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Sunday, May 1, 2005
Sermon: “You Will Not Run Alone”
Scripture: John 14: 15-21
Reverend Larry Gerber
Last week we visited the affects of a marathon race. Today, we continue with the concept of a race. But, this is a different story, a different emphasis, a different outcome. It is the story of togetherness; a story about not running a race alone; a story reminding us of the race of life, the course of events, and the story of never being alone, in any circumstance. Not only do we not run the race of life alone, but more importantly, we do not finish the course alone.
A father rushes onto the track to help his injured son finish his race. Likewise, the Holy Spirit comes to us to help us finish ours.
Derek Redmond was determined. He had to finish the race. Period.
He was a young British runner, one who had sky rocketed to fame by shattering his country’s 400-meter record at age 19. But then an Achilles tendon injury forced him to withdraw from the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, and he endured five separate surgeries. When the Summer Olympics arrived in Barcelona in 1992, Derek Redmond was absolutely aching for a medal.
On the day of the 400-meter race, 65,000 fans streamed into the stadium, anxious to witness one of sports’ most thrilling events. High in the stands is Derek’s father, Jim, a faithful witness to every one of his son’s world competitions. According to ESPN, Jim is wearing a T-shirt that reads, “Have you hugged your foot today?”
The race begins and Derek breaks through the pack to seize the lead. “Keep it up, keep it up,” his father Jim says to himself. Heading down the backstretch, only 175 meters from the finish line, Derek is a shoo-in to win this semifinal heat and qualify for the Olympic finals.
But then Derek hears a pop. It’s his right hamstring. He pulls up lame, looking as if he has been shot. His leg quivering, Derek begins to hop on the other leg, and then he slows down and falls to the track. Medical personnel run toward him as he sprawls on the ground, holding his right hamstring.
At the very same moment, there is a stir at the top of the stands. Jim Redmond, seeing his son in trouble, begins to race down from the top row. He is pushing toward the track, sidestepping some people and bumping into others. He has no right or credential or permission to be on the track, but all he can think about is getting to his son, to help him up. He is absolutely single-minded about this, and isn’t going to be stopped by anyone.
On the track, Derek realizes that his dream of an Olympic medal is gone. He is alone. The other runners streak across the finish line, with Steve Lewis of the United States winning the race. He is orphaned, as it were, a lonely figure on the track, friendless, parentless and alone.
Tears pour down Derek’s face, and all he can think is, “I don’t want to take a DNF.” A Did-Not-Finish was not even part of his vocabulary. When the medical crew arrives with a stretcher, Derek tells them, “No, there’s no way I’m getting on that stretcher. I’m going to finish my race.” And so he lifts himself to his feet, ever so slowly and carefully, and he starts hobbling down the track.
Suddenly, the crowd realizes that Derek isn’t dropping out of the race. He isn’t limping off the track in defeat, but is actually continuing on one leg, in a fiercely determined effort to make it to the finish line. One painful step at a time, each one a little slower and more agonizing than the one before, Derek limps onward, and the crowd begins to cheer for him. The fans rise to their feet and their cries grow louder and louder, building into a thundering roar.
At that moment, Jim Redmond reaches the bottom of the stands, vaults over the railing, dodges a security guard, and runs out to his son — with two security people running after him. “That’s my son out there,” he yells back at his pursuers, “and I’m going to help him.”
Jim reaches his son at the final curve, about 120 meters from the finish line, and wraps his arm around his waist. “I’m here, son,” Jim says gently, hugging his boy. “We’ll finish together.”
Derek puts his arms around his father’s shoulders and sobs. Together, arm in arm, father and son struggle toward the finish line with 65,000 people cheering, clapping and crying. Just a few steps from the end, with the crowd in an absolute frenzy, Jim releases the grip he has on his son so that Derek can cross the finish line by himself.
“I’m the proudest father alive,” Jim Redmond tells the press afterward, with tears in his eyes. “I’m prouder of him than I would have been if he had won the gold medal. It took a lot of guts for him to do what he did.” Together, they kept a promise they had made to finish the race, no matter what.
We could talk here about God the Father and Son. “I am in the Father and the Father is in me,” said Jesus to his disciples on the night before his crucifixion (John 14:10). They were bound together — bound as tightly as Derek and Jim Redmond — as they approached the finish line at the cross.
But a stronger image emerges. Here are the disciples, who’ve been riding on the back of Jesus for three years. This gravy train, such as it was, was coming to an end. He’s talking about his own death in terms that the disciples don’t clearly understand.
Something is in the wind. But Jesus says to them, as they now begin to feel the tension, that he “will not leave [them] orphaned”(14:18). “I am coming to you,” he says, and his coming is in the form of the Holy Spirit or here called in the Greek, the Paraclete, or the Advocate (14:16).
The word evokes a juridical drama, especially since Jesus himself is described as a paraclete in 1 John 2:1. Jesus is our advocate, i.e., he stands in court with us, pleading our case.
Here, the Holy Spirit is described as another Advocate. Like Jesus, the Holy Spirit will also stand in for us. The Holy Spirit will strengthen us, keep us on track, because he is the “Spirit of truth” (14:17).
The disciples are called to get into the action, to run this race, as it were. But Jesus is there with them. They never could have done it without him. In their faith run, they’ve never been alone. Jesus has always been there. The very physicality of Jesus has been their source of reassurance. The miracles, the teaching, the leadership. It’s been enough to keep them going.
Now he’s talking of dropping out. The unthinkable’s happening. How are they to proceed? Some are no doubt already contacting their fishing buddies to see if there’s an opening in the cannery at Capernaum.
But Jesus says that even after his death he will still be with them. He will still encourage them, plead with them, pray for them, teach them.
But the nature of his presence will change. “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me,” he says (14:19). He will be present to them in the form of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.
They will not run this race alone, they will not have to cross the finish line alone.
We all have been in those circumstances where we sign on to do something as long as we have someone to help us with it. If we have to do it alone, forget it.
This is the key issue here. The disciples signed on because Jesus was team leader. We signed on because we believed that God would be present in our lives, that God was trustworthy, that God was Someone we could count on.
Jesus told his disciples that he would not leave them “orphaned,” i.e., without a “parent” present in their lives.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life. Because I live, promises Jesus to his followers, “you also will live” (14:19). The good news is that Christ has conquered the power of sin and death, and the same God who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to our bodies through his Spirit that dwells in us (Romans 8:11). No matter what tragedies come our way, whether they are academic or medical or vocational or emotional, we can hold tight to the promise that Jesus gives us the gift of life — life in this world, and life in the world to come.
We belong to Jesus Christ, and his Spirit gives us life. This is good news for any of us who find ourselves limping toward a finish line. Hold onto the Cup. Hold on to the Bread.
When you are feeling defeated, love one another. When the medical test is disturbing, love one another. When a family member faces a layoff, love one another. When there’s a death in the community, love one another. When a friend has been rejected, love one another. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,” says Jesus, “if you have love for one another” (13:35).
The Spirit of truth leads us into a life of love, thus comforting us and carrying us through anything life throws at us.
“I’m
here,” says Jesus, in every time and place and situation. “ We’ll
finish together.” The Cup. The Loaf. Spilled. Broken. Binding. Loving.
Forgiving. Come. The Table is set,. Supper is served.
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You can find a photo of Derek Redmond and his father at: astropix.com/SPORTSPIX/92_OLYMP/REDMOND.HTM.
Source:
Weinburg,
Rick. “Derek and dad finish Olympic 400 together.” ESPN Web Site.
ESPN.com, sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved November 9, 2004.
Let me know what you think. The church Email is: slumc@direcway.com, Phone: 480.895.8766