The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the action of the plan of God for the people of Israel under the leadership of David as a connection to our meditation on the mystery of evil and the mystery of the Love of God for us in spite of our poor choices.
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| Reflection on the Spirit |
In the passage from the Second Book of Samuel, David is anointed King of all Israel and Jerusalem is made capital of the Combined Kingdom.
* [5:6–12] David’s most important military exploit, the taking of Jerusalem, is here presented before his battles with the Philistines, vv. 17–25, which took place earlier. The sense of vv. 6 and 8 is in doubt. Perhaps the Jebusites boasted that Jerusalem was impregnable, using a metaphorical or proverbial expression that claimed the city was defensible even by people not suited for military action. The saying then received a different sense (v. 8), to the effect that “the blind and the lame” were David’s enemies. Mt 21:14 and Lk 14:13 seem to play off, and transform, this saying.1
Psalm 89 praises how the Davidic king became king of earthly kings.
* [Psalm 89] The community laments the defeat of the Davidic king, to whom God promised kingship as enduring as the heavens (Ps 89:2–5). The Psalm narrates how God became king of the divine beings (Ps 89:6–9) and how the Davidic king became king of earthly kings (Ps 89:20–38). Since the defeat of the king calls into question God’s promise, the community ardently prays God to be faithful to the original promise to David (Ps 89:39–52).2
In the Gospel from Mark, Jesus counters assertions of the Scribes of His connection to Beelzebul and warns against blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
* [3:29] Whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit: this sin is called an everlasting sin because it attributes to Satan, who is the power of evil, what is actually the work of the holy Spirit, namely, victory over the demons.3
Andy Alexander, S.J. remembers hearing a priest share that if he preached like Pope Francis - as he felt drawn to - he wouldn't be able to put a new roof on his parish church, because the people wouldn't like his preaching very much.
I think the invitation and the grace being offered each of us today comes in the form of a couple of movements. The first is the invitation to renew our personal relationship with Jesus. In doing so, we might discover any resistance we feel to being called to love and be merciful, the very way he has loved and been merciful to us. That's where the grace comes in. It is a gift from the Holy Spirit which will lead us to greater freedom and greater closeness with Jesus. Secondly, we can all examine any ways we might be demoralizing others. Do I find myself in any oppositional relationship with someone close to me? Is there something I can learn from that? I often discover then when I am about to judge someone or just feel deep opposition to someone, I can explore what's underneath all that tension and discover something in me I need to look at. For example, I may get upset at someone who is not living up to something I value deeply. So, I get all judgmental about it. If I stop and reflect on it a bit, I can often discover that there is some issue of resisting authority, which is also in me, and that reflection can be both freeing and allow mercy and compassion to replace my judgment of the other person.4
Don Schwager quotes “The cross of Christ as victory,” by St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"It is not difficult, therefore, to see how the devil was conquered when he, who was slain by him, rose again. But there is something greater and more profound of comprehension: to see how the devil was conquered precisely when he was thought to be conquering, namely, when Christ was crucified. For at that moment the blood of him who had no sin at all, was shed for the remission of our sins (Matthew 26:28, 1 John 3:5). The devil deservedly held those whom he had bound by sin to the condition of death. So it happened that One who was guilty of no sin freed them justly from this condemnation (Hebrews 2:14). The strong man was conquered by this paradoxical justice and bound by this chain, that his vessels [booty] might be taken away. Those vessels which had been vessels of wrath were turned into vessels of mercy (Romans 9:22-23)." (excerpt ON THE TRINITY 13.15.19)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Psalm 89:20-22, 25-26 observes that a lot happened in those years between David’s anointing and his coronation—and God was with him through all the ups and downs. There was his time as an armor bearer and musician in King Saul’s court and the epic showdown between him and Goliath. On numerous occasions, God protected David when Saul was hunting him down. There was also the way he helped David gain victory in the civil war with Saul’s successors. Looking back, David could certainly say with the psalmist that God’s faithfulness had been with him.
Today, take a few minutes to ask God, “When have you shown me your faithfulness?” As you reflect on the past, try to trace the hand of the Lord through the different seasons and milestones of your life. Perhaps he helped you through a difficult health crisis or a challenging season with one of your kids. Maybe you experienced a financial setback and you saw God provide. Or maybe you strayed from your faith for a time but came back to the Lord through the faithful witness or intercession of a friend or relative.6
Friar Jude Winkler shares some history of the end of rule by Saul’s family as David is crowned to become a shepherd of Israel. There may be a clever wordplay in the name Beelzebul as connecting to “Lord of the Flies”. Friar Jude recalls the writing of St. John Paul II on blasphemy against the Spirit.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, finds it amazing how religion has turned the biblical idea of faith around 180 degrees—into a need and even a right to certain knowing, complete predictability, and perfect assurance about whom and what God likes or doesn’t like.
In the fourth century, as the Christian church moved from bottom to the top, where it was protected and pampered by the Roman Empire, people like Anthony of the Desert, John Cassian, Evagrius Ponticus, and the early monks went off to the deserts to keep growing in the Spirit. They found the Church’s newfound privilege—and the loss of Jesus’ core values—unacceptable. It was in these deserts that a different mind called contemplation was first formally taught.
The Desert Fathers and Mothers gave birth to what we call the apophatic tradition, knowing by silence and symbols, and not even needing to know with words. It amounted to a deep insight into the nature of faith that was eventually called the “cloud of unknowing” or the balancing of knowing with not needing to know. Deep acceptance of ultimate mystery is ironically the best way to keep the mind and heart spaces always open and always growing.7
The reign of David contained examples of the mysterious action of the Spirit of God that may invite contemplation of the events in our lives that are encounters with the Spirit in amazing and mysterious occasions of Grace.
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