7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C (다해 연중 제7주일)
1st Reading: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
Saul goes out again after David
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[2] So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, with three thousand
chosen men of Israel, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
[7] So David and Abishai went to the army by night; and there lay Saul sleeping
within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner
and the army lay around him. [8] Then said Abishai to David, “God has given your
enemy into your hand this day; now therefore let me pin him to the earth with one
stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” [9] But David said to Abishai,
“Do not destroy him; for who can put forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed,
and be guiltless?”
[12] So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head; and they went
away. No man saw it, or knew it, nor did any awake; for they were all asleep, be-
cause a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.
[13] Then David went over to the other side, and stood afar off on the top of the
mountain, with a great space between them;
[22] And David made answer, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young
men come over and fetch it. [23] The Lord rewards every man for his righteous-
ness and his faithfulness; for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would
not put forth my hand against the Lord’s anointed.”
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Commentary:
26:1-25. This further encounter between Saul and David has features similar to
that reported in chapter 24. However, here David’s mission and personality are
put more in focus: David is a better strategist than Saul, and his sovereignty is
acknowledged in the word of blessing of the king (v. 25). This is not an accidental
meeting, and it does not take place in a cave; it is planned, and it happens in the
open, in Saul’s encampment (vv. 4-7). Abner and the king’s bodyguard are asleep
when they should be watching over the king; it is David, in fact, who protects
Saul’s life (vv. 9, 15). The text once again shows David’s compassion and mercy
(”the Lord gave you into my hand today”: v. 23); we can see in him the future king,
because mercy is a perfection proper to God, and therefore a virtue to be expec-
ted of any representative of his, and of everyone who wants to be like God (cf. Lk
6:36).
But, over and above the doings and schemes of human beings, the Lord is shown
always to have the last word: he will decide when and how Saul shall die (v. 10);
he will treat each man according to his merits (vv. 23-24); David is the man of his
choice and he will cause all his undertakings to succeed, as Saul acknowledges
in his concluding words (v. 25).
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:45-50
The Manner of the Resurrection of the Dead
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[45] Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last
Adam became a life-giving spirit. [46] But it is not the spiritual which is first
but the physical, and then the spiritual. [47] The first man was from the earth,
a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. [48] As was the man of dust,
so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those
who are of heaven. [49] Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust,
we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. [50] I tell you this, brethe-
ren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable
inherit the imperishable.
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Commentary:
44-50. The Apostle develops what he has said about those who rise having
spiritual bodies--which might seem to be a self-contradictory notion. Through
descent from Adam, whose body was formed from the dust of the earth (cf. Gen
2:7), men receive an earthly animal body which is destined to perish; Christ, the
new Adam, when he comes again will give his own a heavenly body, perfect and
immortal: "It is called a spiritual body," St Augustine says, "not because it has
become a spirit but because it is in such a way subject to the spirit, to fit it for
its heavenly abode, that every kind of earthly weakness and imperfection is
changed into a heavenly permanence ("De Fide Et Symbolo", chap. VI).
Even in this present life the Christian should strive to reflect this image of "the
man of heaven", by reproducing in himself the life of Christ: having died to sin
through Baptism he has already been raised with Christ to a new life (cf. Col
3:1-4). Christ's resurrection, St Thomas Aquinas explains, "is an exemplary
cause with regard to the resurrection of souls, because even in our souls we
must be conformed with the risen Christ, the Apostle says (Rom 6:4-11): 'Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, that we too might walk in
newness of life [...]. Christ being raised from the dead shall never die again [...]
so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin', so that you 'might live with
him' (1 Thess 5:10)" ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 56, a. 2).
45. Commenting on this verse, St John of Avila explains that "God created the
first man and blew into his face, he gave him the breath of life, and he became
a living being. "Et factus est primus Adam in animam viventem, novissimus
Adam in spiritum vivificantem" (1 Cor 15:45). The second Adam was made,
Jesus Christ, and not only was he given and did he have life for himself like the
first Adam, but he had it for many others. Christ has a living spirit, a life-giving
spirit which raises up those of us who desire to live. Let us go to Christ, let us
seek Christ, who has the breath of life. No matter how evil you be, how lost, how
disorientated, if you go to him, if you seek him, he will make you well, he will
win you over and set you right and heal you" ("Sermon on Pentecost Sunday").
Gospel Reading: Luke 6:27-38
Love of Enemies
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[27] "But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. [29] To him
who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away
your cloak do not withhold your coat as well. [30] Give to every one who begs
from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. [31]
And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.
[32] "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners
love those who love them. [33] And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. [34] And if you lend to
those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners
lend to sinners, to receive as much again. [35] But love your enemies, and do
good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and
you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish.
