I grew up sailing more by family hobby than preference. I did not enjoy the tension sometimes on the boat. Part of the tension was generated as the lapping of the water and the cool of the breeze draws one away for one's task as a crew. A sail will luff when you are on a steady course because you neglect to trim it in. Or the helmsman calls, "Going about" and you have wandered too far in your imagination to react quickly enough.
When I could go out alone I found a certain joy. There was no judgment from my father or brother. I could trim the sail as I liked, neglect choosing a course for awhile, sing out loud with no protest. I could even turn the boat over well into the river and practice righting it again. Yet when it was time to head home, I needed to use my skill. One had to note the wind well, judge which tack to make and when. It was important to note the amount of wind so you could estimate your timing and not be out beyond sunset. I actually was pretty good about the homeward journey. The boundaries of time were an aid to me.
Two images of scripture today are both helpful and troubling to me. The first is the judgment on the house of Eli. The priesthood is about to be removed from him and his sons. The sons have broken faith, proved greedy with what was not theirs but gifts to God by God's people. This priesthood was to be a linage, to go on for ever. However it was by the third generation taken as a right not a privilege and thus there was no watchfulness about its gifts and its boundaries.
As a priest myself I know this tension. One wants to pray well and often so as to be grounded. Other tasks and duties impinge or prayer grows dull. You drift a bit. People's problems come to you and some seem worthy and others less so. Yet you are called to be faithful to both. You find joy at the altar aiding God's word to be lively and the sacraments to have meaning. Someone gets obsessed by a detail missed or a sermon they dislike and you feel your efforts are lost. It can be hard to remember it is your role that is being criticized and not your person. You drift a little from people and God sometimes.
Then you come upon Samuel and Eli and in the judgment you realize there are core expectations. Live as truly as you can to God's word as you understand it. Take less for granted as yours by some right. Handle holy things and holy people with the care you hope for in God. Sometimes that is judgment. Often it is receiving the gifts of one another's lives so you can journey well as a "crew", a people.
This journey is as true for those not ordained yet baptized into Christ's life. Prayer, faithfulness, the Word entered and lived, the sacraments taken for troubling and healing are for us all. The distractions of other responsibilities are not distractions but are arenas of devotion and service. That can be challenging to remember.
Secondly we have the Gospel with Jesus doing theology on the Messiah. His point is the overarching authority of the Messiah. The Messiah may be of the lineage of David but he is far superior, worthy of full worship. Do not confuse those in sacred roles with the One they represent. All can lose their way, devour the wrong things, hold the wrong practice. Ouch I think.
Then he holds up the poor widow whose whole focus on the moment he observes her is on God. She gives a tiny gift of profound import for it is all she has for now. Others tithe perhaps from their abundance. Abundance gets noticed usually.
It is humbling to notice that we can be righted by small observations of great worth. They are always there. A child gives you a hug and an awful day is back on course for now. A generous smile comes from the unexpected, a door held open, a polite "sir" or "ma'am" and you are brought back to your center of worth. Or someone tells a truth you need, forgives an error or a luff in the sail, gently shows you how to handle the tiller, be it on a boat or the tiller of some moral value applied, and you see your worth and possibility as one who bares God's image.
In a world so puffed up with self import and building grand lives, it helps to be righted by some observed goodness and grace. We all need times of such judgment be it small and momentarily a corrective or be it large and core to our identities as creatures made to give God our glory which is but God's glory reflected back.
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