A homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 16, 2022
Ex 17:8-13, 2 Tm 3:14-4:2, Lk 18:1-8
In the 2007 movie “Run Fatboy Run,” a ne’er-do-well man who’s made an infamous name for himself by running away from commitments accepts a challenge — a macho dare, really — to run in a marathon.
The character played by British comic actor Simon Pegg is an out-of-shape cigarette smoker whose feeble attempts at training leave him totally unprepared to finish the race, let alone compete in the first place.
But there he is at the starting gate, arriving in barely the nick of time, running because of jealousy and insecurity.
Not exactly the best motivation to stride 26.2 miles.
But as morning becomes midday becomes evening becomes night, this loser starts to win over the whole city of London as he struggles to put one foot in front of another because — and this is the key — he’s realized he has something actually worth finishing the race for.
Worth doing whatever it takes to complete the race and possibly resurrect a broken relationship, to make good on a promise he broke.
Worth reaching deep down into his very soul for.
Long-distance runners talk often about hitting The Wall, about getting to a point around 20 miles where their bodies scream “Enough!” The Wall makes them want to quit, to accept a DNF next to their names on the results chart, to question the sport entirely. “What was I thinking?”
But those runners reach down and tap into whatever motivated them to participate in the first place. Whatever spurred their training regimen, prompted their morning runs and their protein shakes and their stretching exercises. They tap into their reason for running and they blast through The Wall.
They finish this race. And the next. And the next.
Because at some point, they dedicated themselves to something bigger than themselves.
Fatboy did.
Moses did.
St. Paul did.
Jesus did.
We’re challenged to do the same.
As Paul wrote to his protégé Timothy:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: Proclaim The Word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.
Be persistent, Paul writes. Do what it takes, because sharing the Good News of Jesus with the entire world is a cause every child of God should dedicate themselves to.
Paul himself uses the notion of a marathon later in this, his second letter to Timothy.
I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.
And it’s still a marathon, 2,000 years later. We who can digest Paul’s exhortation of Timothy must continue to proclaim The Word, competing well and keeping the faith.
In the First Century, proclaiming The Word in public often invited derision, sometimes violence, often imprisonment. And yet, those who were true followers of the Son of Man overcame the obstacles, pushed through whatever figurative walls impeded them. We have our modern Western world because of them.
Nonetheless…
In our 21st Century, proclaiming The Word in public often invites derision, sometimes violence, often some sort of shunning. Using “Hey, let me tell you about Jesus. Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior” as an icebreaker can be a fast way for many of us to find ourselves all alone at a party or a workplace. Talk about The Wall!
Hmmm…
Persistence.
Marathon.
The Word of God as our motivation.
How then do we, how then can we press on?
We realize we are never alone.
As the Fatboy character persisted on the race course, injured and exhausted, crowds began to follow him, began to gather on the sidelines, began to cheer him on, and he realized his efforts had inspired them. Those fans in turn inspired him to plow ahead until, at last, he staggered across the finish line.
Every time even one person is inspired by The Word that we share through our conversations or, even better, through how we live the Gospel with the help of the Holy Spirit, then we in turn can be inspired by this moment of grace.
And we will persist.
And others will persist alongside us.
Our world needs our persistence.
A side note about today’s Scriptures
This weekend is one of the rare ones in which Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel readings share the same theme, that of never giving up when the cause is right.
On many Sundays, the Gospel passage will echo or fulfill the Old Testament (first) reading, especially if the Old Testament reading comes from one of the prophets, especially Isaiah. St. Paul, meanwhile, usually writes to a far-off congregation that needs a little kick in the pants to get them back on the straight and narrow.
So with all three of today’s readings linked by the theme of persistence, it doesn’t take much for us to understand that we are all called to preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, to use words.
… to borrow a sentiment accurately or inaccurately attributed to Francis of Assisi.
