Could Jesus Have Run a Five-Minute Mile?
By Nathan Hitchcock
July 22, 2010Overheard at a track meet was a young man bragging to his friend that he was going to win his race. His rationale wasn’t that he was inherently faster or more talented than his adversaries, but this: “They’re just a bunch of Christians – they don’t really want to win.” In his mind, being a believer meant many things: being nice, playing fair, turning the other cheek. But gutting it out?
Certain moments in my athletic career I’ve asked the same thing. Is claiming victory something I have to do in spite of my Christianity? Wouldn’t it be better to compete because of it? But ambition just didn’t seem to have a natural place with the fruits of the spirit.
Such internal conflict usually boils down to the way we see Jesus. Thinking about our Lord, it’s easy to conjure up images of him healing people, holding a baby lamb, preaching love - all the while with his arm around a little child. These are not entirely unbiblical images, but they don’t strike me as being very indicative of the competitiveness, determination, and ferocity that describe an athlete. So Jesus is kind. Great. But can he sprint the 400m, grimacing as he pushes himself across the finish line, legs full of battery acid? It just seems that if Christ is Lord of the universe, it means he’s Lord of athletics, too.
The more I study the life of Christ, the more I realize just how intense he was. Lo and behold, he spends relatively little time being the stereotypical nice guy, but rather we find Him confronting hypocritical church leaders, preaching boldly, and flipping tables of corrupt moneychangers. He weeps over Jerusalem because people will not repent. He sweats blood from praying with such intensity in the Garden of Gethsemane. This fervor and commitment throughout his life exemplify anything but the soft-spined savior we sometimes make him out to be.
Jesus embodies that beautiful paradox we, as athletes can only hope to become. He’s tough as nails, on one hand, but is also thoughtful and tender. I think of that when it comes to the discus, one of my events; the best throwers are both powerful and graceful. Heaving a two-kilo disc looks very much like a ballerina’s move, culminating with a hearty scream at the end. Christian living is a both/and proposition: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16).
Christians would do well to seek this kind of integration. Jesus never did things lazily; He was in close contact with the Father, which drove him to do everything in perfect obedience and with zeal. You might say he worked from the overabundance of his spiritual life. Even when he didn’t feel like exerting himself, Jesus followed the biblical model perfectly: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart” (Col. 3:23).
It’s a little tempting to ask if the Savior could have run a five-minute mile. He did do an awful lot of aerobic exercise, walking from place to place, but let it be beside the point. His ultimate race was that of the crucifixion. Consider that he went a night sleepless before being beaten, flogged, crowned with thorns. Furthermore, he bore the cross to Golgotha, where he was nailed to it and left to hang for unspeakably painful hours.
He fought and endured, so how are we called to any less? Let us remember that we don’t compete because we need a victory to give our lives meaning, nor do we gut it out in order to impress anyone. A Christian strives simply because he’s following the best role model available.
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Nathan Hitchcock is assistant professor at Sioux Falls Seminary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He continues to find pleasure in throwing the discus, rocks, ironing boards, and other assorted items.
To discuss this article directly with Nathan, or to add your own comments to this discussion, please use the comments box below. We'd appreciate hearing your perspective!
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Republished from Passion in Play (September/October 2003) - Copyright © 2003 NCSAA
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