7th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle C

It is rare that we hear these readings for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time because our calendar usually has more important celebrations on this particular Sunday, but with Easter falling where it does this year, we have a unique opportunity to study and celebrate these readings selected for this the 7th Sunday or Ordinary Time:

The Word for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time
1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13
1 Corinthians 15:45-49
Luke 6:17, 27-38

We open with a reading from the 1st Book of Samuel with a rather interesting story about King Saul (the first of the Israelite kings) and his protégé and successor, David.  To understand this story, one needs to understand the relationship between Saul and David.  At the people’s insistence, and God’s acquiescence, Samuel anoints Saul as the first King of Israel.  But things are not going well for Saul.  After being chosen by God, Saul has turned is back on God and his prophet Samuel.  Because of this, Samuel is told by God to anoint a young shepherd, David, to succeed him.  Though Saul returns to the Lord, he has lost favor as David is sent to study under Saul.  As you might imagine, this does not go well.  Saul’s jealousy has him finding ways to do away with David, while David continues to learn and grow in the Lord’s favor.  In today’s passage, an estranged David is being hunted by Saul and his army.  One night, David and his friend Abishai sneak into Saul’s camp while they’re asleep.  Even though they have the perfect opportunity to kill Saul, David takes the high road, and instead makes off with Saul’s spear and his water jug.  David does not kill Saul because, no matter how bad Saul may be, he remains the Lord’s anointed king of Israel.  David sees that it’s better not to seek retribution against Saul.

This theme of not seeking retribution caries on to our gospel.  Picking up where we left off last week (with Jesus teaching us the Beatitudes), Jesus also teaches us to avoid retribution and instead, teaches us to love our enemies.  These teachings are some of the most difficult of all his teachings because they challenge our most basic human instincts – to strike back after having been struck.  But like David, Jesus teaches that we should not seek revenge or retribution, but instead reach out to those who claim to be our enemies.  Jesus reminds us that helping others like ourselves is nothing extraordinary, noting that even sinners will help each other.  Instead we are called to do more, to reach out to those whom we would not normally consider our friends and treat them with the dignity God expects of us.  To do that makes us children of God.

Our second reading continues our study of Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians.  Continuing his teaching on the resurrection (of Jesus and of ourselves), Paul uses the figure of Adam to remind us of our being of the Earth, while teaching that Jesus, the second Adam, was of heaven, and now we all bear the image both.  If we bear both the image of Adam and of Christ, then we too must be resurrected.

Final Thoughts:
You’ve likely heard the phrase, “to err is human; to forgive, divine.”  It was penned by the 16th century English poet Alexander Pope.in his poem “An Essay on Criticism, Part II.”  Here he is trying to explain that even though we humans are prone to making mistakes, we should still strive to do as God does, which is to show mercy and forgiveness.  I have no doubt that Alexander Pope was considering this particular passage from Luke’s gospel as he penned these words.

Our human quest for retribution is all too often couched in the words of “seeking justice,” as if to say that God has given us the right to seek vengeance.  But anyone who teaches that God allows such things is clearly a false prophet, for our readings today make it quite clear that God expects more from us.  He expects us to rise above jealousy and retribution and seek peace and forgiveness.

You may be familiar with the phrase, “’vengeance is mine’ says the Lord.”  This is phrase comes to us from both the St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans and the Letter to the Hebrews.  But we need to be careful on how we interpret this phrase.  This means that we are not the judge, jury, or executioner.  Judgement is the prerogative of God alone, and if God believes vengeance is called for, it is for God to carry out, not us.  Yet we often forget this prerogative of the Lord’s is taken up by mere mortals to carry out judgement and vengeance in the name of God.  Trust me, God does not need our help in these matters.

And perhaps the most important part of this retribution argument is remembering what’s on the other side of that coin – our call to be merciful as our Father is merciful, time and time again.  It is far too easy to take the Lord’s teachings out of context when the alternative, looking at the Lord’s overall teachings, becomes too complicated or doesn’t satisfy our human desire to do as we want, not what God wants.