“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,” the race course that is life, uphill and down one day at a time. It takes perseverance for us to make it to the finish line. Sometimes just putting one foot in front of the other is almost more than we can manage, but perseverance can keep us going through darkness and light.

Jesus, in our gospel for today, admits to experiencing the stress of the race that is set before him. He knows what it is to persevere in the face of disappointment and discouragement, to keep moving forward in spite of what barriers the world sends our way. Elsewhere in Luke’s gospel, Jesus shares parables with his followers to encourage them to persevere in prayer as they run the race that is set before them. You remember the one about the man who goes to his friend at midnight needing bread for an unexpected guest (Lk. 11-5-10), the man who doesn’t take no for an answer, but persists in his request. And then there’s the story of the widow going continually to the judge (Lk.18:1-8), not giving up in her quest for justice, persevering. In Matthew’s gospel (25:1-13), we find the story of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, where the five wise ones prepared themselves for the race set before them and persevered through the long waiting period before the door to the wedding banquet was opened to them. In the three synoptic gospels (Mt.25:36-46, Mk. 14:32-42, Lk.22:39-46), we find Jesus in Gethsemane persevering until the end, hoping against hope that he could avoid the cross, but willingly accepting the race that was set before him, persevering through the agony of the cross to come to the joy of resurrection. His perseverance has made him “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” as the writer to the Hebrews points out, “an example of godly life” as our collect acknowledges.

May we “follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life” and persevere in the race that is set before each of us.