Finish
the Race
Nearly an hour after the medalists had taken
their victory lap on Sunday, October 1, in the year 2000, three lonely
marathoners made their way into the Olympic Stadium – but drawing even more
cheers than the winners.
First came Jose Alejandro Semprun of Venezuela,
carefully plodding his way into the stadium more than 20 minutes after the
previous marathoner. He circled the
track, finishing 79th and coming within two seconds of finishing in three
hours.
Semprun, who was 27 years old at the time, approached
the finish line as the time clock ticked away those crucial seconds toward that
all important 3 hour mark, the crowd tried to will him to go just a tiny bit
faster, but he just couldn't do it. The
clock read 3:00.02 at the end of his race.
Then came Rithya To of Cambodia, who smiled and
raised his arms to the adoring crowd as he slowly covered the final 20 yards. Then the 32-year-old To, the flagbearer for
Cambodia began grimacing. He collapsed
to the track a few steps after finishing in 3:03.56. Rithya To stayed on the ground for several
minutes, and then was removed on a stretcher.
Finally, more than five minutes later, the last
runner entered the stadium. Elias
Rodriguez of Micronesia was in 81st place, but he accomplished what 19 other
men in the marathon could not -- he finished.
Rodriguez
crossed the line in 3:09.14, more than 59 minutes behind the winner. After he crossed the finish line the workers
quickly gathered the orange cones on the track and set the stage for the
closing ceremony to begin.
These three men were in intense pain, they had
no chance of winning a medal or even a place in the record book having finished
the race after the 3 hour mark, yet they finished the race anyway. Why? Why
didn't they just quit?
I think the answer to that lies in a response
by a runner from a previous event: It was 7 p.m. on October 20th, 32 years
before the event in Sydney, in 1968. Only
a few spectators remained in the Mexico City Olympic Stadium. The winner of the 26-mile marathon had crossed
the finish line more than an hour ago, and now, the last of the marathon
runners were across the finish line and leaving the track.
And
as the last few spectators began to leave, those sitting by the entrance
suddenly heard the sound of sirens. One
last runner appeared at the entrance. The
man, whose leg was bloody and bandaged, was wearing the colors of Tanzania.
The Tanzanian runner, experiencing intense
pain, hobbled around the 400-meter track in the stadium, and the few remaining
spectators rose and applauded him as though he was the winner.
After crossing the finish-line he slowly walked
off the field without turning to the cheering spectators. In view of his injury, and having no chance of
winning any medal, a curious spectator asked him why he did not quit the race.
The Tanzanian runner replied, "My country
did not send me 7000 miles to simply start a race, but sent me 7000 miles to
finish it."
In his letter to Timothy, Paul says, "I
have finished the race." Note what
Paul does NOT say. Paul does not say,
"I have won the race." That is
not what he says. He says, "I have
finished the race." Paul does not
think of this life as a sprint, as a 100-meter dash, where speed and victory
are the only things that count; rather, he thinks of this life in Christ as a
marathon. In a marathon it is endurance
and perseverance that counts. One of my
favorite verses in Romans 5:3, “Not only that, but we boast in our sufferings,
knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us…”
In
a different letter to the Corinthian Church, Paul wrote about this marathon he
was living. It was not a short sprint,
done in just a short time period, but rather it was about a long-suffering
marathon. He wrote in 2 Corinthians
11:24-27 that, “five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods, once
I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the
open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger
from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in
danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger
from false brothers. I have labored and
toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and
have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
In spite of all of this, he endured and kept
true to his faith; he kept preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, regardless of
anything that might distract him or lead him off of the pathway. At the end of his second letter to Timothy
Paul mentions specific people and again more events that tried and tested his
commitment to God, but he did not give up.
What you see and what you focus on will certainly
determine how you feel about what you get. It is the "cup is half empty" versus
the "cup is half full" principle. Focusing on the bad things in life and on all
the disappointments that come with it can cause you to lose sight of the finish
line, the race itself, and of God's faithfulness to you in it. But focusing on the blessings of this life, of
the good and wonderful things that are abundant to us each and every day, we
are reminded of God's faithfulness in the past and have increasing hope for the
future.
As Paul writes to Timothy, he took a moment to
reflect and look back. And in doing so,
he realized that God had met all of his needs, exactly when he needed them.
Paul recalls a particular incident in his
letter to Timothy. Paul found himself
standing alone before Nero's hostile court. No other believers had appeared to support
him. While some may have been involved
in ministry far from Rome, others had simply feared the persecution that made
any identification with Christ risky. At
any rate, Paul had experienced abandonment from his fellow Christians and
workers in ministry. But rather than
dwell on their faithlessness, Paul realized that if Jesus could say,
"Father, forgive them," while dying on the cross, Paul could say,
"May their desertion not be held against them."
Looking back at that time of loneliness, Paul
realized he had not been forsaken. God
had been faithful. The Lord had stood
beside him as he faced Nero. In that
moment God gave him strength, sustaining him in every way. Paul had not only stood, but he had also
spoken. And to Nero and the entire
court, Paul proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of what sentence
that might bring upon him. And being
faithful to God, Paul was miraculously granted a pardon from a death sentence;
which was, at the time, the penalty for publicly proclaiming and believing in
Christ.
Having been faithful in the past, Paul could
then look to the faithfulness of God in the future, as well. Paul knew that what he had endured during this
earthly race would be acknowledged and rewarded.
Having fought the good fight, finished the
race, and kept the faith, Paul could look forward to God’s faithfulness and
receive his reward.
Each of us are on different paths in this
race. Each of us have encountered and
endured a variety of incidents that have tried our faith, that have made us
look at the cup as half-full or half-empty.
But, what we learn from those trials and sufferings is that we can not
give up. We must be like those marathon
runners; we must be like Paul.
We were not sent here to start a race, but we
were sent here by God to complete one.
So my friends, continue on your run…focus on the blessings of God, the
miraculous that happen every day, fight the good fight, finish the race, and
keep the faith.
Thanks be to God.
AMEN.
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