18 August 2025

18 August 2025 - 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Transcript

Reading:  

Hebrews 12:1

Write:  

Therefore…

Reflect:   

That one word was dropped from the start of Chapter Twelve for our reading today. [I have said this before: whenever you see the word therefore in the Bible you have to ask: what is it there for?] 

Let me repeat a section from chapter eleven that I quoted last week:

What more shall I say? I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, did what was righteous, obtained the promises; they closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword; out of weakness they were made powerful, became strong in battle, and turned back foreign invaders. Women received back their dead through resurrection. Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point; they went about in skins of sheep or goats, needy, afflicted, tormented. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts and on mountains, in caves and in crevices in the earth. Yet all these, though approved because of their faith, did not receive what had been promised. God had foreseen something better for us, so that without us they should not be made perfect.

Then we start chapter twelve.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…,” the writer to Hebrews issues a rallying trumpet call to all those who believe. He issues a call to persevere.

Apply:   

I have been in a number of long runs, especially in my time in the military. You know, it is much easier to complete a run when you fix your eyes on the finish line, instead of where your next foot is going to land in front of you. Yes, you need to know where your next foot is going to land so that you can proceed safely, but to focus only on “one foot in front of the other,” is a surefire way to get tired very fast.

We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, “the leader and perfecter of faith.” One time, at the Academy, I was doing a two-mile run with my classmates. I was not only able to keep up, but I finished with a very respectable time. One year later, I returned to the Academy after trying to recover from surgery and had to do the two-mile run again. But this time I did not have my classmates running with me. And I failed – it cost me my place at the Academy. They said I did not recover from the surgery enough. But without that, I would never have become a priest. Thank God Jesus in his mercy doesn’t dismiss us.

Jesus is running with us. When we fail and fall into temptation, we are taking our eyes off of Jesus. But he does not take his eyes off of us.

Also, as we are running this race, we have this “cloud of witnesses” cheering us on from the stands of heaven – urging us on to greater speed and fidelity in this walk – this run – toward heaven. So even if we do stumble and have to pick ourselves up out of the mud, we have assurances that Jesus is with us.

Another event from my time in the military. We were exiting a helicopter and had to run away from the helicopter. I was running away and I saw this ditch right in front of me. I knew my stride and that I was going to land one foot right in the bottom of the ditch. I hit that ditch, did a somersault, and ended up on my hands and knees. All of a sudden I was jerked to my feet by one of my Marines and he said, “are you okay Padre?” I said, “Yeah!” He said, “Okay, let’s go!” And off we ran.

Well, Jesus is there to pick us up when we stumble in a ditch. Listen again to the closing words from our reading from Hebrews today: “Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.”

As Jesus said in the gospel: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” We can set the world on fire for Jesus. We just need to run the “race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus…”

I know – too many metaphors, but they work together. Let’s keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and allow our souls to be set afire for the sake of his kingdom.

+++++