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Commentary on Mark 4:35-41

After the passage on the parables, Mark continues by narrating four miracle stories, two of them put together in an ‘inclusion’. There are two messages in today’s story of the calming of the storm at sea.

The first is that the calming of the sea indicates the true identity of Jesus; he has the power of God himself.  This question of Jesus’ identity is a major theme of Mark’s Gospel.

He speaks to the sea as if it were a living thing, an instrument of the devil, an evil thing. No wonder that the disciples are filled with awe.  Their question contains its own answer:

Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

This is clear from passages in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms:

• You silence the roaring of the seas,
  the roaring of their waves… (Ps 65:7)
• You rule the raging of the sea…
  when its waves rise, you still them. (Ps 89:9)
• More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
  more majestic than the waves of the sea… (Ps 93:4)
• …he made the storm be still,
  and the waves of the sea were hushed. (Ps 107:29)

The second message lies in the symbolism underlying the whole story. It is a story of the early Church.  The boat represents a church community (our Church is a community of churches). The surrounding sea is the world.  Jesus gets into the boat “just as he was”, that is, a man looking no different from his disciples. There were other boats too. That is, other church communities. Then a violent storm arises and waves threaten to swamp the boat and sink it. This is just what was happening to so many little communities surrounded by hostile elements bent on wiping out the Christian faith.

Where was Jesus during all this?  Asleep!  Not in the least worried.  The disciples scold him:

Teacher [not yet Lord], do you not care that we are perishing?

How often that complaint must have risen from those tiny, battered communities wondering where their Lord was in all their troubles!  Jesus wakes up and:

…he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!”

And calm returns.

Now his disciples are scolded:

Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?

That is, why do they not trust in Jesus’ caring for them.  Of course, the real calm is not so much in the sea as it is in their hearts when they realise that Jesus is not far away, he is not asleep or absent, but is with them all the time.

Let us pray for that inner peace that comes from knowing Jesus is always very close to us, no matter what may be going on in our lives.

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 12:1-7,10-17

Today’s First Reading speaks to the consequences of the terrible crimes of infidelity, deceit and murder that David committed when he had Uriah killed in order to have Bathsheba as his own. If he thought he would escape notice or punishment, he was deeply mistaken.

Hardly had Bathsheba given birth to the boy when David is confronted by the prophet Nathan:

…and the Lord sent Nathan to David.

Prophets are primarily people who bring a message from God. We met Nathan before when David complained to him about his discomfort of living in a house of cedar while the Ark of the Covenant was still in a tent (2 Sam 7:2). Here the prophet comes to proclaim God’s judgement against the king he had set over his own people.

The message is uttered through one of the most striking parables to be found in the Old Testament. Nathan tells David about a rich man, the owner of large herds, who takes for his own table, not one of his own many sheep, but the single ewe lamb of a poor peasant in order to entertain a visitor. Not only was this the only sheep the farmer owned, but “it was like a daughter to him” and shared the little food that he had.

On hearing the story, David was filled with indignation and declared that the rich man deserved to be executed:

As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

Repaying four times was a requirement of the Law (see Exod 22:1). It reminds us of what the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus, said to Jesus after their encounter:

Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much. (Luke 19:8)

Nathan then quietly says to David:

You are the man!

Nothing more had to be said. What David had done was, in fact, many times worse than taking a lamb from a poor man. He had stolen a man’s wife and then cold-bloodedly had him killed.

Nathan then goes on (not part of our reading) to list some of the things that David had received from the Lord, including the wives and harem of his predecessor, Saul:

I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah, and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. (2 Sam 7:8)

Yet, in spite of being surrounded by so many women and so much power, he goes and steals another man’s wife and then has Uriah killed by the Ammonites, the enemy they were fighting. Of course, it was really David who had killed Uriah; he was no tragic victim of battle.

Speaking in God’s name, Nathan spells out David’s punishment: violence and death will come to his own family: three of his sons, Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah will all die violent deaths:

I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.

All this took place during the rebellion of David’s son Absalom, when David was forced to flee his palace, but left behind ten concubines. David’s wives would be taken just as he had taken the wife of Uriah. Finally, what David thought he had done in secret becomes public knowledge.

In a spirit of deep remorse and repentance, David totally acknowledges his sin. His feelings are beautifully expressed in Psalm 51, part of which forms today’s Responsorial Psalm:

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight… (Ps 51:3-4)

But Nathan tells David that his sin is forgiven. He will not die for it (as the law demanded), but he will lose the child of his adultery. The boy fell sick and David was devastated, refusing to eat and sleeping on the ground wearing sackcloth – the sign of repentance. And despite the urging of his courtiers, he refused to get up from the ground, nor would he eat. He was heartbroken not just because of the death of his son, but because of the circumstances in which the child had been born in the first place. This was the price of his sin.

