Word to the Wise
Friday, February 7, 2020 - Friday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[Sir 47:2-11 and Mark 6:14-29]The Lord forgave him his sins and exalted his strength forever; he conferred on him the rights of royalty and established his throne in Israel. [Sirach]
For the past couple of weeks or so, the first scriptures have been taken from the first and second Book of Samuel which relate the stories of the first kings of Israel, Saul and David. Next week, we will be hearing from the first Book of Kings, which will tell us about Solomon, David's son. But when all is said and done, the gospels pay more attention to David because of the promises made to him by God [2 Samuel 7:8-16] and Jesus' descent from him, even if Solomon gets a very honorable mention in one of Jesus' statements. (Matt. 12:42). The first scripture today from the Book of Sirach gives us a very polished and complimentary picture of David, written several hundred years after his death! Indeed, the Lord did forgive him his sins!
Biography can be a mixed bag!! Some biographers are intent on celebrating heroic deeds and others on uncovering the hidden sins of the person being written about. As soon as the public bestows the words, "....The Great" on someone, a biographer/historian will look to see if they were less than "great." The "historical books" (1,2 Samuel, 1,2 Kings, 1,2 Chronicles) very little good to say about the Kings of Israel, and we are not spared the sins of Saul, David and Solomon and other kings. Yet, the Gospels According to Matthew and Luke make a point of Jesus' descent from David. God writes straight with crooked lines.
If someone were to write our biography what would we want to have emphasized? How do we want to be remembered? How do we want Jesus to remember us? AMEN