Daily Retreat 01/28/06

2006 Jan 28 Sat: Thomas Aquinas, p, r, dr M

2 Sm 12: 1-7a. 10-17/ Ps 50(51): 12-13. 14-15. 16-17/ Mk 4: 35-41

From today’s readings: "You are the man!.... Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God.... Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?"

You are the man!

Did God abandon David to his moral delinquency? No! God sent His prophet Nathan, who cleverly confronts the King with his culpability, provoking the royal wrath against a worthless rich man whose cruel crime was only a shadow of David’s own deceit and decadence. Nathan has the courage to fearlessly expose the King’s hypocrisy, shouting "You are the man!" And David has the courage to humbly accept the truth of the prophet’s charge, confessing "I have sinned!"

In contrast to Saul, who never recovered from his moral fiasco, David proves to be a rather complex character. Although he's clearly the hero and has so much going for himself, the books of Samuel certainly don't portray David as perfect, do they? In fact, the sacred scripture doesn't shy away from his sins, it doesn't ignore the problems he creates for himself and for his entire people. Looking at this as history written by God, what is the lesson that we can learn from this?

Well, first of all, we learn that God does accept the one who confesses and turns to Him, as David did, with a humble and contrite heart after sinning. But that doesn't mean that all of the consequences of our sins simply disappear! In the end, David wasn't punished for his sins, so much as he was punished by his sins - the evil aftermath of his turning away from God plagued him so much of the rest of his life. God, writing history, didn't make David's son Absalom rebel against his father, but God does drive home to David (and to us!) the truth that the things that we do that are wrong, the decisions of turning away from God, all these will have consequences in our life and in the lives of our loved ones, and we have to remember that! And yet, even in spite of our sins, in spite of our failings, God does not hesitate again to send His prophets to call us to repentance, back to His banqueting table. He welcomes all who come there, like David, with a humble and contrite heart, having courageously confessed "I have sinned!"