with us, empowering and encouraging us by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Be assured of this, we do not run this race alone.
Listen to the way Eugene Peterson translates this passage in The Message: “Do you see what this means – all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running- and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how He did it. Because He never lost sight of where He was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – He could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now He’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourself flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline in to your souls.”
During the 1968 Mexico City Olympics a marathon runner from Tanzania, John Stephen Akhwari, finished last, remarkably so because he was one of the best long distance runners of his time. He had never trained at high altitudes, such as those in Mexico City, so several miles in to the marathon, he began to cramp. Then approaching the halfway point, he became entangled with another runner and fell hard to the pavement, dislocating his right knee and jamming his shoulder, but Akhwari got up and continued to run, falling farther and farther behind the pack.
Mamo Walde of Ethiopia won the race that year in 2:20:26. The crowds cheered. The medals were awarded. ABC’s camera crews signed off.
But then, more than an hour later, after the sun had set and the stands had cleared, Akhwari staggered through the tunnel in to the stadium. ABC quickly powered up their cameras and the small crowd stood and cheered as he summoned the strength to complete the closing lap around the track to cross the finish line.
A few minutes later an interviewer asked the Tanzanian why he had kept going and the runner answered, simply and memorably, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.”
Friends, in whatever race you are running, whether in life or in faith, whether a marathon or a sprint, whether struggling or at ease, remember this: we do not run alone and at the end of our race there is One who holds an eternal crown of glory waiting at the finish line, so “press on!”