19 January. Friday of Week 2

1st Reading: 1 Samuel 24:3-21

David refrains from killing Saul, gaining the moral high ground

He came to the sheepfolds beside the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. The men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.”” Then David went and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. Afterward David was stricken to the heart because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to raise my hand against him; for he is the Lord’s anointed.” So David scolded his men severely and did not permit them to attack aul. Then Saul got up and left the cave, and went on his way.

Afterwards David also rose up and went out of the cave and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance. David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of those who say, ‘David seeks to do you harm’? This very day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you into my hand in the cave; and some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not raise my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ See, my father, see the corner of your cloak in my hand; for by the fact that I cut off the corner of your cloak, and did not kill you, you may know for certain that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you are hunting me to take my life. May the Lord judge between me and you! May the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you. As the ancient proverb says, ‘Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness’; but my hand shall not be against you. Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A single flea? May the Lord therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you. May he see to it, and plead my cause, and vindicate me against you.”

When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. Today you have explained how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For who has ever found an enemy, and sent the enemy safely away? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. Now I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Swear to me therefore by he Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not wipe out my name from my father’s house.”

Gospel: Mark 3:13-19

On a mountain, Jesus commissions the twelve to preach the good news

Jesus went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Taking the higher view

By going up the mountain to summon his chosen colleagues, Jesus evokes memories of Moses who went up Mount Sinai to receive God’s law (Ex 19). But the Gospel will go well beyond keeping the letter of the law. The deeper law of God, written in our hearts, helps us interpret David’s clemency toward Saul. The letter of the law would allow David, in self-defense, to attack Saul and even kill him. We learn of David’s reverence for his king when he shouts out, “I will not raise a hand against the Lord’s anointed.” Then Saul, realizing David’s magnanimity, “wept aloud.” There is a sense of “nobless oblige ” in this story, of doing the noble thing for its own sake..

Jesus goes up the mountain to summon his chosen apostles. Often in the Bible mountains are privileged places for prayer and for temples and sanctuaries. Christian mystics have also loved the idea of ascending the mountain of God — to be often alone in prayer, to find our security in the Lord. Not that Jesus spent the entire night in prayer before calling the twelve. The mountain scene calls us to be alone in prayer, alone with God’s sovereign majesty over our lives. This spirit raises our life to a new level, our old covenant new and vibrant with the presence of Jesus.

Calling the Twelve

Jesus calls twelve from among the larger group of disciples. There were two elements to the Lord’s call. Firstly, he called these twelve to be his companions, to be with him, and, secondly, he called them to be sent out to preach and to heal, to share in his own work. They would first need to be with him before they could go out on his behalf. They needed to get to know the Lord of the work before they could take up the work of the Lord. The pattern that applies to the twelve in our gospel reading applies to all of us, to some degree or another. We too are called to share in the Lord’s work, to witness to him, to bring his gospel into the world by our lives. Yet, prior to that, we are called to become the Lord’s companions, to be with him. One of the primary ways we spend time with the Lord is prayer. In prayer we attune ourselves to the Lord’s presence to us, we become present to him as he is to us. That is true of all prayer, whether it is the public prayer of the church, like the Eucharist, or our own personal and private prayer. Our prayerful presence with the Lord creates space for the Lord to work in and through us. The gospel reading suggests that we need to grow in our relationship with the Lord by spending time with him, before we can go forth in his name, as his ambassadors.