The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the heritage of grace that has enlightened the journey of our ancestors toward truth and beauty.
Grace to Love on the Way
The reading from the Second Book of Samuel is David’s Prayer of Thanksgiving.
* [7:16] The unconditional promise made here, and reflected in Ps 89:34–35, stands in contrast to the tradition in Ps 132:12, where the continuation of the line of David depends on their fidelity to the Lord; cf. also 1 Kgs 2:4; 6:12; 8:25.1
Psalm 132 praises the Eternal Dwelling of God in Zion.
* [Psalm 132] A song for a liturgical ceremony in which the ark, the throne of Israel’s God, was carried in procession to the Temple. The singer asks that David’s care for the proper housing of the ark be regarded with favor (Ps 132:1–5), and tells how it was brought to Jerusalem (Ps 132:6–10). There follows God’s promise of favor to the Davidic dynasty (Ps 132:11–12) and to Zion (Ps 132:13–17). The transfer of the ark to the tent in Jerusalem is described in 2 Sm 6.2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus teaches about a lamp under a bushel basket.
* [4:1–34] In parables (Mk 4:2): see note on Mt 13:3. The use of parables is typical of Jesus’ enigmatic method of teaching the crowds (Mk 4:2–9, 12) as compared with the interpretation of the parables he gives to his disciples (Mk 4:10–25, 33–34) to each group according to its capacity to understand (Mk 4:9–11). 3
Jay Carney comments that David exhorts God to remember his special covenant with Israel. He recognizes that the people of Israel are not David’s people, but God’s people. Kings and prophets matter, but it is not a king or a prophet who will determine the fate of the people. Rather, Israel’s identity rises and falls with God’s power, God’s grace, and God’s covenantal relationship.
This is an important lesson for all of us. It can be all too easy to place our faith in a particular leader or ideology. It is also so easy to lose our faith because of the public sins of religious leaders, or the hypocrisies of kings and politicians who invoke the name of Jesus while contravening the heart of the gospel message. As we will see in the days to come, David himself soon falls from grace, blinded by his own power and sense of royal entitlement. Yet David reminds us today that our ultimate identity is grounded not in a political or religious leader, but in God’s love and relationship for and with us. David’s most important legacy lay not with his questionable morality, his military victories, or his political success, but rather with his desire to sustain an authentic relationship with God, whether in the midst of triumph or failure. May we do likewise.4
Don Schwager quotes “Called to shine in the midst of darkness,” by Tertullian, 160-225 A.D.
"Why does the Lord call us the light of the world? Why has he compared us to a city on a hill (Matthew 5:14)? Are we not called to shine in the midst of darkness, and stand up high for those most sunk down? If you hide your lamp beneath a bushel (Matthew 5:15; Luke 8:16, 11:33), you will soon notice that you yourself will be in the dark. You will find others bumping into you. So what can you do to illumine the world? Let your faith produce good works. Be a reflection of God's light. The good is not preoccupied with darkness. It rejoices in being seen (John 3:21). It exults over the very pointings which are made at it. Christian modesty not only wishes to be modest, but also it wishes to be beheld as what it actually is." (excerpt from ON THE APPAREL OF WOMEN 2.13)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 4:21-25 comments that all Jesus is asking us to do is not hide his light. In other words, he is asking us to simply live out our faith. This means letting our actions and words reflect the love of God. Simple acts of generosity and humility and compassionate words of forgiveness and encouragement are all we need to begin, and his light will start to shine. If we can do just that, then people will notice, and opportunities to share our faith will arise naturally. That’s because the Holy Spirit, who is the fire of God’s love, will be working through us.
So shine the light of Christ, and trust that the Holy Spirit will take care of the rest. It’s true that not everyone will receive the light, but that’s okay. You don’t know God’s plan for them. It’s not for you to decide who is ready for Jesus and who is not. Just keep living out your faith, and rejoice that God has chosen you to be a light in the world. “Lord, help me to shine your light today.”6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the transition to a ruling dynasty under David. The wisdom sayings in the Gospel indicate that there is no such thing as a secret sin. Friar Jude reminds us that faith grows if we have some and shrinks if we do not have it.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Reverend Dr. Jacqui Lewis, who shares how a broad examination of scripture emboldened her to trust in God’s expansive love for all people, even when the church excludes them.
My own view came into clearer focus when, at the suggestion of one of my teachers, I read a book by Chris Glaser. . . . Reading his story, it was clear that Chris was born gay—thus was gay by design—and so he hadn’t broken any laws! As the psalmist wrote, every human being is “awesomely and wonderfully made” [Psalm 139:14] just as they are. To me, this meant that if any of us are created in the divine image, my gay friends are, too. I found a sense of kinship with my LGBTQIA+ colleagues, and my heart expanded. They deserved justice, welcome, and acceptance. These were my people, my posse; I would not leave them behind. Their stories and their struggles converted me from “What does the Bible say?” to new questions: What is the context in which the Bible says that? And does that make sense? And is that right? And does it square with Love? [1]7
Minister and activist William Sloane Coffin Jr. (1924–2006) urges readers to rely on the integrity of love rather than our own limited and limiting judgments.
[There] are those who prefer certainty to truth, those in church who put the purity of dogma ahead of the integrity of love. And what a distortion of the gospel it is to have limited sympathies and unlimited certainties, when the very reverse, to have limited certainties but unlimited sympathies, is not only more tolerant but far more Christian. For “who has known the mind of God?” [Romans 11:34] And didn’t Paul also insist that if we fail in love we fail in all other things? [2]7
Like David, our recognition of the role of God’s grace in our fullness of life, opens us to greater faith in the promptings of the Spirit on our journey.
References
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