"Olympians"

As I've watched the Olympics these past two weeks, listened to interviews with the athletes and between the commentators, there have been two things I have heard more that once. In the endurance sports, such as the Biathlon, you have to expect pain, and work your way through it. While on the slopes and the ice rink, you have to face your fear of falling, of making a mistake and conquer that fear. In both cases, these men and women aren’t competing against each other as much as they are against themselves

Paul likens the Christian life to running a race.

“Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.” [1 Corinthians 9: 24 – 25 NRSV]

 I wonder how many of us would qualify as Olympians in running this race. Do we have the passion and commitment that is necessary to push through to our goal regardless of the cost? Are we willing to give up those things that our society has taught us that we deserve: things both big and little, like a couple of months south in the winter, a second car, thermostats turned up to 72 and A/C turned down to 68, the latest technological gadget? Are we willing to not put our families first [almost sacrilegious in this culture] and spend Christmas, for example, feeding people in homeless shelter or to deny our family that well-deserved vacation in Disneyland because that money is needed to relieve the suffering of some unknown person, who is probably not even of our ‘tribe’?

 I would suggest that the Olympic athletes [and their families] have given up much more in their quest for glory. But then they are seeking something that can be seen, and touched, an Olympic medal or as I also hear frequently, the satisfaction of ‘doing their personal best’! And this apparently is worth the pain, the fear, the time invested, and the sacrifices of the families.

Maybe we, we don’t need that. After all, surely we aren’t meant to actually ‘suffer’! Good intentions and giving that which comes with little or no cost will be more than enough. After all we are helping others and we have worked hard and deserved what we have garnered. And if ‘they’ only were more like 'us' everything would be better for them.

But wait - it isn’t enough for the Olympians who want to make it to the podium. Why then should it be enough for us. Sacrifices are required of them for just a few short moments of glory. As Paul says “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.” [I Corinthians 9:23] So why do we feel that sacrifices are not required of us, if as Paul says, we also want to “share in its blessings”? 

So the question I ask myself this week is this, “How much am I willing to sacrifice in order that the Kingdom of God might, at least partially, be realized here and now?”