Oct. 26 | Pentecost 20, Year C
Joel 2:23-32 or Ecclus. 35:12-17 or Jer. 14:7-10, 19-22
Ps. 65 or Ps. 84:1-6
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14
When we look at our lives, what is important is not how we began or even what we have done. What is important is what remains when our lives end. The challenge we face is to finish well. In order to finish well, we must begin somewhere and make choices while living. Those choices, however, only have lasting value if we stick to them until the end.
As finite human beings, at one time or another, our thoughts naturally drift to the unsettling fact that the world might have to exist without us. That is not a shock. The problem is that it is hard to imagine the world without me, or that once we are gone, the world will continue without taking notice. Naturally, an important question arises: What is it for which we will be known or remembered? The longer we live, the longer the list of possibilities grows.
At various times we may have aspired to write a book, win a prize, be rich and famous, exercise great power and influence, be morally outstanding and a model citizen, or even offer some great act of mercy or compassion. But history has taught us that all of those are but fleeting memories that will not even reach the flames of the Last Day. The trophies in the attic are a hidden and forgotten testimony to athletic glory. A dissertation containing unpronounceable words collects dust on the back shelf of academic achievement. A yellowing ordination certificate at least gives us access to the Church Pension Fund. The fact is that in the end, as good as all these are, they will not last—they are not of ultimate value. What matters is to stand before the grave and say, no matter the circumstances, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
In his closing letter to his spiritual son, Timothy, St. Paul used the image of a race to describe the successful completion of his ministry. In the context of St. Paul’s letter and in the church, the race is more like a relay, with each generation running a leg, the success of which includes the handing off of the baton to the next runner. The baton is faith in Jesus Christ. The next runner is our child, genealogically or spiritually, as in the case with St. Paul and Timothy. The desire of our heart should be that our children will take hold of the baton of faith and run hard with it.
If we can come to the end of our leg of the relay and successfully hand off the baton, then we will have completed the race and given others something of eternal worth. With God’s help, we will have finished well indeed.
Look It Up: Luke 18:9-14
Think About It: When we justify ourselves before God and people, we do it at the expense of our neighbor.
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Alley, former rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, teaches anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School.
