Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
August 18, 2019: 20th Sunday in the Ordinary Time
Jeremiah 38: 4-6, 8-10; Hebrew 12: 1-4: Luke 12: 49-53
“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us”(Heb 12:1), invites the Liturgy today! Race – is a common analogy that is used to refer to something that requires a relentless effort and an enormous endurance. Today, the Liturgy of the Word invites us to look at our Christian living in the light of this analogy.
Christian life is a Race; Living the Christian faith is like running a race…which has its starting point and the finish line in the person of Jesus Christ – “the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith”(Heb 12:2). Given the situation of the Greek Culture that was just spreading its philosophical wings over that part of the globe where Christianity was emerging out of Judaism, it was easy for the people to understand the analogy of Race applied to the life of faith. The analogy seems quite prevalent that we see apart from the letter to the Hebrews that we read today; also St. Paul uses it with facility, in his letters to the Philippians (Phil 3:14) and to Timothy(2 Tim 4:7,8). Extending the analogy a little more, we shall try to understand our Christian life today.
Christian Life is a Race, a race of Hurdles! Obstructions all along the way, does not in anyway hinder the progress of the athlete, the athlete has to jump over those and run towards the goal that is set before one’s eyes. If at every hurdle the person contemplates a back off or grumbles over its presence, the race is lost and ruined. Jesus today warns us of such hurdles and Jeremiah is presented to us in the midst of such overpowering obstructions. But Christian life has to go on! Jeremiah, when he was finally lifted up from the dungeon, he went back to proclaim the Word of the Lord! Up and across each hurdle, our life of faith, moves on!
Christian Life is a Race, a Relay Race! We are not running alone, we are in a team. Some one has run the race before us and they have passed the baton on to us. It is our responsibility today to run and we will not be running it forever. We will have to finish our course and pass the baton to the next! Faith has to be lived, and passed on. In the encyclical, Lumen Fidei, chapter three Pope Francis states that those who believe are never alone, faith is always shared and it tends to be spread; it has to be handed on! The second reading presents this beautifully recalling to our attention that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses(Heb 12:1).
Christian Life is a Race, a Marathon! It is not just a sprint, that I strive for a short time and I clinch a victory; it is a marathon, it is long and it is taxing. Speed is not enough, it demands also stamina! Endurance and Perseverance are inevitable subjects of attention when it comes to our Christian life. In Jesus’ footsteps, St. Paul too instructs us, in his letter to the Thessalonians – never to be tired of doing what is right(2 Thes 3:13) and in the letter to Timothy – to endure every suffering and carry on our life (2 Tim 4:5). At times it can be boring, tedious or exasperating, but our character rests in staying on the track!
Be it what it may, the analogy of the Race requires of us three important mindsets!
The first is a sense of URGENCY. The Gospel presents this with the image of FIRE. Just as an athlete needs the fire within to run, a Christian needs the fire within to glow in his or her life. The fire that Jesus came to set, and badly wants ablaze. Jeremiah had it ablaze within his heart (Jer 20:9), the apostles, the martyrs, the first Christian community – all of them had it so ablaze within them, that it consumed them and spread wild to the world. Do we have it in us?
The second is the strength of PERSEVERANCE. The Second reading presents it with the image of the BLOOD. In every race, there are those who are ready to beat us, to over power us – in our Christian life too there are elements that are on the prowl to beat us, to over power us – the element of sin, the element of godlessness, the element of materiality! A Christian needs to fight these elements constantly, struggle against them relentlessly, right up even to the point of bloodshed.
The third is the sense of FOCUS. The first reading presents it with the image of the MIRE. With those around want us to fail, with the tiredness that catches on, with the target that lies quite away in a distance… there are chances for the athlete to lose heart. The training is to focus on the finish line! The darkness of the dungeon or the Mire that was all around, did not in anyway take away the focus of Jeremiah! He had his eyes focused from where came his help! The second reading has those phrases – “looking to Jesus”(12:2) and “Consider Him(Jesus)”(12:3), underlining the need for us to Focus on Him, who is our beginning and our end, our alpha and the omega, our pioneer and perfecter.
With a sense of Urgency in our will to live our faith to the full, with the strength to persevere all trials and with our focus always on Christ – let us run this race set before us. We are not alone, we have the example and the help of those who have gone before us – the saints and martyrs. We have our brothers and sisters around us, united in the One Lord, to support us and sustain us. With the example and the help of the Crucified Lord who sits at the right of the throne of God, as the Risen Lord, let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.