The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to cultivate hope as we open ourselves to the prompting of the Spirit to connect more deeply with people who share our relationship with Christ as we work toward love for all aspects of God’s Creation.
Our hope
In the reading from the First Book of Samuel, Samuel anoints David.
* [16:1] David is anointed two more times after Saul’s death (2 Sm 2:4; 5:3). In 17:28, his brother Eliab is not aware of David’s selection. These repetitions and inconsistencies reflect the final editor’s use of multiple sources.1
Psalm 89 praises God’s Covenant with David.
* [89:28] Most High: a divine title, which is here extended to David as God’s own king, cf. Ps 2:7–9; Is 9:5. As God rules over the members of the heavenly council (Ps 89:6–9), so David, God’s surrogate, rules over earthly kings.2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus makes a pronouncement about the Sabbath.
* [2:27] The sabbath was made for man: a reaffirmation of the divine intent of the sabbath to benefit Israel as contrasted with the restrictive Pharisaic tradition added to the law. * [2:28] The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath: Mark’s comment on the theological meaning of the incident is to benefit his Christian readers; see note on Mk 2:10.3
Scott McClure comments that in today's scripture, hope was essential for Samuel, allowing him to overcome his fear of Saul's wrath and embrace God's call. Hope in David's potential was also alive in his anointing - his calling. Indeed, hope is essential to being Jesus' companion. It makes what does not exist in the present exist for us in the future, even if we do not know when.
Even at the moments most filled with darkness and despair, hope is there. Think about Jesus' companion, Peter. Peter denied Jesus not once, not twice, but three times in his hour of need. The anguish Peter must have felt at fulfilling what Jesus had foretold. Can you imagine? And yet, we know that even in that moment and even if Peter couldn't see it, hope was there - hope in God's limitless mercy and love. Hope in Peter's fulfillment of God's plan for him. Who is God calling you to be? Where is Jesus leading you? Despite the unknowns, proceed with hope. Because hope is already with you. Because God is already with you.4
Don Schwager quotes “The Lord of the Sabbath,” by John Chrysostom, 547-407 A.D.
"Doubtless he speaks of himself when he mentions the 'Lord of the sabbath' (Mark 2:28, Matthew 12:8, Luke 6:5). Mark relates a complementary saying about our common human nature, that "the sabbath was made for humans, not humans for the sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Why then should someone who gathered sticks on the sabbath be censured? The law that was established earlier could not be scorned without jeopardizing the law to be given later. "The sabbath did confer many benefits, great blessings in the earlier dispensation. It made people more gentle toward those close to them. It guided them toward being more sympathetic. It located them temporally within God's creation and providence, as Ezekiel knew (Ezekiel 20:19-20). The sabbath trained Israel by degrees to abstain from evil and disposed them to listen to the things of the Spirit. "They would have stretched the law out of shape if, when he was giving the law of the sabbath, Jesus had said, 'You can work on the sabbath, but just do good works, do nothing evil.' This would have brought out the worst in them. So he restrained them from doing any works at all on the sabbath. And even this stricter prohibition did not keep them in line. But he himself, in the very act of giving the law of the sabbath, gave them a veiled sign of things to come. For by saying, 'You must do no work, except what shall be done for your life' (Exodus 12:16), he indicated that the intent of the law was to have them refrain from evil works only, not all works. Even in the temple, much went on during the sabbath, and with great diligence and double toil. Thus even by this very shadowy saying Jesus was secretly opening the truth to them. Did Christ then attempt to repeal a law so beneficial as the sabbath law? Far from it. Rather, he greatly magnified the sabbath. For with Christ came the time for everyone to be trained by a higher requirement."(excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 39.3)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Samuel 16:1-13 comments that what better way to begin this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity than with a reading about a king anointed to unify God’s people? As we look around the world, we see Christian churches divided into camps: Catholics and Protestants and Orthodox. And within those general categories lie many other divisions, both political and religious. A lot of these divisions are centuries old, and the prejudices supporting them may seem to us to be too deeply entrenched to ever be rooted out. Wouldn’t it be great if we also had an anointed leader to bring us all together?
We do: Jesus, the Christ—the Anointed One. As Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa once said, “If we will turn to Christ and go forward together toward him, we Christians will draw closer to each other until we become what he prayed for: to be ‘one with him and with the Father’ (see John 17:9)” (Lenten Sermon, March 18, 2016). If we can keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not on our divisions—if we can ask the Spirit to soften our hearts toward each other—we will find the grace to come together again in love and unity. “Come, Lord Jesus, and give us the Spirit of unity!”6
Friar Jude Winkler cites two transgressions of Saul that may have excluded him from continuing as king. The gathering of a few grains from the field on the Sabbath was not a contravention of the Law except in the religiosity of the Pharisees. Friar Jude reminds us of the connection Jesus makes for himself to the Son of Man in Daniel 7 and to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, reminds us if we think about the Earth as just the environment around us, we experience ourselves and the Earth as separate entities. We may see the planet only in terms of what it can do for us. We need to recognize that the planet and the people on it are ultimately one and the same. Buddhist monk and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh recognizes that our false notion of separateness from the Earth not only creates physical harm but emotional harm as well.
A lot of our fear, hatred, anger, and feelings of separation and alienation come from the idea that we are separate from the planet. We see ourselves as the center of the universe and are concerned primarily with our own personal survival. If we care about the health and well-being of the planet, we do so for our own sake. We want the air to be clean enough for us to breathe. We want the water to be clear enough so that we have something to drink. But we need to do more than use recycled products or donate money to environmental groups. We have to change our whole relationship with the Earth.7
Our anointing as Christians initiates our hope that acting in trust and good faith with our brothers and sisters will generate love that brings us closer together.
References
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