Another thought for ... Tuesday

+
I wonder how the apostles could write gospels that still apply hundreds of years later and in many different cultures, with themes often simple to understand, if not simple to execute. In my first reading of this gospel I concluded the friends had made up phony excuses to decline the dinner invitation, but there is no indication they weren't honest. Maybe the master just presumed that, too, when he says "none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.” Maybe he was just frustrated. What is the theme of this passage for us, then?

Is Jesus's message simply to say the master -- and us -- should be open to sometimes reaching out to share our success with those who could really benefit, not just reaching to those that are our friends and easiest to find?

We can't always control the plans of others, but we can make the best of any situation. We can open beyond only those we know -- we can willingly look outside our comfort zones to those who may actually benefit more. And it's not just food we can share, but knowledge and experience and opportunity.

In sports jargon, when a player gives up on a throw or pulls back on an attempt to catch the ball, he is said to have “short-armed” the play, which is to say the player took a less risky path rather than fully extending himself in an effort to complete the play. In this gospel, the master does not short-arm the situation as he could have -- he reached out farther to share his dinner celebration.

I have lived in various US cities and was often cautious to reach beyond my comfort zone and often short-armed opportunities, but when I was willing to more fully extend, I experienced greater joy in the goodness that exists in each person. A smile and sense of humor, along with a large helping of respect for different cultural and life experiences, has helped many flourish and makes this big world a little smaller.

Especially as we enter the season of Thanksgiving, when so many of us are so challenged, try to reach out a little farther -- we can't all hope to personally reach the crippled and lame, but we can stretch just a little farther to reach others with needs.

+