Reflections...

I am not a big sports fan, but every two years or so—or three years in this case—I like to watch the Olympics. It’s exciting to watch people just try and be the best at certain things. To try and run the fastest, to lift the most, to jump the highest, or to be the most accurate. When you watch the Olympics, you sometimes even get to see history being made. Sometimes a record is broken, or a country gets its first gold medal. Sometimes a football team wins the world cup and a gold medal. But not this year, unfortunately.

I do admit, though, that I’ve been watching these Olympics with a bit of jealousy. The athletes are stronger, faster, and— increasingly—younger than me. I’ve had to accept the fact that I will never be as fit as they are. Of course, most of them have advantages over me, the biggest of which is their absolute dedication to their particular sport. And with that dedication comes great discipline. Most of these athletes must maintain strict exercise schedules, and they also have to maintain strict diets. For instance, weightlifters need to eat a lot of protein, and runners and swimmers need more carbohydrates.

All this thinking about athletes and diets reminds me of something I that read about another person. He’s not an Olympian, but most of you have probably heard of this guy, because he’s been in a lot of movies. I’m thinking of Dwayne Johnson, better known as “the Rock.” For those of you who don’t know who he is, the Rock is a former American professional wrestler who started acting in movies in the early 2000s. And since then, he has been incredibly successful. In fact, the last time I checked, he was highest-paid male actor in the world.

But that’s not the most remarkable thing about him. The first thing you notice about the Rock is just how big and muscular he his. He’s huge. His muscles have muscles.

But he only stays that huge by following a very strict exercise and dietary regimen. According to an interview of him in Muscle and Fitness magazine,[1] when he has to be in shape for a movie, he follows a 7-meal-per-day diet. And what does eat? Protein mostly, that is, meat, eggs and fish. If the saying is true that “you are what eat”, then the Rock must be a fish, because his 7-meal-a-day plan requires him to eat 2.3 pounds of cod!

Hearing this, you might think, well, isn’t it irresponsible for a rich American to eat so much food, when so many other people in the world don’t get enough to eat. Throughout human history, meat and fish has usually been a luxury, and even today it still is a luxury in many places. So how can we justify the Rock eating more meat in a day than some people get in a week?

Well, maybe we can’t justify it, but I don’t think the Rock eats like this because he enjoys it. In fact, just imagining eat 7 meals a day gives me a stomachache. I really don’t think I could eat that much fish. And that’s not all—in order to get seven meals into a day, the Rock has to wake himself up at 4 or 5 in the morning.

Nothing about his workout or diet sounds pleasant to me. What would make a person put their body through so much stress? Well for some people it may be vanity, but I think for actors like the Rock, or the athletes we see on TV, there is something more that drives them. It isn’t the food they eat that makes them strong, but rather their dedication to something very important to them. For the Rock, it is dedication to his brand—that is, to being “the Rock” and continuing to be a charming and incredibly muscular action star. For Olympic athletes, it is about being the best they can be at what they do—and maybe breaking some World Records in the process.  

This “something more” is not just physical, but mental, emotional, and, yes—spiritual. We human beings are holistic creatures with holistic needs. There is food that nourishes our bodies, and then there is food that nourishes our souls. For athletes, there is something spiritual that drives them to be better at their sport. But there is also what Christians call the Spirit—the capital “S” Spirit—that can lift up human beings from the lowest depths of weakness, sadness, and sin. This Spirit pushes us when we feel like we can go no further.

This is the situation that the Prophet Elijah finds himself in, in 1^st Kings 19. Through Elijah, God has already performed many miracles, but now the Prophet is tired, hungry and alone in the wilderness. He is being hunted by King Ahab, Jezebel, and the followers of Baal. Like a boxer against the ropes, Elijah tells God, “…let that be enough. Let me rest now.” Let me die—these are the words of someone who feels that they have done all a human being can possibly do, and who feels like they just cannot on.

However, God is not done with Elijah. He is allowed to rest for a while, but then the Angel wakes him to show him the bread and water that God has provided. Elijah is told to eat and rest again, and so he does. Twice God lets Elijah sleep, and twice God gives him something to eat and drink. God does so because without sustenance, the journey will be too difficult for the Prophet. But when he is well-fed and well-rested, God tells him to “get a move on” and fulfill his mission. At this moment, what Elijah receives is not just physical nourishment, but spiritual nourishment.

In John, Jesus calls himself the “bread that came down from heaven,” comparing himself to the miracle that Elijah receives. But Jesus also tells us that he is greater than any “manna in the wilderness.” Elijah needs the food and water that God provides, but it is still just food and water. Eventually he will have to eat and drink again, and eat and drink again, and eat and drink again—like all human beings must do, until the day that they die (or in Elijah’s case, ascend into heaven).

What really gets Elijah to stand up is not the food itself, but Elijah’s own faith, reignited by the miracle of the bread and water. Elijah just had to rediscover the Spirit inside him, much like a runner in a marathon that has to find a “second wind.”

For us, Christ is the manna from heaven, and the nourishment that comes from Christ is unending and infinitely abundant. There is more than enough to go around for everyone. There is no scarcity of the spirit, only a scarcity of faith. When we have no faith, it is impossible to see beyond our physical limitations. But faith can be rediscovered. Faith is finding hope in hopelessness, strength in weakness, and love amidst hate. It is about looking for those miracles around us.

And this is where the Spirit of faith in Jesus Christ is different than the spirituality that compels athletes to train so hard, or the spirituality that inspires the Rock to eat so much fish. That is faith in self-fulfillment. Now, self-fulfillment is important; we all need to feel good about ourselves! But self-fulfillment is just about looking for miracles in ourselves, and that kind of spirituality can never be enough. After all, we are all still mortal beings with limitations. If we rely only on ourselves, eventually we will hit a wall, past which we can go further, just like the exhausted Elijah. And what happens if someone does become the strongest, the fastest, or the richest person in the world? What else is there, then? Eventually ours bodies will decline and die. If we focus too much on self-fulfillment—on the miracles in ourselves—then what we ultimately find is emptiness of death.

But if we want to find more—if we want to find everlasting, eternal meaning—then we must look beyond ourselves. For some, life is just a competition where we try to beat everyone else. But God asks us not to be better than everyone else. God asks us to be our best selves. We are expected to lead healthy, rewarding lives, while always remembering that our bodies, minds, and our souls are not our own. They are gifts that ultimately come from God, given through the families and communities that raised us.

We must be our best selves, not just for ourselves, but for God and for other human beings. Through Christ, the Bread of Heaven, God asks us to live loving lives according to the Great Commandment: To love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Most of us are not Olympic athletes, but all of us, in our own way, seek some kind of glory or success, and to do so we must feed our minds, bodies, and souls. But as we do so, we should remember that true nourishment comes from faith not just in ourselves, but also faith in God and other human beings. And we must also remember that success and true glory should come not just for ourselves, but for God and for others as well. A gold medal is not just the triumph of one spirit, it is the triumph of all spirits. It is the triumph of the capital “S” Spirit.

Amen.