Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: 2 Samuel 12:1-7a, 10-17
The LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he came to him,
Nathan said: “Judge this case for me!
In a certain town there were two men, one rich, the other poor.
The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers.
But the poor man had nothing at all
except one little ewe lamb that he had bought.
He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children.
She shared the little food he had
and drank from his cup and slept in his bosom.
She was like a daughter to him.
Now, the rich man received a visitor,
but he would not take from his own flocks and herds
to prepare a meal for the wayfarer who had come to him.
Instead he took the poor man’s ewe lamb
and made a meal of it for his visitor.”
David grew very angry with that man and said to him:
“As the LORD lives, the man who has done this merits death!
He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold
because he has done this and has had no pity.”
Then Nathan said to David: “You are the man!
Thus says the LORD God of Israel:
‘The sword shall never depart from your house,
because you have despised me
and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.’
Thus says the LORD:
‘I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.
I will take your wives while you live to see it,
and will give them to your neighbor.
He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.
You have done this deed in secret,
but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel,
and with the sun looking down.’”
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan answered David: “The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin:
you shall not die.
But since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed,
the child born to you must surely die.”
Then Nathan returned to his house.
The LORD struck the child that the wife of Uriah had borne to David,
and it became desperately ill.
David besought God for the child.
He kept a fast, retiring for the night
to lie on the ground clothed in sackcloth.
The elders of his house stood beside him
urging him to rise from the ground; but he would not,
nor would he take food with them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17
Following King David’s sins of adultery and murder the Prophet Nathan is sent to him. Nathan uses a hypothetical story of injustice to provoke David to pronounce sentence upon the wealthy land owner that had stolen and killed the lamb from the poor man. Nathan’s use of the tenderness and affection the poor man had for the lamb that was slain can be seen as analogous to the Lamb of God who likewise was taken and slain, however, in this case, for David it would be to show the love God had for Uriah and the sacred nature of the relationship between Uriah and Bathsheba. David, who is a just king, pronounces a harsh sentence immediately only to learn that the story was an analogy of his own behavior.
Because David is instantly contrite, God does not take his life. Rather the punishment meted out was first David’s public humiliation for the acts he committed (“You have done this deed in secret,
but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down.’”). In addition to the destruction of his house and reputation, the child of David and Bathsheba will also be stricken to demonstrate the injustice of the union between them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
R. (12a) Create a clean heart in me, O God.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God;
then my tongue shall revel in your justice.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
This personal lament is the alternate to Isaiah’s hymn. Psalm 51 is the fourth and most famous of the penitential psalms. The psalmist sings in these verses that only God can reverse the awful affects of sin. Through this action, taken by the Holy Spirit, God’s salvation is made manifest in the repentant and contrite heart. We are also reminded of Baptism and the purifying effect of that bath.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Mark 4:35-41
On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mk 4:35-41
In this passage, Jesus embarks in what is probably a fishing boat with his disciples. A storm comes up and the disciples are afraid. Jesus with a word; “Quiet! Be still!" silences the storm and waters; demonstrating the authority of the Messiah over the elements of the created world. The implication of his next statement is that if the disciples had a mature faith, they could have done the same. The disciples are awed by his power and do not yet have faith to understand its source.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
The effects of sin un-reconciled impact David in the first reading. Following the actions that led directly to the death of Uriah (the lawful husband of the woman David coveted – Bathsheba), God sends Nathan the Prophet to accuse David of the crime against God’s commandments and to inform David of his temporal punishment. While David is contrite, the effects of the sin he has committed impact everyone associated with it, including the child of that union forged with the blood of Uriah.
We of the modern age see the punishment of the innocent child of David and Bathsheba as an instance where the Old Testament authors misunderstood events. They presumed that the illness visited upon the child was the result of a Just and Vengeful God punishing the couple, most directly David, the father. They could not understand a God of mercy who would not answer sin with sin. Rather the sin that was witnessed by those who composed this account in the Second Book of Samuel needed punishment and they saw the illness of the child as appropriate given the magnitude of the sin. It is the same view of God we see Jesus encountering during his healing ministry in Galilee, those where were blind, lame, or otherwise physically afflicted (lepers) were seen as being punished by God for sins unknown.
The reality of un-reconciled sin is actually much worse. Where there is no contrition for sins committed, guilt becomes like a cancer that festers. Indeed, intense guilt will manifest itself outwardly and even physically. It can cause a person to sink into deep depression, neglecting work, family, and self. Guilt may cause other defensive responses and the personality of one so afflicted may become amoral, suppressing any understanding of sinful acts and embracing sin and completely rejecting the one who has the power to take all of that pain away.
When David had relations with Bathsheba, when he had Uriah sent to a place where he would surly be killed, when he took the dead man’s wife, God was not stepping away from David – David was stepping away from God. Likewise when we sin, who has moved? Fortunately for us, in spite of the outward sings of sin, we have an all powerful Savior who came into the world so that we could understand a loving and merciful God who would not punish a child for the sins of its parents.
Today we are given one more example of why Christ had to come into the world. He came with power over all things to become the sacrifice that makes us whole. It was Christ who became the bridge to heaven over which we must travel if we are to find our heavenly home. Today we pray that we find the strength to offer our sins to Christ and thereby mitigate the affects of sin in our lives.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “David” by Pedro Berruguete, c. 1500
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
Readings for Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: 2 Samuel 12:1-7a, 10-17
The LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he came to him,
Nathan said: “Judge this case for me!
