By Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller

Imagine yourself running a race. It’s a marathon, or longer, one of those races that goes on and on. You pass a few people, but mostly everyone has passed you. You are hungry and tired, your tongue is glued to the roof of your mouth, and your lungs feel like they are stuffed with flaming cotton. You try to sing and pray through the pain, and it seems like this race will never end.

This is one of those races that ends in the stadium, but it seems like you are nowhere close to the finish. Every time you climb over a little hill, all you see are more hills, more track, more running. Your feet drag. Your heart pounds. Your mind thinks only of quitting, of lying down on the side of the road.

But then you hear a sound, faint, in the distance — people cheering. And as you come along, you see the stadium, the track, and the end of the race. The sound gets louder, and you think you hear a familiar voice. You do! As you get closer, you see the faces of the people in the stands, and you recognize them, and they see you. Their faces light up when they recognize you, and they cheer even louder.

This is the picture given to us in Hebrews 12: “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.” 

You turn the corner into the stadium and there, in the front row, are your grandparents, cheering you on. Your parents, the friends and family who have died before you. They are yelling, encouraging, “You can make it.”

Suddenly your legs are not so heavy. You see next to them others whom you recognize. There is Martin Luther, Martin Chemnitz, the crowd of faithful reformers, and they are cheering for you as well. “Stay strong!” they say. “You are almost to the end.”

You begin to forget your pain, your hunger, and your thirst.

Further along in the stadium are the Church Fathers, the martyrs, the apostles. There is Peter. “Christ also suffered,” he says. “Run with joy.” There is Paul. “Keep the faith,” he yells to you. There are Thomas and Matthew, and James and John, all pushing you on.

You begin to run faster.

You see Jeremiah and Isaiah, comforting you, and it seems as if your feet have grown wings. There is King David. “Don’t grow weary!” There is Joshua. “Be strong and courageous!” he shouts. There are Moses and Aaron, Joseph and Judah, Abraham and Sarah, and Noah with his family, and Abel, and Adam and Eve. “We made it. We finished. You can too!”

Can you imagine it!

There are the heroes, those who have finished the race, who kept the faith. The great cloud of finishers.

You are running with purpose now, and you make the last turn. You see the finish line. There, standing at the end, is Jesus. His arms are stretched out. He is waiting for you. You see the scars in His hands. His eyes are fixed on you. He smiles. “A little further,” He says, “just a little while. A few more steps.”

You are sprinting now. You throw off anything that is slowing you down. Weariness is forgotten. You can’t hear the crowd anymore. Hope is set before you. Hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.

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 ESV)

Jesus is the beginning, and Jesus is the end. He is the source and the goal, the start and the finish. He is at the Father’s right hand, and you will be there soon. And in the meantime, while we labor here below, Jesus waits. He prays for you. He prepares a place for you. He finishes the work that He began in you, and He will bring it to completion in His time.

We are not seeking to have a martyr’s faith in a faithless world. We are seeking Jesus, striving for Him, grasping to take hold of His eternal life, knowing that He has already taken hold of us. He is our finish line, and soon we will reach Him.

Amen.

From Martyr’s Faith in a Faithless World published by Concordia Publishing House, text © 2019 Bryan Wolfmueller. Used with permission. To order this publication, please contact Concordia Publishing House at 800-325-3040 or visit them online at cph.org.