Heb 12:1-13 - Life is the Christian's Race.
Poor Pheidippides ran 26.2 miles from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to report the victory in about 490BC; he reportedly fell dead after delivering the message. The Boston City Marathon is a distant echo of that bit of history and one of the best known foot races in the country. In 2013, terrorists set off two bombs along route, about three hours before the winner had finished. The race was stopped with 5,633 still running.
In a race, the prize is only promised to the racer after the finish line. For many who attempt a marathon, just completing the race is enough of a prize. Not that it mattered much given the gravity of the terrorism that day, but those people never had the opportunity to finish the race.
The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews just set the stage for his argument in chapter 11, Scripture's great chapter about faith. He has listed off the many who have gone before, the patriarchs, prophets, and martyrs. He likens them to those who reached the finish line. Chapter 12 is about life. The writers wants us to see life as the Christian's race with the prize is at the end.
His point is to encourage us during the race. He first says, "Look and see the great cloud of witnesses." The point the Lord is making is that there are many who have gone before and completed the race. By God's grace they triumphed. They ended their race in faith and now are in the eternal heavens. Picture them all, faithful men and women and children. The Book of Revelation describes them as a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'” And here, the Lord calls them a cloud of witnesses.
Does that mean that the dead are looking down on us and keeping watch over us? That's a popular idea these days, but the truth is much more comforting. The multitudes of heaven are not looking down on us. They would be filled with sadness, if they were. If they were their eyes would be filled with tears as they saw us again and again breaking the Commandments of our God. Yes, eventually they would see the Lord save us from all that and wash us clean in the blood of the Lamb. But the real question here is what is the white robed multitude of heaven witnessing?
The context tells us that they are not so much witnessing us as witnessing to us of the Lord's goodness and tender mercies, His loving heart and saving grace toward us. As we hear God's Word, they were privileged to be swept up in great history of salvation: Real people, with all their foibles and sins; real people like us, who sinned much and deserved nothing but wrath and punishment; real people forgiven for the sake of Christ, for the sake of His blood and righteousness.
Without doubt their stories encourage us, not because of who they were, but because of what God did for them. They received from Him faith that tied them to all God had done for them. They believed that He came down from heaven and was incarnate of the virgin Mary, that He never sinned against God, that He was lifted up on the cross, and that because of His sacrifice, God counts us as righteous and clean. They believed that they possessed this treasure, because God said so. They believe that the ascended Lord rules over every detail so that they were heavenward bound.
Maybe you wonder, "How?" Faith in the Lord seems so fragile. We feel like we turn aside from it every day when we forget Him and disobey Him. The stories of witnesses remind us that faith is not an ability that we learn and practice, so that we get good at it. No, it's a gift from God, and He has promised to renew and improve it. He has promised to do this through the good news of Christ preached, through the washing with water and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
So, fellow redeemed, the point of looking at this great cloud of witnesses is not to point us to our own abilities, but to "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." God has promised us what we need, and He never fails to meet His promises. Sometimes we don't see it, but trust the witnesses of His grace and mercy. Throughout your life, live in the certainty and comfort of those promises. Listen to His Word; receive with great joy the sacramental gifts He has prepared for you.
You need them, more than a runner needs water along the way. You need them because the race is difficult. Whether you think you need it or not, the Lord says that you need these things, so that you may lay aside the weights and sins.
So many of our troubles come by our own doing. We burden ourselves with frets and worries, with doubts and sadness, and our sins are vexing. Our consciences burn when we think of some of the things we have done. Our bodies age and become riddled with problems that cannot be fixed here on earth. We often feel that we are racing through life with a millstone around our neck, weights on our ankles, slogging and struggling under the weight of it, that we will stumble and fall, that we won't make it.
Imagine what it was like for Jesus: the strain of pushing on to the cross, bearing the burdens of the whole world. Now there is the racer that the witnesses point to, the champion, striving to win the prize not for Himself but for us.
Fellow redeemed, God does not want us to bear the burden even of our own sins. We are too weak, and He loves us too much. Yet sometimes, like a bad patient, we insist despite the doctor's orders. It seems foolish to our hearts that God has won everything for you and for me. There's nothing left to do but raise the song of His victory and to celebrate the victory that He has given us in His life, death and resurrection.
So lay aside the weights and sins, but even so, it will not be easy. You need strengthening. You need eternal life, eternal strength, and as you are by nature, it's not in you. Certainly the Lord could have called the race long ago, but He keeps you in the race for a while, to challenge you and to allow you to build endurance under the suffering of this life. This is the discipline and training of the Christian life, much as a runner must suffer to build endurance. "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."
So the writer encourages us, "It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. … he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Too often we Christians want to turn away from suffering. We do not want to take up our crosses and follow after Jesus. We do not want the long race because we must then endure. But God has given us this time for a reason, to make disciples by baptizing and teaching, to share the good news with all creation. We long for the leisure of a lazy life, couch potato Christians, wanting the race to be over prematurely. We can be disciples with no discipline. That's not good for us, nor can we carry out the commission to make disciples if we ourselves are not disciplined.
So God encourages us, strengthens us, disciplines us as His children through our earthly lives as we race to the finish line for the promised prize. How will you view all this? Will you join the cloud of witnesses, proclaiming the victory of God's Son over sin and death and the power of the devil? Certainly that is your desire Christian, because that was the desire of the Savior for you, and He made you what you are today: a believer, a witness, a runner of life's race, and forgiven, a beloved son and victorious in Him.
Fellow redeemed. You are Pheidippides, running to tell of the victory. His run was immortalized in the name of that long race, but you are receiving a blessed, blissful, heavenly immortality at the end of your race thanks to our Savior, Christ the Victorious One. Blessed is your life forever because of Him. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.