Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 327

Like the choice fat of the sacred offerings,
so was David in Israel. He made sport of lions as though they were kids, and of bears, like lambs of the flock.



Our first reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus (Jesus ben Sirach) lionizes King David, the slayer of lions. It is probably addressed to children, especially boys, who love to hear stories about heroes. Adults also celebrate heroes but don't generally get carried away with them. 

What Sirach doesn't celebrate may be as interesting as what he does. His David is a courageous shepherd, a champion against long odd in his battle with the giant Goliath, and a warrior king who completely vanquished the Philistine threat. It doesn't hurt that the women were gaga over him, a Justin Bieber of his day.  What boy wouldn't like that? 

Wisdom literature heartily approves David's piety. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: 

With his every deed he offered thanks to God Most High, in words of praise. With his whole being he loved his Maker and daily had his praises sung.

Sirach alludes to David's sins only in passing, "The LORD forgave him his sins...."

We can remember King David, the son of Jesse, the shepherd king and ancestor of Jesus as a flawed human being with whom the Lord did great things. If he was "larger than life" we're used to seeing larger than life champions rise and fall like loaves of dough on the window shelf. They're puffed up and deflated and puffed up again. They're heroes; they're fools; they're heroes again. 

They serve a purpose and can be useful toward ends more important than themselves. 

I think of David as history's first penitent, and for that I admire him. The Lord used this clownish champion, this wise fool to show us how deep his forgiveness runs. It is far deeper than any of us could have imagined. Even our secret sins -- though the affair with Bathsheba was hardly a secret -- can be forgiven when we honestly repent and are willing to make some kind of atonement. 

Despite his remorse and God's gracious mercy, that atonement was ultimately impossible for David. He could not bring Uriah back from the dead. But he could allow himself to be forgiven because he was still the king and he could not afford to be crushed by remorse. Life goes on. When Bathsheba's infant was sick David pleaded for mercy in sackcloth and ashes; when the baby died he got up, washed his face and went back to governing the nation. What else can one do? God is good. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord. 

David's heir, Jesus, also leads us in the way of penance. Though guiltless, he takes our guilt upon himself and carries it with us. Adults have heroes too, but we see their clay feet. They are just people like you and me. As Saint Paul said, 

... we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.