[36] Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
[37] "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be
condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; [38] give, and it will be given to you;
good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your
lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
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Commentary:
27. "In loving our enemies there shines forth in us some likeness to God our
Father, who, by the death of His Son, ransomed from everlasting perdition and
reconciled to Himself the human race, which previously was most unfriendly
and hostile to Him" ("St. Pius V Catechism", IV, 14, 19). Following the exam-
ple of God our Father, we must desire for everyone (even those who say they
are our enemies) eternal life, in the first place; additionally, a Christian has a
duty to respect and understand everyone without exception, because of his or
her intrinsic dignity as a human person, made in the image and likeness of the
Creator.
28. Jesus Christ teaches us by example that this is a real precept and not just
a pious recommendation; even when nailed to the cross He prayed to His Fa-
ther for those who had brought Him to such a pass: "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do" (Lk 23:34). In imitation of the Master, St Stephen,
the first martyr of the Church, when he was being stoned, prayed to our Lord not
to hold the sin against his persecutors (cf. Acts 7:60). In the liturgy of Good
Friday the Church offers prayers and suffrages to God on behalf of those outside
the Church, asking Him to give them the grace of faith; to release from their igno-
rance those who do not know Him; to give Jews the light to the truth; to bring
non-Catholic Christians, linked by true charity, into full communion with our
Mother the Church.
29. Our Lord gives us more examples to show us how we should act if we want
to imitate the mercy of God. The first has to do with one of what are traditionally
called the "spiritual works of mercy"--forgiving injuries and being patient with
other people's defects. This is what He means in the first instance about turning
the other cheek.
To understand what our Lord is saying here, St. Thomas comments that "Sa-
cred Scripture needs to be understood in the light of the example of Christ and
the saints. Christ did not offer the cheek to be struck in the house of Annas
(Jn 18:22ff), nor did St. Paul when, as we are told in the Acts of the Apostles,
he was beaten in Philippi (Acts 16:22f). Therefore, we should not take it that
Christ literally meant that you should offer the other cheek to some to hit you;
what He was referring to was your interior disposition; that is, if necessary we
should be ready not to be intolerant of anyone who hurts us, and we should be
ready to put up with this kind of treatment, or worse than that. That was how
the Lord acted when He surrendered His body to death" ("Commentary on St
John", 18, 37).
36. The model of mercy which Christ sets before us is God Himself, of whom
St. Paul says, 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions"
(2 Cor 1:3-4). "The first quality of this virtue", Fray Luis de Granada explains,
"is that it makes men like God and like the most glorious thing in Him, His
mercy (Lk 6:36). For certainly the greatest perfection a creature can have is
to be like his Creator, and the more like Him he is, the more perfect he is.
Certainly one of the things which is most appropriate to God is mercy, which
is what the Church means when it says that prayer: 'Lord God, to whom it is
proper to be merciful and forgiving...'. It says that this is proper to God, be-
cause just as a creature, as creature, is characteristically poor and needy
(and therefore characteristically receives and does not give), so, on the con-
trary, since God is infinitely rich and powerful, to Him alone does it belong to
give and not to receive, and therefore it is appropriate for Him to be merciful
and forgiving" ("Book of Prayer and Meditation", third part, third treatise).
This is the rule a Christian should apply: be compassionate towards other
people's afflictions as if they were one's own, and try to remedy them. The
Church spells out this rule by giving us a series of corporal works of mercy
(visiting and caring for the sick, giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty...)
and spiritual works of mercy (teaching the ignorant, correcting the person who
has erred, forgiving injuries...): cf. "St Pius X Catechism", 944f.
We should also show understanding towards people who are in error: "Love
and courtesy of this kind should not, of course, make us indifferent to truth
and goodness. Love, in fact, impels the followers of Christ to proclaim to all
men the truth which saves. But we must distinguish between the error (which
must always be rejected) and the person in error, who never loses his dignity
as a person even though he flounders amid false or inadequate religious ideas.
God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts; He forbids us to pass judgment
on the inner guilt of others" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 28).
38. We read in Sacred Scripture of the generosity of the widow of Zarephath,
whom God asked to give food to Elijah the prophet even though she had very
little left; He then rewarded her generosity by constantly renewing her supply
of meal and oil (1 kings 17:9ff). The same sort of thing happened when the boy
supplied the five loaves and two fish which our Lord multiplied to feed a huge
crowd of people (cf. Jn 6:9)--a vivid example of what God does when we give
Him whatever we have, even if it does not amount to much.
God does not let Himself be outdone in generosity: "Go, generously and like a
child ask Him, 'What can You mean to give me when You ask me for "this"?'"
([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 153). However much we give God in this life, He
will give us more in life eternal.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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