It is not our sins which condemn us in God’s eyes, but our refusal to repent and change our ways. Once we genuinely express our sorrow and show it by a ‘conversion’, God’s mercy is there and waiting. Jesus spelt this out so clearly in the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son. God does not desire the death of a sinner, but that he should have life:

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world…[He] came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 3:17; 10:10)

Let us look at our own lives. First, let us openly acknowledge our sinful acts, especially those where we have hurt others, and take full responsibility for them. Then let us turn to our God and ask for his healing, that we may be made whole again.

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Commentary on Mark 4:26-34

Here we have the two last parables told by Mark in this part of his Gospel.  They are both images of the Kingdom of God, of God’s truth and love spreading among people all over the world.  They are both taken from the world of agriculture, a world that would have been very familiar to Jesus’ listeners.

In the first parable, God’s work is compared to a farmer planting seed.  As in the parable of the Sower, the seed is the Kingdom.  Night and day, the process of growth continues without any human intervention.  Whether the farmer is awake or asleep, the process of growth continues.  The seed sprouts and grows and the farmer does not know how.  The outcome is certain. Once the seed is ripe, it is for the farmer to bring in the harvest.  And that is our task—to bring in the harvest which has been planted in the hearts of people.  In the words of the other parables, it is up to us to shine the light which helps people see the truth and love of God already present in their deepest being.

In the second parable, the Kingdom is compared to a mustard seed.  Although one of the tiniest of seeds, it grows into a sizeable shrub in which even birds can build their nests.

Both of these parables are words of encouragement to a struggling Church living in small scattered communities and surrounded by hostile elements ready to destroy it.  How amazed would the Christians of those days be if they could see how the seed has grown and spread to parts of the world of whose very existence they were totally unaware! Today, we still need to have trust like theirs, and confidence in the power of the Kingdom to survive and spread.

Mark says that Jesus spoke many parables, or even that he spoke only in parables.  But the full meaning of his teaching was explained to his inner circles of disciples. Those staying ‘outside’ were not ready to take in the message.  They are the ones who were not “hearing”, as Jesus told his disciples to do.  How sensitive is my hearing?

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 11:1-4, 5-10, 13-17

Although David is unquestionably one of the outstanding characters of the Old Testament and a key figure in salvation history leading to the appearance of Jesus as Messiah, King and Saviour, one must admire the honesty with which David’s weaknesses are described. It is difficult to think of any other Old Testament leader who is given such warts-and-all treatment (although some of the patriarchs come pretty close!). But it is what makes David such an attractive personality. It is very easy to identify with him.

And, in fact, it is through the very weakness of David – as in the case of Paul – that God’s power and wisdom are revealed.

The story begins by telling us that David had sent his army out under Joab. They attacked their enemies, the Ammonites, and laid siege to Rabbah, the Ammonite capital. It would now be about 10 years since David established himself in Jerusalem. It was also the time of year "when kings go out on campaign", directly after the grain harvest in April or May. However, while David’s army was out in the field fighting the nation’s battles, David decided to stay at home.

One afternoon as he walked on the flat roof of his palace, after his afternoon rest, he caught sight of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the armour-bearer of Joab, David’s leading general, bathing. He found her very beautiful. On making enquiries about her identity he was told that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam. Later in 2 Samuel there is mention of an Eliam, who was a member of David’s personal bodyguard and a son of his adviser, Ahithophel. Bathsheba was a Hittite. The Hittites were a people from Asia Minor but the term was used of non-semitic people living in Palestine. (Her not being an Israelite further increases the seriousness of what is going to happen between her and the king.)

Filled with desire for her, David sent for her to be brought to his house, had sexual relations with her and, as she soon told him, made her pregnant. They both knew that, according to the law, they could be condemned to death for their act. That was David’s first sin: lust followed by adultery. However, there is no indication that Bathsheba was an unwilling partner in the affair.

The comment that she was “just purified after her monthly period” is significant. She had just become ceremonially clean after the seven-day period of monthly impurity following menstruation. This makes it clear that she could not have been pregnant by her own husband when David took her. The child was unquestionably David’s.

In letting David know that she was pregnant, she left the next step up to him. The law prescribed the death penalty for both of them but then, of course, he was the king.

Now comes David’s second serious sin. He tried to cover up what he had done. (Was this due to a sensitive awareness of wrongdoing or just to keep himself free from the application of the Law?) He summoned Uriah from the battlefield back to Jerusalem on the pretext of finding out how the fighting was going on. Uriah reported that the fighting was going very well.

