In this morning’s Gospel reading (Mark 1:40-45) we heard about the response of Jesus to a single man who had come before him begging to be made clean once again because he was suffering with leprosy. Most of us gathered here today, though we may not have ever meet face to face with anyone who has been suffering the devastating effects of this seriously infectious skin disease, we do know and understand something about the effects upon an individual when they have become an outcast of their society. Jesus warned this man to tell no one what had happen; he was to only quietly present himself to the local priest and make the required offering for his cleansing.
But this man could not contain himself. We have no idea how long a time he had been suffering, nor how many times he had asked others to cure him, and so he now spreads the truth far and wide within his own community. As a result Jesus could no longer openly go about within this community, and he was forced to stay in the country-side. However, even then he found it hard to find solitude, for the people from all over would continue to seek him out.
And when they eventually discovered where he was staying, he could not turn his back upon them. Jesus understood that he was sent to be among the people to help them, to encourage them, to heal them, and to lead them into a close relationship with God.
This brings me now to our reading this morning from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (9:24-27). We must be very careful in how we interpret what he has written. He has chosen to use as an illustration at this point in his writing, the concept of individuals running in a race. I have only ever had a very limited personal contact with racing. As a high school student, I was required to take Gym as was everyone. Over the course of nearly ten years I was slowly introduced to the very subtle differences between running and racing.
Indeed Paul’s statements are correct; there is only one racer who will receive the prize. I can remember being entered into a cross-country race while I was a Boy Scout in Syracuse. We all lined-up in an open field, and when the director of the event said, “Ready – Set – GO!” we all ran as fast as we could to finish the two mile race. During the first half I was among the top five boys, but at the half way mark I began to pull ahead until I was about a hundred yards in front of everyone else. Then I discovered that the last two hundred yards of the race where uphill to the finish line. I remember that I finished seventh, and that our Troop received no award; nor even recognition. Paul was right, “but only one receives the prize”[1].
However, there is another way for us to understand what Paul is writing about. He also shared with his readers that he and they needed to “exercise self-control in all things … do not run aimlessly”[2]. I did not finish in first place for my troop, but I did finish the race.
In life we have choices to make. We can choose to live by the ever changing values and the continually shifting rules taught to us by our present day society or by the world at large. However, I’d rather believe that Paul is encouraging us to choose to live by the rules given to us bu our true Creator; God. I believe, like Paul, that the greatest values in life are ones shown to us by our brother Jesus. And the greatest prize of all is the gift given to us by the true Creator; the choice is ours to make.
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