Liturgy: Scripture’s Only Recorded Foot Race

What is the King’s Liturgy? King’s Liturgy defines our experience together as a Christian community. It outlines the rhythms we celebrate with the Church at large: Scripture readings, Sabbath habits, and celebration of Holy Days and historical events.

This week’s Scripture readings:
Isaiah 65:17-25
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
John 20:1-18
1 Corinthians 15:19-26

This week’s liturgy is contributed by Prof. Bearden Coleman, Assistant Professor of English and Film:

This is an actual account of a literal race.
…
There was a contest.
There was a winner.
And there was a loser.

I’m a runner. You probably know this about me. If you’ve had me in a class or I’ve caught you in the hall, it’s likely I started talking about races, training, personal bests, injuries.

And as runner who reads the Bible, I have a confession to make. I have a tendency to take any biblical reference to running or racing and (at times) overly personalize to my own immediate circumstances. Sorry Dr. Johnson!

I know this isn’t good practice, but I read 1 Corinthians 9:24 the night before a race think, “Why, yes, I will run tomorrow’s 5k to obtain the prize! Maybe even an age group award and shiny medal!”

OK. That’s not quite true. I’m not that reckless in co-opting scripture to my own vain ends. But you can bet there have been plenty of times out on the track at 7AM when I’ve been digging into that last rep of a hard interval session and I’ve found myself repeating Habakkuk 3:19 “GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s.”

You get the idea. I seriously lock in when scripture mentions my favorite pastime.

So today, Easter Sunday, when I reread the resurrection story I perked up to a detail I’d previously, all these years, glossed over. I’m talking about the passage in John 20 when Simon Peter and an unnamed disciple (supposedly his disciple John), upon hearing from Mary Magdalene that Christ’s tomb is empty, race to the tomb.

That’s right. They have a foot race! Like, “runners on your marks” … and then the report of the starting gun.

Here’s how it goes down according to verses 3-4: “So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.”

There it is. The unnamed disciple smokes Peter! Leaves him in the dust!

He doesn’t get a medal. And he doesn’t get a t-shirt for participating. He doesn’t even get a banana and bagel. What does he get? Something much better. It’s what all runners secretly want. Bragging rights.

From this moment on when he and the rest of the disciples are sitting around recounting the story of Christ’s resurrection, this disciple will always have the right to say something like, “When I beat Peter to the tomb, and was the first one of us fellas to see that He’d risen indeed …”

Am I reading too much into this? I don’t know. I do know that this is one occasion in scripture when running isn’t simply used as a metaphor. This is an actual account of a literal race. What we have here is presented as matter-of-fact as what we read in the ESPN box scores and recaps. There was a contest. There was a winner. And there was a loser.

I have no idea what to take from this passage. That this disciple was fitter than Peter? That Peter just didn’t “want it” bad enough? And why, again, does the gospel writer think this detail warrants mention in Holy Scripture?

All I can do is take it on face value. This disciple wanted to get to the tomb before Peter. Or, at the very least, Peter wasn’t going fast enough for his liking, so he ran ahead.

And why shouldn’t have he? He was running to witness the fulfillment of his master’s promise to return. He was so caught up (with nerves, excitement, adrenalin) that he said, “sorry, Peter, catch ya later.” And so he ran ahead.

Like I said, this story isn’t a metaphor. It’s not a metaphor in the same way that Christ’s resurrection isn’t merely a metaphor. They are both events that actually happened. And on a personal note, one day I plan on seeing Christ, literally, face to face. On that occasion I, like this speedy disciple, am planning on running ahead to Him. In fact, I’m currently training for that very day.