David then, in an apparent show of deep consideration, urged Uriah to go down to his house and relax for a while. What he does not say specifically is what is most important, and well understood by Uriah. Clearly, he hoped that Uriah would also sleep with his wife.

The king also sent a portion from the king’s table. David wanted Uriah and Bathsheba to have a really enjoyable evening together with more implications of what that would mean.

The next two verses in the original text are omitted in our reading. In them, Uriah, who clearly understands all that David is hinting at, asks how he could go home, eat with his wife and have sexual relations with her, when Joab and the army and even the ark of the Lord are out in the battlefields. It was also a religious obligation for soldiers in war to practice continence. He refuses point blank. David’s actions are looking even worse than ever. Even the Lord is out in the battlefield while David is at home indulging in behaviour for which he should be deprived of his life. David’s plan had failed miserably.

But David had not yet given up. He persuaded Uriah to stay over at least for another day. On the following day, Uriah was again invited to share David’s table. There was a lot of wine and David managed to get Uriah drunk, obviously hoping that, in that condition, he would fall into his wife’s bed. But, instead of going home as expected, Uriah slept with the servants in the king’s palace. Failure of Plan Two.

David now played his last and most terrible card. He sent Uriah back to the battlefield and told Joab to put Uriah where the fighting was fiercest. At the critical moment, the soldiers were to be pulled back, leaving Uriah exposed to the enemy. This plan worked and Uriah was killed. Having failed to make it look as if Uriah was the father of Bathsheba’s child, he got rid of Uriah altogether and could now enter a quick marriage with Bathsheba. It is difficult to think of a more reprehensible way of behaving.

David is guilty of adultery, deception and finally murder. It is a sad record for a man who was chosen by God and anointed three times to be king and leader of God’s people and to be the founder of a dynasty that would never end. It is another example of how good can emerge from the most evil actions. For David is the direct ancestor of Jesus, the Son of God. Bathsheba will soon be the mother of Solomon from whom the rest of the Davidic line would continue. Hence she is also an ancestor of Jesus.

Before we condemn David, we need first, to read the rest of the story and then to look at our own lives. We could recall Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, "Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone."

In our time, especially, we seem to be so quick to condemn people’s wrongdoings, especially public figures. We use them as scapegoats to cover our own shortcomings.

Did God condemn David for what he did? Let us wait and see as the story unfolds.

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Commentary on Mark 4:21-25

We are still with Mark’s Gospel in a section of parables and images.  Today we see a number of disparate sayings.

No one lights a lamp and then covers it up.  Our Christian faith is a light for the world and not to be kept hidden. Our message is not meant to be kept secret, but to be broadcast and shared.  How many know that we are Christians?  How many see us practise our faith openly?  How many are influenced by our living according to the Christian vision?  Our faith, our knowledge of Jesus and his Gospel, is not something private to be kept to ourselves.

A ‘good’ Catholic is not just one who keeps all the Commandments, goes often to Mass and stays in the ‘state of grace’, but rather ‘good’ Catholics are those who radiate their faith, share it generously with others and are as much concerned with others having the experience of loving and being loved by God as they have.  If we are not seen to be Christians we have somehow failed, no matter how good our inner lives may be. To be a Christian is not just to be a good person but an apostle, an evangeliser, a sharer of faith by word and action.

What we give out to others is what we ourselves will receive—and even more:

For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

That is what happened to the man who buried his master’s money in the ground so as not to lose it.  Those who invested it got even more in return.  In the Christian life, we gain by giving, not by getting.  It is only when we give that we can get, and when everyone gives, everyone gets.

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29

A prayer of David.
David immediately responds to the word of God which has come to him through the prophet Nathan and which was the reading for yesterday. Today’s reading does not contain the whole prayer (vv.18-29).

It is a prayer of praise and thanksgiving made for the promises to establish an everlasting dynasty through David. It expresses wonder that God could make such commitments to him and his descendants. But he also acknowledges that what God had pledged to him was for Israel’s sake, its purpose is the fulfilment of God’s covenanted promise to his people – and that its ultimate effect will be the honour and praise of God throughout the world now and for always.

David “went in and sat before the Lord”. This presumably means that he went into the tent where the ark was kept. And the ark was the symbol of God’s presence among his people. Very much as we pray before the Blessed Sacrament, the real and sacramental presence of Jesus among us.

In a way David is alarmed by his new calling. “Who am I, Lord God, and who are the members of my house that you have brought me to this point?”

