So let's talk about today's readings 2/3/10

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cheeto1

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February 3, 2010
Reading I

2 Sm 24:2, 9-17
King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him,
“Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba
and register the people, that I may know their number.”
Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered:
in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service;
in Judah, five hundred thousand.
Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people,
and said to the LORD:
“I have sinned grievously in what I have done.
But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your servant,
for I have been very foolish.”
When David rose in the morning,
the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying:
“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the LORD says:
I offer you three alternatives;
choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.’”
Gad then went to David to inform him.
He asked: “Do you want a three years’ famine to come upon your land,
or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you,
or to have a three days’ pestilence in your land?
Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me.”
David answered Gad: “I am in very serious difficulty.
Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful;
but let me not fall by the hand of man.”
Thus David chose the pestilence.
Now it was the time of the wheat harvest
when the plague broke out among the people.
The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel
from morning until the time appointed,
and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.
But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,
the LORD regretted the calamity
and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people,
“Enough now! Stay your hand.”
The angel of the LORD was then standing
at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
When David saw the angel who was striking the people,
he said to the LORD: “It is I who have sinned;
it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong.
But these are sheep; what have they done?
Punish me and my kindred.”

Responsorial Psalm
32:1-2, 5, 6, 7
R. (see 5c) Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Gospel

Mk 6:1-6
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place,
accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”

And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
 
“Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people,
and said to the LORD: “I have sinned grievously in what I have done.”
– Why is taking a census a sin? Does the government of today sin by taking a
census? How is it that God killed 70,000 people in 3 days because of the sin
of being counted? Please know that I am asking in faith.

“The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the
Jebusite.”
– Could this be “the angel of death”? I notice he is not named.

“Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile”
– “no guile” is what Jesus said about the apostle Nathaniel. It does strike me
because I would like to be so honest that Jesus would say that about me.
I would be so proud of myself if I was that honest. Being humble isn’t as
much fun. The last time I asked God to make me humble, I was really
embarrassed five times that day! 😊

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
– This is the same story as last Sunday’s gospel, except Sunday’s was in Luke,
today’s is in Mark. Today, they don’t throw Him off a cliff, and He even heals a
couple people.

“He was amazed at their lack of faith”
– I don’t understand how Jesus was amazed. He already knows everything.

Today is the day of St. Blase and St. Ansgar.
there is a great line that St. Ansgar said, “I would ask God for one miracle only –
that He would make me a good man”.

So what struck you about today’s readings? :bible1::twocents:
 
What’s interesting about the context of the “is He not the carpenter’s son, brother of James and Joses…” passage is that they were identifying Him as a human being. How could a human being possess such wisdom. Such wisdom is divine in origin. They had not considered that He was both human and divine!
 
I was taught that when David did a census of all military fit men, he was sinning because he stopped relying on God. Up to then, he relied on God for all of his military victories, and relied on God for the well being of Israel. Then, he lost faith and decided to count up his men to see how strong his nation was in comparison to his neighbors…this would allow him to strategize and count upon his own mind and the “statistics” of his nation rather than leave it to God to direct his fate.

I don’t know if its a sin for current governments to count their citizens…I wouldn’t think so but who knows!
 
What’s interesting about the context of the “is He not the carpenter’s son, brother of James and Joses…” passage is that they were identifying Him as a human being. How could a human being possess such wisdom. Such wisdom is divine in origin. They had not considered that He was both human and divine!
Right! I’m glad you noticed this about that passage, since most people just take
up the argument over whether Jesus had siblings or not. Do you think He sounded
even more wise to them than he did to the priests, long ago when He was 12?
 
Right! I’m glad you noticed this about that passage, since most people just take
up the argument over whether Jesus had siblings or not. Do you think He sounded
even more wise to them than he did to the priests, long ago when He was 12?
I would guess so. Isn’t there a passage in between that says He grew in wisdom and stature? 🙂
 
I was taught that when David did a census of all military fit men, he was sinning because he stopped relying on God. Up to then, he relied on God for all of his military victories, and relied on God for the well being of Israel. Then, he lost faith and decided to count up his men to see how strong his nation was in comparison to his neighbors…this would allow him to strategize and count upon his own mind and the “statistics” of his nation rather than leave it to God to direct his fate.

I don’t know if its a sin for current governments to count their citizens…I wouldn’t think so but who knows!
I see, so it wasn’t the actual counting, but that David decided to start making his own
plans, apart from God. Why do you think so many innocent people had to die? Do you think God knew who else had decided to make their own plans too? I think I
would have picked running from the enemy for 3 months. It wouldn’t be so scary,
because you were told in advance it would be 3 months and it would be over. How
can you be scared when you already know the enemy can’t kill you? but who knows,
maybe only David would have been safe. Maybe the enemy would have killed even
more than the 70,000…
 
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