Sunday Homily, December 21, 2014, 4th Advent, B cycle
Readings:
2 Samuel 7, 1-16, Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me. (A good read)
Psalm 89, Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Romans 16, 25-27, To him who can strengthen you.
Luke 1, 26-28, The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin.
Samuel observations:
Who : there are 4 books, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings. And there are 4 rulers of Israel, namely, Samuel, who was the last judge of the people, Saul, David, and Solomon, who were kings. These 4 books are some of the best reading in the Bible.
Samuel was called by God himself in a series of dreams Samuel had one night when he was in the service of the priest Eli. He was the last of the peoples' judges and he anointed Saul the first king.
Date: Bible scholars consider the 4 books to be a compilation of a bunch of sources, beginning around 800 before Christ and finally coming together as a whole, guess when, yes, the Babylonian Captivity, 555 before Christ.
Today's selection: 2 characters, King David and Nathan, the prophet. David is now king and wants to build a temple for God. Nathan says that God does not want a temple, but that God, nevertheless, will bless him, his family, and the people. The temple will be built eventually by David's son, Solomon. This is chapter 7 today. Chapter 6 is good, but 11 is one of my most favorite chapters in the bible. In our homily today, I want to tell you the story of how Solomon came to be David's son, which is described in chapter 11.
King David
This morning I would like to talk about King David. He is our story of the week. In fact, there are numerous good stories about David. For instance, he is the David who as a youth kills Goliath with his sling shot after Goliath has scared half to death the Israelite army.
As with all human events, there was a down side to this achievement. Saul, the king becomes jealous of David’s popularity and will spend much of his later years trying to kill David.
A second marvelous story takes place in chapter 6, right before our chapter. David is bringing into Jerusalem the arc of the covenant, which was housed in a tent or portable house. As the procession enters Jerusalem, David strips down to his shorts and dances for joy as he leads the procession.
His wife Mical is watching from her second floor window and she is disgusted. She tells David this when he comes into their home and he responds that he will always dance before the Lord. Guess what. God is not pleased with Mical’s disgust and because of that she never has any children. The lesson: don’t mock me when I dance.
The most amazing story is this. You won't find this excellent reading in any of the 3 cycles of the Lectionary.
One day David is strolling around the roof of his house. He looks over to his neighbors’ house and sees a beautiful woman bathing. He enquires into who she is and invites her over for a neighborly dinner. Guess what happens. Yes, he falls madly in love with her and they get together.
The trouble is, the woman, the famous Bathsheba, is married to Uriah, a soldier in David’s army. The army is away on maneuvers.
So David has Uriah brought back to Jerusalem. He invites him to dinner, gets him totally drunk, and sends him home to spend the night with Bathsheba. Unfortunately, Uriah, a man of honor, will not sleep under his roof while his soldier comrades are out sleeping on the ground. Uriah sleeps on his door step. A complication for David.
So David sends Uriah back to the army, but sends with him a note which tells the commander that he is to place Uriah at the front of the troops in the next battle. At the peak of the battle, pull the soldiers back and leave Uriah alone.
So, Uriah gets killed. David marries Bathsheba. End of story, happy ending? No.
The prophet Nathan is still around. God sends Nathan to tell David a parable about a rich guy who steals the favorite lamb of a poor man. Nathan asks what should be done to that rich man? David is angry and says he deserves a severe punishment. Nathan says, “You are that rich man.” David repents and does penance.
Meanwhile, Bathsheba has a baby, a little boy, their little love child. The name of this little boy? Solomon.
Why I find this story fascinating and consoling? God has accepted the child of David and Bathsheba, even though conceived in less than positive circumstances. Moreover, David continues to be favored and blessed with enormous success by God despite being less than saintly.
We, too, are often less than saintly. How do you know that you are still favored and blessed by God?