David, deeply aware of his own inadequacies (soon to be made very evident), begs God to make sure that what he has foretold will be realised. “Confirm for all time the prophecy you have made concerning your servant and his house – and do as you have promised.” David is fully aware that the fulfilment of God’s promise will depend entirely on God and that he, David, is a very fragile instrument in the process.

Again and again, we will see this beautiful characteristic of David – his humility and acknowledgment of his weakness. But, as Paul will point out later, it is precisely in and through our weaknesses that God’s work is carried out. And David is confident because the Lord has made his solemn promise: “I will build you a House.”

So he prays: “Do, then, bless the house of your servant that it may be before you forever; for you, Lord God, have promised, and by your blessing the house [i.e. the dynasty] of your servant shall be blessed forever.”

God continues to build his Kingdom through the cooperation of our feeble efforts. Let us realise that it is precisely in our weakest moments that he can achieve the most in us and through us. As Paul will say, “I can do everything in him who gives me strength.”

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Commentary on Mark 4:1-20

Today we see Jesus teaching by the seashore.  The crowds were so great that Jesus had to use one of his disciples’ boats and preach from there.  Generally speaking, Jesus teaches the crowds near the sea but, when teaching his disciples, he tends to go to a mountain or secluded place.

For the first time in Mark, we come across a number of parables spoken by Jesus.  Before we go on to discuss the parable in today’s passage, let us make a few remarks about parables in general.   In the New Testament the word ‘parable’ represents a wide range of literary forms.  In general, however, it can be said that a parable is a way of illustrating a point of Jesus’ teaching through an illustration from daily life.  Sometimes there may be an exaggerated element only to make the point of the parable more striking.

Strictly speaking, the difference between a parable and an allegory is that the former just makes one point using a comparison, while in the latter each of the items in the story has a symbolism of its own.   Generally speaking, Jesus’ parables were of the first kind, but allegory cannot always be excluded.  We will see that today’s parable of the sower  is a parable in the strict sense, but when Jesus explains the parable to his disciples it is made to look more like an allegory.  That said, this is not a point to argue about.

The parable of the sower, as presented here, is in three parts.  The first part seems to be close to what Jesus actually said and, like most parables, just makes one point.  That point is that God’s sowing represents his plan to build the Kingdom and to make his reign effective in the world. Although it may seem to meet with partial or total failure in some areas, overall it will certainly succeed.  God’s plans will not be frustrated.

It is a parable to induce confidence, especially for a tiny Church in times of difficulty and persecution (which Mark’s Church would have been experiencing). The parable concludes with the call:

If you have ears to hear, then hear!

Listening is a very important element in our relationship with God and Jesus.  In the Gospel, listening involves:

Once we have reached the third stage, the fourth and final stage will inevitably follow:

Once a way of seeing life becomes part of us, then we will want to behave accordingly.  We will not have to force ourselves to act.  This is the freedom that comes with being one with Christ and his Way.

The next part of the passage may seem strange.  It seems to say that Jesus spoke in parables so that those outside his own circle would not be able to understand.  That does not really make sense.  Was his message not for all?  In fact, Jesus is quoting a rather cynical passage from the Hebrew (Old) Testament about people who keep looking but never see, keep listening but never hear (see Is 6:9-10).  Why? Because if they did see and understand, they might be converted and change, but they do not want to be converted or to change.  They have already made up their minds.  We certainly meet people like that today.

In fact, the parables, using graphic images from familiar scenes in daily life, were spoken precisely to help people understand the message of Jesus.  But as we have seen, there were those who simply did not want to see even the obvious.

Finally, there is another interpretation of the parable in response to a request by the disciples for an explanation. The explanation somewhat changes the emphasis on the parable itself and it becomes more an allegory than a parable. In the original parable the emphasis is really on the Sower, i.e. God, and the ultimate success of his work.

In this alternate interpretation, the emphasis is on the soil in which the seed is trying to grow. It describes different responses to the Word of God (the seed).  We have to realise first that, in Palestine at this time, the sowing took place before the ploughing.  Then we need to visualise a rock-strewn field lying fallow since the last harvest.  There are public paths going across it.  Weeds and brambles have grown up in parts.   This is where the farmer will scatter his seed.

Some seed falls on the barren paths.  It gets no welcome and never even begins to grow.  Birds come and eat it up.  This refers to those who come in contact with the message of Jesus, but it never even gets a start in their lives.

Some falls on the rocks, where in the crevices there may be some moisture.  The seed begins to grow, but soon runs out of moisture and nourishment, withers and dies.  This soil is compared to those who embrace Christianity with enthusiasm but, once they meet with some opposition or persecution (which would have been common in the early Church), they fall away.

