As written in my last blog I recently had the privilege of following some of the Apostle Paul’s footsteps in Greece and Turkey. What were especially meaningful to me were the occasions our Greek Christian tour guide related the uncommon things we were seeing to what Paul and the ancient Greeks would have known as common. For instance, whether we were in museums or walking through ancient Greek or Turkish cities, we encountered statues of naked people. Why? The culture of the day believed the human form was the measure of all things, both beauty and the divine. The perfect body was the athletic body and athletes competed naked.
In the first few verses of Hebrews chapter 12, the author (possibly Paul) makes a parallel between athletics and our Christian life.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us…”
The readers of the day would have quickly understood the comparison. We, however, wouldn’t. When we have the backdrop of what is being described it surely gives us an appreciation for what we also are being challenged to do.
To the Greeks, a cloud was a literary term used for a group of people. In this case, it was those people witnessing the athletes competing in a race. Laying aside every weight, in its literal sense, was referring to the body fat of the athlete or the weights that they trained with on their arms and legs; all of which they were to get rid of when competing. What would potentially ensnare, entangle or cause them to trip were their robes, which they took off, running naked and free from all these encumbrances.
Endurance would be required for the race they were running. The Greek word for “race” is an athletic term meaning “agony” in English. Somehow the words “endurance” and “agony” would more duly fit the marathon race and not the 100-metre!
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| Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. Hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium. Built entirely by marble. |
So this is the picture the author of Hebrews was painting for the readers then, and now for us. The cloud of witnesses are those referred to in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. These men and women remained faithful, albeit making imperfect progress, in the race set before them. We are to follow their example and remove unnecessary excesses or weights in our lives, taking off those sins that will end up entangling, encumbering, and ensnaring us, as we endeavour to run the race that has been prepared for each one of us. It means getting rid of everything the world tells us to hang onto – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). It also means not giving up. After 43 years of running this race, I can assure you it requires endurance. I remember the Lord saying to me quite a few years ago that He wasn’t training me to be a sprinter, but rather, a marathon runner.
The writer of Hebrews goes on to point the runners of this race to their ultimate goal…
“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God.”
He’s the One who started the race, ran it and finished it. All the while in an attitude of vulnerability, humility, openness – nothing to hide – naked! Perhaps as we end 2014 and head into 2015, we need to stop long enough and ask Holy Spirit to show us what weights, encumbrances – sins - we are still carrying that are keeping us from running our race of faith with fleetness and strength. Then laying them aside… Let’s go into this New Year naked!
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