The gospel for the Wednesday Eucharist this week was from Matthew 21. It concluded with verse 32, which, in the NRSV reads, "Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors."
Most interpreters understand this as a Jewish proverb meant to convey something along the lines of, "Go ahead then, and finish what you're ancestors started because you're just like them."
In Wednesday's homily I suggested that we could perhaps understand that saying a bit differently. For example, if our ancestors began something or were involved in something that needs to be ended, "filling the measure of our ancestors" might mean stopping that practice. Conversely, if our ancestors didn't do something that clearly now needs doing, "filling the measure of our ancestors" could be understood as beginning or doing what they left undone.
In either case, whether stopping something or starting something, we also do well to "fill up the measure of our ancestors" by remembering that they, like we, were complex and complicated people living in particular historical circumstances. They, like we, were constrained by many contingencies. So, the least we can do is neither sugarcoat their record nor vilify them for their shortcomings.
Generally speaking, most people in most circumstances are doing the best they can. Generally speaking, we have no idea what other people are experiencing internally, whether they are our ancestors or our closest contemporary companions. So, let's give one another the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume good intentions until shown otherwise. Let's be the body of Christ given for the world God has made.
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