CCC 210-211: God of mercy
CCC 1825, 1935, 1968, 2303, 2647, 2842-2845:
Forgiveness of enemies
CCC 359, 504: Christ as the New Adam
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| “Saul and David” Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, c. 1655 |
First Reading: [4]
In those days, Saul went down to
the desert of Ziph
with three thousand picked men of
Israel,
to search for David in the desert
of Ziph.
So David and Abishai went among
Saul’s soldiers by night
and found Saul lying asleep within
the barricade,
with his spear thrust into the
ground at his head
and Abner and his men sleeping
around him.
Abishai whispered to David:
“God has delivered your enemy into
your grasp this day.
Let me nail him to the ground with
one thrust of the spear;
I will not need a second thrust!”
But David said to Abishai, “Do not
harm him,
for who can lay hands on the LORD’s
anointed and remain unpunished?”
So David took the spear and the
water jug from their place at Saul’s head,
and they got away without anyone’s
seeing or knowing or awakening.
All remained asleep,
because the LORD had put them into
a deep slumber.
Going across to an opposite slope,
David stood on a remote hilltop
at a great distance from Abner, son
of Ner, and the troops.
He said: “Here is the king’s spear.
Let an attendant come over to get
it.
The LORD will reward each man for
his justice and faithfulness.
Today, though the LORD delivered
you into my grasp,
I would not harm the LORD’S
anointed.”
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Commentary on 1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
This passage depicts the last
meeting between King Saul and David, his ultimate successor. David’s king-like
character is shown here as he prevents Abishai, a rather violent person (2 Samuel 19:22) and a son
of David’s sister (see 1 Chronicles 2:16), from
killing Saul as he slept. This encounter shows not only the positive trait of
mercy in David, but also God’s favor on him as Abner, Saul’s body guard, and
the king are put into a deep sleep, presumably by God. This refusal on the part
of David to harm “the LORD’s anointed” echoes the his earlier statement
in chapter 24 (1 Samuel 24; 7).
“The text once again shows David’s
compassion and mercy (‘the Lord gave you into my hand today…’: v. 23); we can
see in him the future king, because mercy is a perfection proper to God and
therefore a virtue to be expected of any representative of his and of everyone
who wants to be like God (cf. Luke 6:36).” [5]
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Responsorial Psalm:
R. (8a) The Lord is kind and
merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy
name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from
destruction,
crowns you with kindness and
compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in
kindness.
Not according to our sins does he
deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to
our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
As far as the east is from the
west,
so far has he put our
transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his
children,
so the LORD has compassion on those
who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
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Commentary on Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13
Psalm 103 is a hymn of praise (and
thanksgiving). It is a simple and beautiful reaction to God’s goodness.
Remembering God’s promise of mercy for the innocent, these strophes praise God
for his compassion and give thanks for his salvation.
CCC: Ps 103 304
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Reading 2:
Brothers and sisters:
It is written, The first man, Adam,
became a living being,
the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
But the spiritual was not first;
rather the natural and then the
spiritual.
The first man was from the earth,
earthly;
the second man, from heaven.
As was the earthly one, so also are
the earthly,
and as is the heavenly one, so also
are the heavenly.
Just as we have borne the image of
the earthly one,
we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly one.
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Commentary on 1 Cor 15:45-49
St. Paul uses the analogy of the
creation of the first earthly being Adam, and compares that physical form to
the first born of the dead in Christ who had both earthly form and became the
“New Adam” in the resurrection.
St. Paul is eloquent in describing
the difference from the earthly form and the resurrected body. Where the
earthly form may be flawed, the spiritual body in the resurrection will be
perfect. He envisions a resurrected body with the qualities of glory, power, and
spirituality which is a creation in God’s heavenly image. “The contrast
between Adam and Christ shows that by nature we get a body from Adam that
is physical, earthly, and mortal; and by grace we expect a body from Christ
that is spiritual, heavenly, and immortal (1
Corinthians 15:21-22). Paul draws on Genesis 2:7 to
hint that Adam’s creation bears a certain likeness to Christ’s Resurrection.
Just as Adam’s body was raised from the earth by the breath of natural
life, so Christ’s body was raised from the earth by the Spirit of supernatural
life. It is this life-giving Spirit, now channeled to the world through
the sacrament of Christ’s risen humanity, that will raise our bodies also (Romans 8:11).” [6]
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Gospel:
Jesus said to his disciples:
"To you who hear I say,
love your enemies, do good to those
who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for
those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on
one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your
cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is
yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them
do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love
them.
And if you do good to those who do
good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from
whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and
do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the
Most High,
for he himself is kind to the
ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is
merciful.
"Stop judging and you will not
be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be
condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to
you;
a good measure, packed together,
shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you
measure
will in return be measured out to
you."
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Commentary on Lk 6:27-38
This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel
continues the Sermon on the Plain. In this section, Jesus extends the
commandment to love one’s neighbor to include one’s enemy, breaking new ground
in the interpretation of Mosaic Law. What follows is an extension of each of
the laws governing hospitality and continues by extending even the judicial
laws that govern dispute resolution. In the conclusion of this section, the
Lord exhorts the disciples to embrace forgiveness, saying, “For the measure
with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
CCC: Lk
6:28 1669; Lk 6:31 1789, 1970; Lk 6:36 1458, 2842
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Reflection:
There
are times when most Christians wish that God had created us without free will;
that he had given us a perfect sense of obedience the way the angels were
created. If that were the case, there
would be no crime, no want, and no war.
Why? Because every person would love God and obedience to God’s law
would dominate their will. Such a world,
however, would not be the paradise we might imagine. Rather, it would be like a slave camp, every
person doing what the must do with no sense of freedom of thought.
It is
for this purpose that the author of 1 Samuel wrote about the virtue of mercy so
eloquently expressed by David. David, Saul,
his arch enemy and would-be assassin, was laying asleep at his feet. He only
needed to accept his servants offer to kill Saul and that danger and his
persecution would end. Yet King Saul was
anointed by God and David would not betray his God through disobedience. We should be mindful of the quote from the
Navarre Commentary on this passage, which in turn points to our Gospel: “because mercy is a perfection proper to God and therefore a
virtue to be expected of any representative of his and of everyone who wants to
be like God.”
If we
were created without free will, the Lord would not have found it necessary to
clarify the words of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and Leviticus
19:18 which were combined to create his
Great Commandment: Love God and love others. And this is exactly what he does
in Luke’s account of his “Sermon on the Plain.” We are reminded that we must
not only love those who love us, but love those who hate us. We must not only be generous to those who
would reciprocate, and be generous to us, but give freely to those from whom we
should expect no repayment.
This
is the great challenge of discipleship.
Oh, we may find it easy to be virtuous to the poor whom we do not know personally,
or charitable to organizations that serve them.
But what about the son in-law who beats your daughter, or the neighbor
who screams obscenities at your children?
Where is your Christian love when these kinds of personal attacks occur?
And I don’t think I have to mention the political divisions that are common
now. Where is our love for those who
oppose our views?
The Lords
words need to strike a chord within our hearts today. We were not created with absolute obedience
to God, but our Savior expects us to develop that attitude of our own free
will.
Pax
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation
for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2]
The picture is “Saul and David” Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, c. 1655.
[4]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the
psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
[5]
The Navarre Bible: “Joshua-Kings”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003,
p. 301
[6]
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius
Press, San Francisco, CA. p. 308.
