1st Reading: 1 Sam 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; 2nd Reading: 1 Cor 15:45-49, Gospel: Luke 6:27-38
Dear brothers and sisters,
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24).
JEALOUSY BREEDS ENMITY
We heard of the scuffle between Saul and David in the first Reading. David was a young and courageous man who engaged Goliath and the Philistines in a war and was successful. He had victory over Goliath and the Philistines. To this effect, the people were elated, and they praised David. Upon David's return, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet Saul the King and David, singing and dancing with tambourines. They played and sang, "Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands." (1 Sam. 18:7). This made Saul angry and jealous of David. He made David his enemy and began to plot to kill him.
In pursuance of the plot to kill David, Saul went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand of the best warriors of Israel to search for David in the desert of Ziph, as we read in the first Reading of today. But this plot backfired because God delivered Saul to David's hand. David and Abishai went among Saul's soldiers by night and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade, with his spear thrust into the ground at his head and Abner and his men sleeping around him. David did not harm Saul or any of his soldiers. Not even the advice of Abishai would make him do so, for he said, "I would not harm the Lord's anointed." Instead, he took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul's head, proof of having come so close to Saul in his vulnerable moment and could have killed him if he had wanted to. This was an act of mercy and forgiveness from David and a lesson for us to learn. The action of David set the stage for the message of Jesus Christ in the Gospel.
LOVE YOUR ENEMIES!
Jesus, who is called the Son of David, tells us in the Gospel, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you." The teaching of Christ was a departure from what was prevalent during His time. It was a departure from the mosaic law of tit-for-tat, aneye-for-an-eye, and a-tooth-for-a-tooth. It was the teaching that made the Christian religion unique. The love of the enemy was a revolutionary teaching in that it challenged the natural order of human action. Ordinarily, human beings are inclined to retaliate, take revenge, and seek vengeance for actions done to them. Human beings are inclined to do good to those who do good to them, love those who love them, and fall out with or hate those who present themselves as enemies to them.
The teaching of Christ challenges us to go beyond being "marginal Christians" to becoming standout Christians, to make our righteousness surpass those of pagans, sinners, and those who do not know Christ. He challenges us to go the extra mile, live a life of sacrifice, and take God as the standard of our action and attitude, for He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). There is no doubt that this teaching of Jesus Christ is difficult and challenging to live out. David, as we read in the first Reading, practiced the love of the enemy. He didn't retaliate and allowed Saul to live instead of killing him. The truth remains that we cannot do it by ourselves alone. We can do it when we anchor ourselves to God in prayers and follow Jesus Christ's golden rule teaching, "Do to others as you would have them do to you" or "Do not do to others what you won't want to be done to you."
Always remember that Jesus loves you.