October 2, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

More days than not, I watch some form of baseball. Practices, games, and highlights from previous games all dance across my vision. Sometimes I settle in willingly; other times it’s an enthusiastic, “Watch this, Mom!” that has me turning my head. The games I watch most closely—in terms of both interest level and physical proximity—are those played by my son and his cohort of 11-and-under buddies.

So I hear the first couple of verses of this passage from Luke with Jesus taking on the tone of a youth baseball coach. Let me paraphrase a bit. Imagine, if you will, a group of youngsters surveying the schedule for the weekend tournament and then saying to their coach, “Increase our skill.” (You can decide for yourself the degree of attitude in their tone.)

And their coach, having chosen them months earlier from a field of players, having worked through endless drills and pitched countless balls for batting practice, having reviewed previous games with them, says with a twinge of frustration, “If you had as much skill as this water bottle, you could say to the ball, ‘Sail off the end of my bat and over the fence,’ and it would listen to you.”