Of Its Own Accord the Land Yields Fruit

February 1, 2008

Friday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

David then said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” Uriah left the palace, and a portion was sent out after him from the king's table. But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down to his own house. 2 Samuel 11:8-9

He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” Mark 4:26-29

Piety

Prayer for New Life through Death to Sin

Through your most holy passion and death,

I beg of you, Lord, to grant me a most holy life,

and a most complete death to all my vices and passions and self-love

and to grant me sight of your holy faith, hope, and charity.

-- St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, SJ

(From Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits, edited by Michael Harter, SJ. Chicago: Jesuit Way, an imprint of Loyola Press, 2005)

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/020108.shtml

Some human motives can certainly be diametrically opposed to the mystical wonder of the God-made universe. If you doubt that statement, consult today’s first reading. Who needs “Valley of the Dolls?” Who needs “Peyton Place?” Who needs the trash that Hollywood and Madison Avenue dish out? The sleaziest Jacqueline Susann novel has nothing on the characters we meet in 1 Samuel 11.

First, meet King David. David, despite all his virtues, is still captivated by his own wants and needs. Despite all his wealth and power, David still wants even more than he has received. JR Ewing would be proud.

Uriah, married to the beautiful Bathsheba, is more married to his life career and life in the army. After returning from battle, he doesn’t even go home to be with this wife. Our favorite modern salesman Willie Loman could identify with the betrayal Uriah must have felt in that last battle.

Bathsheba relents to the wishes of King David. She was sent for by several messengers who took her to the king (some might use the words kidnapped or arrested to describe this action). Once there, this young woman had little if any power to say no to the King who held her very life in her hands.

Lust. Adultery and possibly rape. Conspiracy. Murder. Betrayal. Today we are confronted with the kind of tale that Hollywood heaps upon our senses all the time. In fact, there have been numerous versions of this story told on the silver screen since 1951 when Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward played the lead roles.

If we can get past the fatal flaw of Uriah’s “workaholic-type” personality and over-commitment to his role in the Army, this foreigner in David’s kingdom seems more honorable than the king. He is obsessively concerned with protecting the ark and God's people while neglecting his own family. David, on the other hand, has concerned himself with his own desires rather than keeping the needs of his nation and its people foremost in his mind.

Christians may overlook the significance of this. God's covenant was with Israel. Israel was supposed to be God's chosen people, more holy and righteous before their God. Yet, here, a foreigner, an outsider to the covenant, proved to be more honorable than the great Jewish king, the representative of God's covenant. Like the Good Samaritan in Matthew’s gospel, obedience to the commandments is found where it was least expected.

Good people can sometimes do some very bad things. For although the David we first met was a great man of virtue, he grew into a man filled with deceit and sin. As the modern saying goes, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

In a wake up call, the reading from Mark’s Gospel shows how insignificant our role can be in God’s plan. The Lord is the Sower and the Reaper and the mystery of life goes on while we sleep and wake and sleep and wake. The seeds God plants grow quite nicely without human intervention. However, we are asked to be obedient and flow with the waters of justice. Or, we can go on sinning and messing things up.

Either way, the kingdom of God initiated by Jesus in proclaiming the word develops quietly yet powerfully. None of our sins can sidetrack Jesus. He won’t let it happen. Instead, he will put the burden of our sins on his own back and personally suffer the consequences of our actions by dying on the cross rather than have anything get in the way of our redemption from sin.

Action

Sometimes, we can not let a situation continue to spiral out of control. Sometimes, without human intervention, people will continue to die. That is the situation faced right now in Kenya. As we go through the contentious yet peaceful debates, caucuses and primaries here, the Kenyan presidential election was tainted by vote-tampering.

According to www.avaaz.org, Kenya’s future hangs in the balance, with over 600 killed and 250,000 made homeless. We need to act fast.

The world can play a crucial role, by supporting former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s mediation efforts and refusing to recognize any government until it is legitimately established. Avaaz is trying to send a wave of messages to our leaders asking for this. To make sure Kenya’s politicians hear the word too, they are taking out a full-page ad in the East African Standard, a respected newspaper.

Visit http://www.avaaz.org/en/kenya_free_and_fair/ and let your voice be heard.