Gold Medal
The 2024 Summer Olympics officially ended last weekend. The torch has been passed, and the next time athletes around the world will gather for the Summer Games will be in Los Angeles in 2028.
While we didn’t watch much of the Paris Games at my house, I routinely caught some highlights of close finishes and extraordinary feats. It’s especially moving to see American medalists openly weeping as the Star-Spangled Banner is played and our nation’s flag is raised.
I also appreciate that the Olympics are an extreme example of meritocracy. Only the “best of the best” make the games to begin with. And among the world’s best, only one team or individual wins gold, silver, or bronze. It’s fitting that the motto of the modern Olympics is “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” And sometimes the difference between gold and silver comes down mere thousandths of a second!
The Olympics demonstrate that life is not fair. It’s not merely hard work and discipline that separates the fastest and strongest from the rest of us. Some humans are born with tremendous athletic potential or with bodies that are just right for a particular sport. I could never be a diver (average height 5’3” for males) or a basketball player (average height 6’5”) because I’m a pretty average person in terms of height. I would never have been fast enough to be a swift sprinter or springy enough to be a high jumper.
On the other hand, the Olympics also demonstrate that amazing athletes are people just like us. Most of them come from middle—or lower-class backgrounds. Most of them have had personal or family troubles that they’ve had to deal with in order to succeed. Many even have medical conditions—asthma being the most common among high-performing athletes.
In a similar, but more profound way, Jesus embodies these same two Olympic truths. Jesus is just like us. One of us. Family struggles. Personal challenges. He gets us. He has walked in our shoes, been tempted in every way that we have. He knows our experience from the inside out.
This is the miracle of the incarnation: God became a human being.
And at the same time, Jesus is the ultimate spiritual athlete. He has gone “faster, higher, and stronger” in righteousness, sacrificial living, and obedience to the will of God than any of us can begin to imagine.
I saw a video of the women’s 100-meter dash superimposed over a regular human running the same distance in roughly double the time. It’s funny to see how average we are in contrast to the gold medalists. It would be equally comical if we could see our meager righteousness superimposed against Jesus’ perfection. But here’s the amazing thing: Jesus has no interest in keeping his accolades for himself. Though he alone is “worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise,” – Jesus, our Savior, is eager to share all of these with any and all who would follow him, obey him, and love him.
He really is the ultimate Gold medalist. Every Sunday is an opportunity to worship him and crown him in our hearts again.
– Pastor Gregg