Some Things Are Worth Running For – Easter 2019

                When I tell my extended family later today that I did a 5K at 5 o’clock this morning, I expect to be greeted with incredulous stares and sarcastic remarks. I can’t blame them. I’ve never been very athletic, or athletic at all for that matter, so “5K” and “Mike” aren’t two words one normally would find in the same sentence, unless the word “avoid” is strategically placed among them. But my friend Eric, who organized the SonRise 5K, can be pretty persuasive, especially when he’s on fire with faith, so I rolled out of bed at 4:30, stuck a pin in my Eric voodoo doll, and headed out for my 5:15 start time. Why did I do it?  Because Eric convinced me that some things are worth running for.

            There’s a lot of running going on in this morning’s Gospel passage from John. Upon discovering the empty tomb, Mary of Magdala, initially thinking that someone had taken Jesus’ body, runs to tell the apostles. Incredulous, Peter and the apostle whom Jesus loved run to the empty tomb to see for themselves. The scattered burial cloths tell them all they need to know. They finally understand the Scripture that the Lord had to rise from the dead. In the wee hours of that first Easter morning, perhaps a bit winded, the apostles finally understand the Good News.

            We could all use a little Good News right about now. With so much despair, suffering, and addiction in our world, it seems harder and harder to convince people that life is worth living. That’s where Jesus comes in. God’s Word became flesh to share our joys and our sorrows, our comfort and our pain, our blessings and our afflictions. He suffered, died, and rose from the dead, not only to break the bonds of sin and death, but to convince us that our loving God is the God of the living, and that life, indeed, is worth live. But Jesus can’t deliver this message alone. He needs people to preach his Good News, sometimes with words, but always through our loving actions toward one another. He needs people who live their lives in such a way that others will say, “If such is the servant, I must meet the Master.” Jesus needs us to carry his message to the ends of the earth with the same urgency of the first apostles. Jesus needs good runners who understand that some things are worth running for.

            My family may not believe that I did a 5K at 5 o’clock this morning, but I have proof, and not just the 3.1 miles clocked on my step counter before 6 am and a really cool SonRise race T-shirt. I have witnesses. About 60 people from our community (and two all the way from North Carolina) turned out dark and early to run or walk the course, no doubt having also stuck pins in their respective Eric voodoo dolls. Crossing the finish line together at 6:15, just in time to watch the sun breach the horizon and peak through clouds over the verdant hayfields of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, we joined together in worship, fellowship and praise of the One whose resurrection we celebrate today. In their enthusiasm, perseverance, and palpable faith, this cloud of witnesses inspires me and gives me great hope. In them I see that Jesus has a lot of good runners, people who understand that some things are worth running for.   

Happy Easter!

Reading: John 20: 1-9