In a certain town there were two men, one rich, the other poor.
The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers.
But the poor man had nothing at all
except one little ewe lamb that he had bought.
He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children.
She shared the little food he had
and drank from his cup and slept in his bosom.
She was like a daughter to him.
Now, the rich man received a visitor,
but he would not take from his own flocks and herds
to prepare a meal for the wayfarer who had come to him.
Instead he took the poor man’s ewe lamb
and made a meal of it for his visitor.”
David grew very angry with that man and said to him:
“As the LORD lives, the man who has done this merits death!
He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold
because he has done this and has had no pity.”
Then Nathan said to David: “You are the man!
Thus says the LORD God of Israel:
‘The sword shall never depart from your house,
because you have despised me
and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.’
Thus says the LORD:
‘I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.
I will take your wives while you live to see it,
and will give them to your neighbor.
He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.
You have done this deed in secret,
but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel,
and with the sun looking down.’”
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan answered David: “The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin:
you shall not die.
But since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed,
the child born to you must surely die.”
Then Nathan returned to his house.
The LORD struck the child that the wife of Uriah had borne to David,
and it became desperately ill.
David besought God for the child.
He kept a fast, retiring for the night
to lie on the ground clothed in sackcloth.
The elders of his house stood beside him
urging him to rise from the ground; but he would not,
nor would he take food with them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17
Following King David’s sins of adultery and murder the Prophet Nathan is sent to him. Nathan uses a hypothetical story of injustice to provoke David to pronounce sentence upon the wealthy land owner that had stolen and killed the lamb from the poor man. Nathan’s use of the tenderness and affection the poor man had for the lamb that was slain can be seen as analogous to the Lamb of God who likewise was taken and slain, however, in this case, for David it would be to show the love God had for Uriah and the sacred nature of the relationship between Uriah and Bathsheba. David, who is a just king, pronounces a harsh sentence immediately only to learn that the story was an analogy of his own behavior.
Because David is instantly contrite, God does not take his life. Rather the punishment meted out was first David’s public humiliation for the acts he committed (“You have done this deed in secret,
but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down.’”). In addition to the destruction of his house and reputation, the child of David and Bathsheba will also be stricken to demonstrate the injustice of the union between them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
R. (12a) Create a clean heart in me, O God.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God;
then my tongue shall revel in your justice.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
This personal lament is the alternate to Isaiah’s hymn. Psalm 51 is the fourth and most famous of the penitential psalms. The psalmist sings in these verses that only God can reverse the awful affects of sin. Through this action, taken by the Holy Spirit, God’s salvation is made manifest in the repentant and contrite heart. We are also reminded of Baptism and the purifying effect of that bath.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Mark 4:35-41
On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mk 4:35-41
In this passage, Jesus embarks in what is probably a fishing boat with his disciples. A storm comes up and the disciples are afraid. Jesus with a word; “Quiet! Be still!" silences the storm and waters; demonstrating the authority of the Messiah over the elements of the created world. The implication of his next statement is that if the disciples had a mature faith, they could have done the same. The disciples are awed by his power and do not yet have faith to understand its source.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
The effects of sin un-reconciled impact David in the first reading. Following the actions that led directly to the death of Uriah (the lawful husband of the woman David coveted – Bathsheba), God sends Nathan the Prophet to accuse David of the crime against God’s commandments and to inform David of his temporal punishment. While David is contrite, the effects of the sin he has committed impact everyone associated with it, including the child of that union forged with the blood of Uriah.
We of the modern age see the punishment of the innocent child of David and Bathsheba as an instance where the Old Testament authors misunderstood events. They presumed that the illness visited upon the child was the result of a Just and Vengeful God punishing the couple, most directly David, the father. They could not understand a God of mercy who would not answer sin with sin. Rather the sin that was witnessed by those who composed this account in the Second Book of Samuel needed punishment and they saw the illness of the child as appropriate given the magnitude of the sin. It is the same view of God we see Jesus encountering during his healing ministry in Galilee, those where were blind, lame, or otherwise physically afflicted (lepers) were seen as being punished by God for sins unknown.
The reality of un-reconciled sin is actually much worse. Where there is no contrition for sins committed, guilt becomes like a cancer that festers. Indeed, intense guilt will manifest itself outwardly and even physically. It can cause a person to sink into deep depression, neglecting work, family, and self. Guilt may cause other defensive responses and the personality of one so afflicted may become amoral, suppressing any understanding of sinful acts and embracing sin and completely rejecting the one who has the power to take all of that pain away.
When David had relations with Bathsheba, when he had Uriah sent to a place where he would surly be killed, when he took the dead man’s wife, God was not stepping away from David – David was stepping away from God. Likewise when we sin, who has moved? Fortunately for us, in spite of the outward sings of sin, we have an all powerful Savior who came into the world so that we could understand a loving and merciful God who would not punish a child for the sins of its parents.
Today we are given one more example of why Christ had to come into the world. He came with power over all things to become the sacrifice that makes us whole. It was Christ who became the bridge to heaven over which we must travel if we are to find our heavenly home. Today we pray that we find the strength to offer our sins to Christ and thereby mitigate the affects of sin in our lives.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “David” by Pedro Berruguete, c. 1500
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
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