Reading 1 1 Sm 24:3-21
Saul took three thousand picked men from all Israel
and went in search of David and his men
in the direction of the wild goat crags.
When he came to the sheepfolds along the way, he found a cave,
which he entered to relieve himself.
David and his men were occupying the inmost recesses of the cave.
David’s servants said to him,
“This is the day of which the LORD said to you,
‘I will deliver your enemy into your grasp;
do with him as you see fit.’”
So David moved up and stealthily cut off an end of Saul’s mantle.
Afterward, however, David regretted that he had cut off
an end of Saul’s mantle.
He said to his men,
“The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master,
the LORD’s anointed, as to lay a hand on him,
for he is the LORD’s anointed.”
With these words David restrained his men
and would not permit them to attack Saul.
Saul then left the cave and went on his way.
David also stepped out of the cave, calling to Saul,
“My lord the king!”
When Saul looked back, David bowed to the ground in homage and asked Saul:
“Why do you listen to those who say,
‘David is trying to harm you’?
You see for yourself today that the LORD just now delivered you
into my grasp in the cave.
I had some thought of killing you, but I took pity on you instead.
I decided, ‘I will not raise a hand against my lord,
for he is the LORD’s anointed and a father to me.’
Look here at this end of your mantle, which I hold.
Since I cut off an end of your mantle and did not kill you,
see and be convinced that I plan no harm and no rebellion.
I have done you no wrong;
though you are hunting me down to take my life.
The LORD will judge between you, and me
and the LORD will exact justice from you in my case.
I shall not touch you.
The old proverb says, ‘From the wicked comes forth wickedness.’
So I will take no action against you.
Against whom are you on campaign, O king of Israel?
Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog, or a single flea!
The LORD will be the judge; he will decide between me and you.
May he see this, and take my part,
and grant me justice beyond your reach!”
When David finished saying these things to Saul, Saul answered,
“Is that your voice, my son David?”
And Saul wept aloud.
Saul then said to David: “You are in the right rather than I;
you have treated me generously, while I have done you harm.
Great is the generosity you showed me today,
when the LORD delivered me into your grasp
and you did not kill me.
For if a man meets his enemy, does he send him away unharmed?
May the LORD reward you generously for what you have done this day.
And now, I know that you shall surely be king
and that sovereignty over Israel shall come into your possession.”
Gospel Mk 3:13-19
Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted
and they came to him.
He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles,
that they might be with him
and he might send them forth to preach
and to have authority to drive out demons:
He appointed the Twelve:
Simon, whom he named Peter;
James, son of Zebedee,
and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges,
that is, sons of thunder;
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus;
Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean,
and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
In today’s first reading we have an account of how Saul re-launched an attack against David, David had the opportunity to kill Saul but he wouldn’t. David would not revenge, even though David is also the Lord’s anointed but he won’t dare to touch Saul because of his anointing.
The first reading focuses our attention on the example of David, how he refused to take revenge on Saul despite pressures from his followers, how he has taught us a great lesson on how to treat those who bear us ill. However, today, I will rather like to reflect on the cause of Saul’s hostility.
The fundamental cause of Saul’s hostility to David is envy, however, the immediate cause is what David said to Saul- ‘why do you listen to the men who say to you, “David means to harm you?” ‘
Saul’s animosity must have been fuelled by what he was told about David. Some talebearers must have been selling hoax to Saul about David with the aim of estranging them and to curry favours with Saul.
Dear friends, four categories of people you must be careful of what they tell you
- Those who flatter you, massage your ego, sing your praises and see nothing wrong in you.
In most cases, these people are neither true, genuinely loyal nor helpful to us. Continuous praises without honest correction does no good to anyone.
- Those who see everything wrong in us and nothing good in us.
People who always find faults with us and no matter how we try, they always think we are not good enough. These people most times project the frustration within themselves to us, they lack self-esteem and are intent on impeding it in others, they try to re-define us and make us lose faith in ourselves while they appear to have good intention. Beware of such people, it is very stressful when we live our lives trying to impress someone or dying to look good enough for another person who is unable to identify, appreciate or celebrate goodness in another.
- Those who always tell us something bad about other people.
There are people who say terrible things about past boss, past parish priest, past leader. There are people who tell awful things about others to us, they tell how false and evil they are, there are some who only tell us how someone despises us and criticises us, we need to relate with people like this with caution, apart from planting fear, worry, sadness in us, they also set us against others as well and can prompt us to offend the innocent and sin against right sense and charity.
- We should be careful of negative people.
These are people who see evil in everything, sometimes they confuse spirituality with misery, and they are people whose immediate disposition to anything is negative. People like that see noting to be happy about and spread their misery.
In today’s gospel, Jesus prayerfully and carefully selected those he wanted as his disciples; we can also learn to carefully select those we allow to contribute their views, ideas, counsels and prophecies into our lives. However, no matter how careful we are, let us also know that there will always be some “Judas Iscariots” among our close company.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami on January 24, 2020