Running with Endurance
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Tiredness has become an epidemic in the western world. I’m not talking about that bone weary tiredness that comes from good day’s physical work, where every muscle reminds you that you’ve achieved something for the day. I’m talking about the weariness that comes from the never-ending to do list of modern society. The expectations of others and of ourselves. Being constantly on guard in our hypersensitive culture. And the continual bombardment of information that is impossible to decipher and assess. Even in the much-divided world of Lutheranism in Australia, the one thing we can really agree on is the weariness many of us feel as we reflect on the last 30 years of theological debate and the ongoing tensions that exist as we seek to live according to God’s Word.
So when we are told to lay aside the sin that clings so closely and to run the race set before us with endurance, I wonder if you hear this as yet another wearying demand? Yet another impossibly tiring expectation to add to the already extensive list that bears down on you?
The writer to the Hebrews begins this text by referring back to the previous chapter in which he presents a catalogue of Old Testament saints who endured so much more than we can imagine. And while they were far from sinless, they are commended for the way they endured all manner of hardship, tragedy, heartache and shame because of their constant faith in God’s promises which they knew would be made perfect in the promised Messiah. Yes, they too were weary and burdened and beat down in all sorts of ways, but they were able to endure because they held fast to God’s promises.
As those who are grafted into the communion of saints through holy baptism, we live each day in the company of this great cloud of witnesses and so the author of the letter to the Hebrews calls us to be encouraged by them – not that they are the perfect examples, except insofar as they kept their eyes fixed on the promised Messiah who was to come.
In the same way we are called to lay aside the sin that continues to cling to us, even though we have been baptised and regularly receive the absolution. We too are called to run with endurance the race that is set before us, striving on toward the goal of eternal life. But we don’t look to ourselves for strength, but to Jesus. To the One who endured the cross so that even in our weariness, we can be sure of the eternal rest that awaits us in Him.
Martin Luther considered this text a reminder that the Holy Spirit is still at work in our baptism as we struggle to drive out sin and live as His holy people. He says that the “Apostle writes to the Hebrews [12:1], who were baptized and whose sins were forgiven, that they should lay aside the sin which clings to them. For so long as I believe that God will not count my sins against me, my baptism is in force and my sins are forgiven, even though they may still in a great measure be present”. He went on to say that following baptism God works to drive out sin “through sufferings, death, and the like.”1
So yes, you are being called to lay aside your sin and run with endurance, which is to say nothing more than you are called to live by faith. Faith in what God has achieved for you in Christ, and faith in what He continues to work in you according to His promises. But far from adding to your weariness, this is an invitation to rest in God’s promises, to trust in what the Lord Jesus has accomplished for you in His faithful endurance, and to know that He works in all things – even death itself – to drive out your sins and bring you at last to His eternal presence.
By Pastor Matt Anker
President, LM-A
1 Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 35: Word and Sacrament I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 35 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 38.