Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
I had the great privilege of attending Duke University for graduate school, where I did, indeed, get to see some of the basketball games. (Non-Duke fans - I hope you won't hold this against me...) I remember watching a game once where the top players started the game, but by the end Duke was so far ahead, that younger less experienced players were out there on the court. It was fascinating to compare: the star players were agile, acrobatic, and had their moves coordinated and timed; the less-experienced players had far less control of their bodies, and therefore, of the game. Despite the fact that both groups were on the same "team" the differences in training led to apparently small differences between their actions that made all the difference when it came to playing the game.
I was thinking about that game when I read today's scriptures, for I think today's theme is "training." In Paul's letter (1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b-27), he speaks about the discipline needed to be a disciple. First of all, what I find curious in this passage is the way Paul says he is free in all things, but a slave to all? What can that possibly mean? There is a clue in my analogy to the basketball game. Which of those groups of players is less "free" (in the sense of doing whatever they want) in the middle of a game? To a certain extent, I think the more experienced players are the least free to do whatever they want, because they have practiced and trained their bodies to respond in certain ways. They practice the three-pointers and maneuvering the ball in all sorts of set-up situations in practice, so that when the stakes are high, their bodies will take over and respond to the situation just as easily and calmly as they did in practice. By contrast, the less experienced players were more likely to freak out mid-game, because their bodies were not quite as trained, but were more free to do whatever they wanted (including freak out).
"Run so as to win," Paul tells us. I think part of today's message is that training to "run to win" this Christian race will make us seem and feel less free in some respects, as we train and train more intensely. For instance, I can think of the example of working at a soup kitchen. Doing it once is certainly good; making a commitment to it every week is tougher and requires more discipline. The more one works weekly at that soup kitchen, the less free one will feel to "skip" the soup kitchen that week, because the more one will feel its loss.
Jesus' admonition about training in today's gospel (Luke 6:39-42) is that we should seek to be like our teacher, that is, like Jesus himself. Perhaps more importantly, we should never think our training is "done," that we have finished working toward our goal. To do that would be to ignore the "log" in our own eyes.
What kind of training are Christians called to do? Some of it is physical training: we have clues about this in the letter to the Corinthians we've been reading the past few weeks. For instance, Paul says we shouldn't eat meat if that will cause offense, but in this same letter Paul also speaks about the importance of celibacy, chaste marriage (both of which certainly requirement constant commitment and training!), and acting well in worship. In Jesus' teachings, it becomes clear that part of the disciplines required of Christians are acts of generosity, kindness, hospitality, to name a few.
Today let us reflect on our own training programs in this life to which Christ has called us? What disciplines do we need to add? In what parts of our lives are we acting so "free" that we have become free of the gospel itself?
- Jana M. Bennett