This Sunday’s passage from the Letter to the Hebrews urges us to “rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us, and persevere in running the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:1-2). Maybe like me you grew up hearing the phrase, “Keep your eyes on the prize!” This wisdom in holding what matters most in our sight and in our hearts is echoed here, as well as in Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matt. 6:21).
Jesus, the greatest of teachers, does not merely tell us to fix our eyes on Him - He shows us how. In obedience to the Father and in love of us, He kept His gaze steady, never turning away, both on the Father, through the Father’s Will also on us. And Hebrews continues on to tell us why: “For the sake of the joy that lay before Him, He endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2). That joy before Him was not abstract - it was us: our reconciliation, our communion, our eternal life with Him. We were the joy before Him in Gethsemane, on the road to Calvary, and in the final agony of the cross.
In Jeremiah, we see a prophet lowered into a cistern for speaking truth. Surrounded by mud and darkness, Jeremiah prefigures Christ’s own descent into the “cistern” of our human suffering. Jeremiah could endure because his eyes and heart were fixed on God. Centuries later, Christ Himself would endure the cross because His heart was fixed on His Father and on us as He brought about His loving plan of our salvation and redemption. The Lord’s gaze is not passive or distant; it is intentional, steadfast, and restorative.
In the Gospel, Jesus proclaims, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk. 12:49). This is the fire of His Sacred Heart - a love that purifies, draws, and divides. It requires a decisive “yes” and the surrender of all for the first place in our hearts. To be consumed by this love is to be fixed, as He was, on the Father’s will.
Fixing our eyes on Jesus is both discipline and love. Each day brings distractions - small irritations, personal desires, even good things that can shift our gaze. But when we remember that He always gazes at us with unwavering love, our focus can return and be strengthened.
To run the race of faith, we must fix both eyes and hearts on Jesus, our treasure (Matt. 6:21). And we can do so without growing weary or losing heart (Heb. 12:3) because He first fixed His eyes on us, through loving obedience to the Father’s Will for our salvation. We are the joy that moved Him through the cross to glory. And whatever cisterns or divisions we face for His sake we can endure, because we run toward the One who has never cast us from His sight.
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