Homily for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our first reading recounts a famous episode from the life of David. It belongs to that early period of his life, when his fortunes had taken a turn for the worst. You will recall how David had been plucked from obscurity by virtue of his outstanding talents. He had won King Saul's grace and favour early in life and went to the royal palace as musician and wise counsellor. Eventually, despite having sons of his own, Saul anointed this young stranger as heir to the throne of Israel. But, as we all know, politics and politicking is a dangerous game. Today's hero is tomorrow's villain. This was very true in the case of Saul and David. Royal favour soon turned to raging jealousy. Affection turned to insane hatred, often flaring into personal violence. When the situation became intolerable, David fled from Jerusalem to the wilderness, perhaps ancient Israel's equivalent of the chicken and ham circuit! Despite this political set-back, his charm and skills continued to serve him well. But here the parallel between these happenings and the more recent events of our own day begin to break down: David deliberately surrounded himself with a formidable contingent of bandits and fugitives from the law. He soon gained their confidence and they looked upon him as their leader. Like some modern political figures, Saul embarked upon a relentless witch hunt. His wrath fell murderously upon those who supported David. King Saul and his army set off into the wilderness in search of David and his army of bandits. And that is the context of today's first reading.
David finds Saul his tormentor asleep in his tent. He has a golden opportunity to relieve Israel of the mad King and seize power for himself. His general, Abishai, urges him not to let the opportunity pass: "Today, God has put your enemy in your power; so now let me pin him to the ground with his own spear. Just one stroke! I will not need to strike him twice." But, to his eternal credit, David did the unexpected. He stayed his hand. There was more to life than personal power and the settling of old scores. Later David reflected: "Today the Lord put you in my power but I would not raise my hand against the Lord's anointed." In fact history was to vindicate David. In later years, when the people of Israel were leaderless, they remembered David's act of mercy to their late but very mad King. They invited him to lead them. David owed his kingship to mercy, not to military might. So the line of David, the line that eventually brought forth the saviour, had its roots and origins in forgiveness and compassion.
That message is made explicit in the teachings of the saviour himself as presented today in Luke's Gospel. This is the most important statement on Christian love to be found in the New Testament: "I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who treat you badly." The passage that follows highlights a truth that is often lost sight of: Jesus Christ had no particular interest in commending or extolling what might be called well-deserved benevolence, or civilised behaviour! To return generous favours, to respond affectionately to displays of affection, to return kindness for kindness -these are in themselves splendid things, but they must not be identified with Christian virtue. Such behaviour is merely decent and civilised. To fall short of it is not to be sub-Christian, but sub-human. The Christian virtue of love is not to be identified with decent, civilised behaviour, but with 'doing the unexpected'. This Christian love makes demands that will stretch us to go beyond civilised behaviour, beyond the expected. History is studded with brilliant examples of the saintly practitioners of this art of forgiving love. Many of you will recall northern Methodist, Gordon Wilson, father of Marie Wilson, one of 11 victims of the Enniskillen Remembrance Day Bombing by the Provisional IRA in 1987.
In a television interview with the BBC on the night his daughter died he said: "But I bear no ill will. I bear no grudge. Dirty sort of talk is not going to bring her back to life. She was a great wee lassie. She loved her profession. She was a pet. She's dead. She's in heaven and we shall meet again. I will pray for these men tonight and every night for the rest of my life." As historian Jonathan Bardon recounts, "No words in more than twenty-five years of violence in Northern Ireland had such a powerful, emotional impact."
This is a dramatic example of Christian love at its most noble. The love of God revealed in the human personality of Jesus is a gracious and unmerited, and unexpected response. This love is created or achieved not by the goodness of the recipient but by the goodness of the giver.