Running the Race

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, August 14th, 2022
​Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Hebrews
12:1-4

Brothers and sisters: 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, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the Cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider Jesus who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

I don’t have a lot of perseverance. That’s true physically – as an asthmatic, I’m in terrible shape, and I don’t run unless something is chasing me. But I have to confess that it’s also true spiritually. I struggle to complete a full Lenten penance. I once tried to commit to a 90-day daily prayer routine and spent more than half of the 90 days catching up because I’d missed the day before (or two, or three). I love the excitement of starting a new workout routine or spiritual discipline, but I often fail at the follow-through.


That might be bad news for my dreams of bench pressing my own body weight, but it doesn’t have to be bad news for my faith. In spite of my struggles to persevere, I’ve seen God bless me with incredible grace every time I make an effort to spend more time with Him. It’s humbling to look at the fruit borne from my half-hearted efforts and realize how much God seems to delight in showering me with generosity. Instead of leaving me ashamed of how little I’ve done, it leaves me wondering just how much more holy I could be if I really stuck with it, and it urges me to try yet again.


Where do we learn this perseverance of faith? Paul has a clear answer: we learn it by modeling Jesus. One form of prayer I love is reading scripture, and while this is always a good idea, I can sometimes fall into an analytical or academic mindset. The goal of reading the gospels during my prayer time is not to study their similarities and differences, or spot patterns and structures – it’s to consider the person of Jesus and pray that He helps me follow Him. We don’t have to figure it out all on our own – we simply need to copy Him!


But Paul forgets another model, perhaps because of his own humility. We can also look to the saints. I have a particular affection for Saint Paul because we have so much in common – we are both former persecutors of Christians with dramatic conversion stories, we both deal with chronic pain, we both love to write but aren’t big fans of public speaking. It’s strange and wonderful to see so much of myself in a first-century Jewish tentmaker! I can read about him and ask him to pray for me, knowing his flaws and sins were perfected in Christ.


I may never run a marathon. But I do see the benefits of investing in following Christ, even though I have a bad habit of sometimes skipping my “workouts.” This race is worth running, even at my strange and uneven pace, because the prize isn’t just at the end. The gift of God’s grace is ready for anyone who starts fresh in their prayer life today.



Jenna Young

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