Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)

Running Races – Pilgrimage Series – Part 1

Go to PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3  |  PART 4  |  PART 5  |  PART 6

I’m not a fan of ‘sermons' or devotions that use ‘running races' as a metaphor for our inner spiritual lives (even though I have used them in the past). It’s too clean cut, a shallowish explanation. For me (and other scholars (not calling myself a scholar AT ALL, just saying that people WAY smarter than me, think so too. FYI) it doesn’t cut deep enough into the complexity of life to liken our faith to a running race.

Perhaps it's my aversion to running that sent me on my quest to see if there was something else to this verse other than racing. Haha! I’ve never been much of a runner. I only get half a mile down the road before vomit starts to warm my belly…

I found some interesting things.

First, it's good to note that with ANY translation of the Bible, we’re working with limited resources. We are so far removed from the Ancient Hebrews, who wrote the biblical texts, in culture and language, that we can’t just replace a Greek word for an English one. Context and culture must be taken into account. Not only that, but there were many authors, spanning centuries and cultures, making it difficult to compare the books in the bible to each other to come to any kind-of straightforward interpretation. It’s a difficult and challenging task, but a beautiful one at that. This collection of stories and wisdom and psalms and poetry and letters can still move and breathe and live despite our limited (yet growing) understanding of it. It is subject to personal interpretation filtered by situation and circumstance. And it's also susceptible of the author's humanity. (Yep, I said it). The biblical writers were just as human as you and me, and their contexts, cultures, prejudices, and preferences filter into their writings.

There is great hope in this, but perhaps that is a subject for another series.

Take Hebrews chapters eleven and twelve. The verses that precede and proceed from 12:1 tells the stories of men and women of great faith, who endured harrowing times of trouble and challenge, while facing death or even experiencing it. It mentions Jesus death and torture. There’s a movement in the stories: people faced incredible odds to lay hold of a promise, a prize, a greater good, something beyond the suffering and sacrifice, to get somewhere beyond where they currently were.

The Greek word used for “run” in Hebrews 12:1 can be translated to mean other things. Walter Bauer said that it more closely means to “exert oneself to the limit of one's powers in an attempt to go forward, strive to advance.” It’s understood more clearly alongside something Paul said in his letter to the Philippians:

“I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.” Philippians 3:13-14.

For the Ancient Hebrews, a constant theme in their lives and writings was Exodus – journey and pilgrimage – from bondage to freedom, darkness to light, death to resurrection. Running a race? Perhaps the author of Hebrews was trying to encourage us, not to run a single race that’s over in less than a day, but to set out on pilgrimage, and journey through life with endurance. To press on through it ALL to where God is beckoning us onward.

How do you interpret scripture? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Go to Part 2 – The Struggle Is Real »

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