First Reading: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
Reflection:
Saul was the first king of Israel, but he disobeyed God without repenting and, therefore, God chose to replace him with a new king, David. Through the Lord’s guidance, the prophet Samuel had chosen and anointed David as the next king of Israel. David then gained great fame by slaying the giant Goliath. But he could not take the throne until Saul, the still reigning king, was dead. Meanwhile, Saul became jealous of David, seeing him as a threat to his power and authority. Therefore, he began to hunt David down in order to kill him. David fled to the wilderness of Judea. This was a trying time for David and, in fact, he wrote many of the Psalms of lamentation during his time in the desert. He knew God had a plan for him and had called him to be the next king of Israel but he must have still feared for his life and wondered how that would come to be when the current king had an army chasing after him to kill him. This Sunday’s first reading shows the great character and faith of David. He had the opportunity to kill Saul in his sleep, end the chase, and take his rightful place on the throne of Israel. But David recognized that the Lord was in control, not him. David recognized that Saul was still king and, thus, he was “the Lord’s anointed.” David could not take things into his own hands and kill “the Lord’s anointed,” so he took Saul’s spear and water jug instead, in order to be able to teach a lesson to Saul and hope that Saul would get the message and stop the hunt. In essence, David was living by the “Golden Rule” we will hear in this Sunday’s gospel reading: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” David said, “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.” He was basically saying to Saul, “Look how I treated you. I would expect you to treat me the same.” David was also “the Lord’s anointed.” David was reminding Saul that there would be judgment on him if he harmed the Lord’s anointed. To conclude, David took the higher ground, trusted in the Lord’s plan, was merciful, and treat Saul as he would want to be treated, especially if Saul had the same type of easy opportunity to kill David. We can learn from David’s faith and courage to do what is right, even when it is not the path of least resistance.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:45-49
Reflection:
Here the Apostle Paul compares Jesus, the second Adam, with the first man, Adam. This kind of comparison is called a type. Typology is the study of these relationships in Scripture in which something from the Old Testament is fulfilled, or brought to completion, in the New Testament. In other words, types are people, places, and events found in the Old Testament that foreshadow those in the New Testament. The most explicit example in the Bible is Jesus being the new Adam. The two are similar figures in that each man represents all of humanity. They are contrasted, however, in that Adam failed, was unfaithful to God, and led humanity into sin and death, whereas Jesus succeeded, remained faithful, and leads humanity into salvation. As St. Paul articulates here, Adam was “natural” and “earthly,” whereas Jesus is “spiritual” and “heavenly.” In other words, Adam was merely human, but Jesus is divine. The good news is that while we bear the human nature (“image”) of Adam and the fallenness that comes with that, we can also bear the divine nature (“image”) of Jesus. Through Jesus, what was broken through Adam can be restored. We can enter heaven, which is the new Garden of Eden, because Jesus–as both God and man–bridged the gap between humanity and God, allowing us to be set free from the bondage of sin and brought to new life. Which path will you follow? The path of the first man, Adam, or the last Adam, Jesus?
Gospel Reading: Luke 6:27-38
Reflection:
In this Sunday’s gospel reading we hear the continuation of St. Luke’s articulation of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. Here we have many of the famous moral teachings of Jesus, including concepts such as “turn the other cheek,” “do to others as you would have them do to you,” “love your enemies,” and “stop judging.” While these have made good bumper sticker one-liners and, therefore, are well-known teachings of Jesus, a bumper sticker doesn’t quite do justice to the depth of these teachings. If we look back at the first reading, we see a profound example of what Jesus was talking about. David exemplified the moral teachings of Jesus by choosing to love his enemy, Saul, and doing “good to those who hate[d]” him. Saul had tried to kill David, but when Saul’s life was placed in David’s hands, he “turned the other cheek” and did to Saul what he would have him do back to him. David was “merciful, just as [his] Father is merciful.” David forgave and he gave and in return God forgave him (think, most especially, of David’s serious sins with Bathsheba) and gave him an abundance, raising him up to be a successful king of Israel who began a great dynasty that would culminate with Jesus as the new Davidic king (note: David was a type of Jesus). In many ways, we are all like Saul, having made ourselves enemies of God through our sinfulness. We deserve to die. But Jesus is merciful. He offers us forgiveness. We are “the ungrateful and the wicked,” whom God has chosen to save and make into “children of the Most High.” We are called to return His love and mercy by showing it to others, most especially our enemies. There is no one outside of God’s love, even the most hardened atheist or the worst of serial killers and, therefore, no one should be outside of our love as Christians. Our sins made us enemies of God, but God loves us unconditionally anyways. Let us, therefore, “do to others as [we] would have them do to [us].”
Application:
- Reflect on David’s actions in the first reading. How could you emulate his faith, mercy, and courage?
- Reread the teachings of Jesus in the gospel reading. Which statements challenge you the most? How could you better live these ideals?
