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Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

If life is a race, most of us are bent over in the turf panting for air right now. 

It’s great that the writer of Hebrews invites us to throw off everything that hinders in order to run that Christian race, but at the moment, the heaviest burdens on our shoulders are not ones that we put there ourselves.  The heaviest burdens are imposed on us by the isolation and anxieties of lockdown, or by ugly health journeys with ugly diseases, or by the death of friends and loved ones.  So how exactly are we to cast those off? 

Well, I think if I were to speak for the writer of Hebrews, to put it bluntly, they’d say: we’re not supposed to throw those things off.  Sin we cast off, but some other burdens are part of the race itself. 

The place we get refreshed for the race is not our own deep well of strength to power through, throw off burdens, or pivot to positive thinking.  We get refreshed not by focusing on ourselves, but by zooming out to focus on the larger and longer story of God that we’re a part of: the past, present, and future as God has defined them.  The invitation of Hebrews is to Memory of the past, Faith in the present, and Hope for the future.  

We remember our Lord who himself suffered death and shame, facing the worst of what we face too—he didn’t cast it off, he bore it, and he still bears those burdens with us today.  We remember too that great cloud of witnesses, those saints and loved ones who dwell now with God.  The ones who have gone before us in the faith facing pandemics and plagues, persecution and martyrdom, monotonous days and purposelessness.  They surround and cheer us on even now, reminding us not to give up, and that faith in Jesus is never in vain. 

Indeed, it’s on him that we’re invited to fix our eyes—not on the hard path of the race course, nor on our own inability to run it—but on Jesus.  The Jesus who is himself with us and working out his purposes in us: perfecting our faith, even here and now.

And the hope is that Jesus will indeed see our faith and our race through to completion.  To consummation.  To perfection.  On that day when he welcomes us home to take our place in the great cloud of witnesses.

We might be winded and burdened right now.  The race is hard and the burdens are heavy.  So remember then, that you’re not alone.  Jesus is with you now, and will see you through to the end.  Fix your eyes on him in memory, faith, and hope.