I will give you rest from all your
enemies. Moreover, the LORD also declares to you that the LORD will
make a house for you: when your days have
been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring
after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom. He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I
will establish his royal throne forever. I will be a father to
him, and he shall be a son to me. 2 Samuel 7:11B-14A
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It
came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” He added,
“Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” Mark 4:8-9
Piety
But I will not take my mercy from him, nor will I betray
my bond of faithfulness. I will not
violate my covenant; the promise of my lips I will not alter.
Study
What has the Lord
done for David? What message is being
delivered today?
According to the notes in the New American Bible:
The
message Nathan delivers to David, called the Dynastic Oracle, is prompted by
David’s intention to build a house (i.e., a temple) for the Lord, like David’s
own house (i.e., palace) of cedar. David is told, in effect, not to bother
building a house for the Lord; rather, the Lord will make a house for him—a
dynasty, the House of David. Not only will he have descendants who will sit
upon the throne of Israel, their rule will last forever; and even if they
transgress the Lord’s commands, the line of David will never be removed from
kingship as Saul was. The oracle establishes the Davidic king as standing in
relationship to the Lord as a son to a father.[i]
David went from the
pasture where he was watching over the sheep to become ruler of all the people
of Israel. Not only had the Lord raised up his station
in life, but also that Moreover, the LORD “declares to you that the LORD will
make a house for you” not the other way around.
Previously, the idea
was that the promise of the throne would be dependent upon faithfulness: “If
your sons observe my covenant, and my decrees I shall teach them, their sons,
in turn, shall sit forever on your throne.”
(Psalm 132:12) However, the Lord
provides an unconditional promise to provide for David no matter what. This unconditional love is reflected in Psalm
88: 34-35: But I will not take my mercy
from him, nor will I betray my bond of faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant; the promise
of my lips I will not alter.
Down through European
history, the Divine Right of the King was contingent upon having a blessing
from God. However, this concept gave way
to the consent of the governed, the basis for modern governments like ours,
which derive power from the people. Such
a blessing is not reserved for the King alone.
Jesus brought about a church founded upon the notion that every one of
us are baptized priest, prophet and king in the line David. As siblings of Christ, we are the inheritors
of this unconditional promise of love.
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit. (Mark 4:14-19)
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit. (Mark 4:14-19)
The image has shifted
from the shepherd in the Hebrew Bible to the farmer in the Good News. Neither are particularly royal. What elevates the simple people to royalty is
hearing and acting upon the gift of the Word.
“But those sown
on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty
and sixty and a hundredfold.” (Mark
4:20)
Action
Blessed so
abundantly, what are we to do? How will
we react?
What are you doing
with the abundant, unconditional blessing you get from the Lord? That blessing may appear as the children in the
neighborhood who help shovel your snow or as riches of time and talents and
treasure that we are given that we pay to charities to share with those who
really need help. If we get love unconditional, we must give love unconditional. That, I think, is one of the lessons Pope
Francis is trying to drive home in this Jubilee Year of Mercy. The mystery is
revealed to us through the parables and through the gift of faith.
The seed is the Word
of God. Christ is the sower. The fruit of our lives is the action that grows
up from our hearing the Word. Will we
react as see that falls on rich soil?
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