So let's talk about today's readings 1/30/10

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cheeto1

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January 30, 2010
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Reading 1
2 Sm 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.

Responsorial 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.

Gospel
Mk 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?”
 
"He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold "
– aha! That’s what Zacchaeus said. He said he would repay anyone he had
cheated 4 times over. No wonder Jesus said “salvation has come to this house”,
because David had said that the man in the story deserved to die! so I think
maybe that’s what Zaccheus was saying about himself. Then Zacchaeus went
above and beyond David by saying he would give half his possessions to the poor.

"Create a clean heart in me, O God."
– In yesterday’s readings, I asked the question, how do the sins of David have
anything to do with the surprises of God? Maybe the greatest surprise of all
is that God can forgive anything, and He can actually create a clean heart in
a person, even if no one else thinks its possible.

“Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.””
– This line really strikes me today, because He is speaking to us.
What does “the other side” mean? Oh so many things. We cross
over death to get to new life. We go to the other side of unbelief to
find faith. What is the other side of fear? Love. What is the other side
of taking something? Giving something. Jesus wants us all to cross over
to the other side with Him, leaving behind the things that don’t make us
walk forward into a life of faith. We must answer what those things are
for ourselves, as lent approaches. We are asked to cross over from wrong
to right, but something different happens to the disciples when they cross
over today. When they cross over with Him, a storm comes and nearly
kills them. After Jesus teaches them that He has complete power over all,
they continue on crossing over to the other side. When they get there, they
find that they have crossed over from a crowd of people seeking Jesus, to a
crowd of people that begs Him to leave. (see tomorrow’s reading, it’s probably
on Fidelis’ Sunday reading reflection) It is there we see that even the gates
of Hell cannot prevail against Him.
– So what’s on the other side of being hungry? Being Full. What’s on the other
side of relaxing? Working. What’s on the other side of filling our heads with
conversations and media that teach against the ways of Jesus? Filling our
heads with things that are honest, decent and virtuous (Philippians 4:8)
What’s on the other side of anxiety? Calm.

So what struck you about today’s readings? :bible1::twocents:
 
I remember reading somewhere about Jesus’ divine nature being asleep on the boat, but his human nature was not? I really am not sure about this as I only read it in passing somewhere. Has anyone else heard this and can anyone shed some light on this?
 
MatthewBerkeley said:
I remember reading somewhere about Jesus’ divine nature being asleep on the boat, but his human nature was not? I really am not sure about this as I only read it in passing somewhere. Has anyone else heard this and can anyone shed some light on this?
Click to expand...
Do you mean the other way around, that His human nature was the one asleep?
 
cheeto1;6230314: [/QUOTE said:
The most striking thing about todays’s readings, for me, was Nathan’s courage. David, after all, is an absolute King. He has the power of life and death over his subjects, including Nathan. He committed murder, so as to commit adultry. Many in the army knew what he had done, and said nothing. Many knew about his adultry,and said nothing.

And Nathan boldly denounces David, in front of everybody. Later on, John The Baptist would be beheaded for saying very much the same thing.
Click to expand...
 
Do you really think Nathan needed to fear David? This wasn’t the first time Nathan
came to David with the word of God. He already knew that David respected the
word of God, unlike Herod.

Speaking of Nathan, that little story of his is somewhat confusing. What is he
trying to say, that Uriah’s wife was like a pet animal to him? And who was the
company? The story doesn’t quite add up, but Nathan knew it would make an
impression on David, and it did…
 
cheeto1 said:
Speaking of Nathan, that little story of his is somewhat confusing. What is he trying to say, that Uriah’s wife was like a pet animal to him? And who was the company? The story doesn’t quite add up, but Nathan knew it would make an impression on David, and it did…
Click to expand...
I tend to think that, in a parable of this type, there doesn’t always have to be a one-to-one correspondence to every feature of the story. I think the likening of the wife of Uriah to a “ewe lamb” was simply a device to show how precious and dear she was to the man, and all the more so since she was his only possesion (contrasted with the rich man in the story --a clear allusion to David-who had so many more goods in his life).

Similarly, I don’t think there needs to be a real life equivalent of the “company” of the rich man in the story. I kind of think it was just a plot device to provide motivation for man in Nathan’s story to take the poor man’s little ewe lamb.

Just my humble :twocents:
 
Fidelis said:
I tend to think that, in a parable of this type, there doesn’t always have to be a one-to-one correspondence to every feature of the story.
Click to expand...
I guess not, because if there was, the rich man would have had to kill the poor man,
and take his ewe home… instead he killed the ewe. Do you think Nathan used a lamb
story because of Jesus being the Lamb of God?
 
It is interesting that David should respond like this:

“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.”

As if he did not know that it was a sin that he committed (the taking of Uriah’s wife and the sending of Uriah to the battle field to be killed).

It is either that he truly did not know or that he pretended as if it was not him.

I think that’s how the effect of sin on anyone one of us, no matter how righteous we are. The tendency to deny the sin or do not recognize it as one.

In the Gospel, it is as expected that the apostles were terrified.

Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”

But could this be the reason?

They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

They did not know Jesus for who and what he is.

Two things I learn from the readings:

Sin blinds us of the truth.

If we do not put Jesus in command, we will be on our own. We will be afraid, sin and helpless.

In my response to the reading, I would take the disposition of the psalmist:

**Create a clean heart in me, O God.

Cast me not out from your presence

And do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.**

for the many time when I did not put him in command of my life and for the many time when I transgressed his commandments.
 
Reuben_J said:
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”

But could this be the reason?
Click to expand...
This is a good point, but, what do you think the
apostles would have done instead if they had had faith?
What if it was Hurricane Katrina coming or the earthquake in Haiti?
Should a person of faith really never be terrified of anything, even when it happens?
Well, I guess if I was in a terrifying situation and saw someone calm, I would think
they had faith. I would think the terrified one didn’t.

Thanks for all your questions, they are really good.
 
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