Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 324 

He was mounted on a mule,
and, as the mule passed under the branches of a large terebinth,
his hair caught fast in the tree.
He hung between heaven and earth
while the mule he had been riding ran off.

Terebinth trees are often mentioned in the Bible. Google AI calls them "trees of righteousness" and cites Isaiah 6:13. These oaks are strong and sturdy trees with the miraculous ability to regenerate. When cut down, they sprout and re-grow. Apparently because of their size, strength, longevity, and beauty certain terebinths served as meeting places known and familiar to everyone far and wide. The patriarch Abraham often camped at the terebinth at Mamre; it was there he met the LORD who promised the aged Sarah would have a son by this time next year. Saul with his Hebrew warriors met the Philistines in the Vale of the Terebinth where David slew the giant Goliath. 

Unfortunately, because its sturdy branches would stretch high above the ground and parallel to it, Absalom's hair became tangled in the branches of the "righteous tree," leaving him helpless before David's soldiers. As Zophar said to Job, "The heavens shall reveal his guilt, and the earth rise up against him." It is a tragic story of a family torn by its father's troubled ways of ruling a nation and raising a family. We remember David, the son of Jesses, as the founder of the united nation of Israel/Judah, the ancestor of Jesus, the murderer of Bathsheba's husband, and the once and future king of an everlasting kingdom. But his son apparently fell under Nathan's curse. 

Today's gospel, however, recalls the most blessed Son of David, Jesus; and his compassionate care for women, especially a child of twelve years, and an elderly woman. Unlike his ancestor with too many wives, Jesus learned gentleness from his Mother's courage and Joseph's integrity. Despite his stern treatment of his disciples, his rebukes of Pharisees, and his hostility toward Levites and Herodians, Jesus spoke only kindly to women, and could be moved by their tears. His sternest reprimand to a single woman was, "Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more." John 8:11

The Church today finds itself there at the tree of righteousness, trying to promote both righteous justice and compassionate mercy, despite the hostility of the right who tout their righteousness and the left who misuse compassion. With Abraham beneath the terebinth of Mamre, we beg the Lord to show compassion to sodomites while delivering the innocent from their grasp. 

Everyone can agree that the disciples of Jesus must show mercy but we cannot compromise the truth. And we call on the Holy Spirit to show us how to please God even as we disappoint both the right and left.