Thursday of Week 3 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Mark 4:21-25
We are still with Mark’s Gospel in a section of parables and images. Today we see a number of disparate sayings.
No one lights a lamp and then covers it up. Our Christian faith is a light for the world and not to be kept hidden. Our message is not meant to be kept secret, but to be broadcast and shared. How many know that we are Christians? How many see us practise our faith openly? How many are influenced by our living according to the Christian vision? Our faith, our knowledge of Jesus and his gospel, is not something private to be kept to ourselves.
A ‘good’ Catholic is not just one who keeps all the Commandments, goes often to Mass and stays in the ‘state of grace’, but rather ‘good’ Catholics are those who radiate their faith, share it generously with others and very much want others to have the same experience of loving and being loved by God as they have. If we are not seen to be Christians we have somehow failed, no matter how good our inner lives may be. To be a Christian is not just to be a good person, but an apostle, an evangeliser, a sharer of faith by word and action.
What we give out to others is what we ourselves will receive—and even more:
For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
That is what happened to the man who buried his master’s money in the ground so as not to lose it. Those who invested it got even more in return. In the Christian life, we gain by giving, not by getting. It is only when we give that we can get, and when everyone gives, everyone gets.
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Thursday of Week 3 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on 2 Samuel 7:18-19,24-29
Today’s reading contains a prayer of David. David immediately responds to the word of God which has come to him through the prophet Nathan and which was the reading for yesterday.
The reading does not contain the whole prayer (see vv 18-29). It is a prayer of praise and thanksgiving made for the promises to establish an everlasting dynasty through David. It expresses wonder that God could make such commitments to him and his descendants. But he also acknowledges that what God had pledged to him was for Israel’s sake; its purpose is the fulfilment of God’s covenanted promise to his people—and that its ultimate effect will be the honour and praise of God throughout the world now and for always.
David “went in and sat before the Lord”. This presumably means that he went into the tent where the Ark was kept. And the ark was the symbol of God’s presence among his people. This is very similar to our praying before the Blessed Sacrament, the real and sacramental presence of Jesus among us.
In a way David is alarmed by his new calling:
Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?
David, deeply aware of his own inadequacies (soon to be made very evident), begs God to make sure that what he has foretold will be realised, praying:
O Lord God, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever; do as you have promised.
David is fully aware that the fulfilment of God’s promise will depend entirely on God and that he, David, is a very fragile instrument in the process.
Again and again, we will see this beautiful characteristic of David—his humility and acknowledgment of his weakness. But as Paul will point out later, it is precisely in and through our weaknesses that God’s work is carried out. And David is confident because the Lord has made the solemn promise:
I will build you a House.
So he prays:
…may it please you to bless the house of your servant so that it may continue forever before you, for you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house [i.e. the dynasty] of your servant be blessed forever.
God continues to build his Kingdom through the cooperation of our feeble efforts. Let us realise that it is precisely in our weakest moments that he can achieve the most in us and through us. As Paul will say:
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
(Phil 4/13)