Let’s run well!

Homily for August 14, 2016 (20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C)
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Psalm 40; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53

We all love winners and we remember them.  The swimmer Michael Phelps has now won more Olympic medals than anyone in the modern era.  His name is destined enshrined in the athletic pantheon.  But for every athlete who wins an Olympic medal there are many, many others who will never stand on a podium, see their country’s flag raised or hear their national anthem.  Yet their individual stories of courage and determination are inspirations to millions.

One such athlete is Gabriele Anderson-Scheiss, who ran in the inaugural Olympic Women’s Marathon in Los Angeles in 1984.  She finished 37th in a field of 50, but she received one of the greatest ovations of the entire games.  Overcome by the heat, dehydrated and staggering into the tunnel leading into the L.A. Colosseum, it took her an agonizing six minutes to make it around the 400 meter track.  While doctors monitored her she weaved from lane to lane as her limbs gave out on her. She wouldn’t allow them to touch her—to do so would have meant disqualification.  Finally, she crossed the finish line and collapsed.  With prompt medical attention, she quickly recovered and was able to do television interviews before the day ended.

As human beings we all want and need to thrive, but sometimes survival is enough.  Our scripture readings today offer us several examples of people who “hung in there.”  They were faithful to God’s call and their courage and fidelity serve as timeless sources of inspiration for us when our journey of discipleship is difficult.

Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet.  He tried to get out of what God had called him to do by saying he was too young at a time when it was presumed that advanced age conferred wisdom and credibility. God gave him a message to preach that few wanted to hear:  Judah and Jerusalem were headed for destruction and the people for exile because of their idolatries and injustices.  As painful as it was, Jeremiah proclaimed the word that God had given him, and he suffered even more.  For speaking God’s truth to power, he found himself thrown into a muddy cistern and left for dead.  But God came to his aid through an Ethiopian court official and brought him out.

Some six centuries later Jesus found himself in a similar situation, called to proclaim a gospel that like a blazing fire was set to destroy sin and death, to purify human hearts, and to test our mettle.  What he preached was a source of division: it excited some and threatened others; it was a word of life that also called for death to the personal, social and religious status quo.

The early Christian community faced persecution because their existence as well as their voice and work were an irritant to the empire as well as those who considered them religiously unorthodox.  The author of the Letter to the Hebrews urged them to imagine the patriarchs, prophets and other heroic men and women who had gone before them as a “cloud of witnesses.” These ancestors in the faith filled a heavenly stadium and were cheering them on, inspiring them to fulfill the purposes for which God had created them; to keep their eyes fixed on God’s Son and follow in his footsteps; and to trust in the sustaining and guiding power of the Holy Spirit.

It is often said that life is not a sprint but rather a marathon.  There are times when the best we can do is to put one foot in front of the other.  Life in the Lord is no exception. Let’s run well! +