Some seed falls among the weeds and brambles. It takes root, but the weeds are growing too, and they eventually choke out the wheat.  This is a picture of the Christian who gets caught up in the prevailing (materialistic) values of the surrounding society and ends up producing nothing.

Finally, there is seed which falls on fertile soil and yields a good harvest in varying amounts.  These are the Christians who really ‘hear’ the word (see above) and produce much fruit.

Notice that to be a Christian, it is not enough just to be fervent and observant, but one also must be productive:

…every good tree bears good fruit…Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
(Matt 7:17,19)

Perhaps we may reflect today which of the above categories best describes us.

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 7:4-17

David is now comfortably set up in his new palace in Jerusalem and there is relative peace as his enemies are, for the time being, lying low. It is in this situation that David begins to think of the Ark of the Lord. In a verse prior to the reading today, he approaches the prophet Nathan and says:

See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God stays in a tent. (2 Sam 7:2)

Nathan seems to agree and tells David:

Go, do all that you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.
(2 Sam 7:3)

In this, the prophet is not quite right because that very night the Lord had a prophetic message for Nathan to pass on to David.

The prophecy is built round a contrast – David is not to build a house (a temple) for God; rather he is to build a ‘house’, that is, a dynasty. The essence of the prophecy is the perpetuity of the Davidic house and this is how David understands it. And that is reflected in the Responsorial Psalm for today:

I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to my servant David:
I will establish your descendants forever
and build your throne for all generations…
Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
I will establish his line forever
and his throne as long as the heavens endure.
(Ps 88[89]:3-4, 28-29)

Up to this, every experience David has had points clearly to a special calling to be the shepherd of his people. He has led his people to victory over their enemies. All this is part of establishing David as head of a dynasty giving security to his people for generations to come.

The prophecy, then, stretches beyond Solomon, David’s immediate successor, to whom it is applied a little later in the passage and in other Old Testament texts. It also points to a very special descendant who will enjoy God’s special favour, namely, the Messiah Jesus. And the Acts of the Apostles explicitly applies the text to Jesus. Peter, when addressing the crowds on the day of Pentecost says:

Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. (Acts 2:29-30)

First, in his message to Nathan, God questions whether David should be the one to build a house for the Ark and second, since the days when the Israelites left Egypt the Lord has never had a house and has always lived in a tent. And never once in all those years did the Lord ever ask why his people had never built him a proper house. Of course, David’s intentions were commendable, but God had other tasks for him. His gift and his mission was to fight the Lord’s battles until Israel was securely at rest in its land.

David misunderstood the Lord’s priorities. He was reflecting the pagan notion that the gods were mainly interested in human beings only as builders and maintainers of their temples and as practitioners of their cult. Instead, the Lord had raised up rulers in Israel to shepherd his people, and that is why David the shepherd boy was brought from one kind of pasture to one of a much more important kind.

The Lord, through his prophet, implies that the main priority is to set up God’s people in security:

I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place and be disturbed no more, and evildoers shall afflict them no more…

And, instead of David making a house for the Lord, it is the Lord who is going to make a house for David. In fact, God has been building up Israel ever since the days of Abraham, and now he commits himself to build David’s royal house so that the promise to Israel may be fulfilled – secure rest in the promised land.

It is God’s work that brings about David’s kingdom. Like those made with Noah, Abram and Phinehas, this covenant with David is unconditional, grounded only in God’s firm and gracious will. It will find its ultimate fulfilment in the kingship of Christ, who was born of the tribe of Judah and the house of David.

After David’s death, a son (Solomon) will be his heir and the beginning of a secure dynasty that will last for ever. It is Solomon “who shall build a house for my name”. It is when Israel is at rest, and David’s dynasty in the person of his son is secure, that the Ark will find a deserving resting place, the great and magnificent Temple that Solomon built.

And God will act towards Solomon as a father to a son. If he does wrong, the son will be chastised, but unlike the case of Saul, God will never withdraw his favour from him or his successors. In Jesus Christ this promise will find its ultimate fulfilment.

And then there is the final promise:

Your [David’s] house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

The promise of an everlasting kingdom for the house of David became the focal point for many later prophecies and powerfully influenced the development of the Messianic hope in Israel. In the years following, there would be many ups and downs, much good and much evil down the centuries, but the promise held good with its culmination in the coming of Jesus, the Son of David. In fact, through Jesus, the descendant of David, the House of David continues and will continue to the end of time.

Looking at this reading, we can also reflect on the place of our church building in our Christian life. In the early Church there were, paradoxically no church buildings, but many churches – in the sense of Christ-centred communities.

We need always to remember that, although our church buildings have a very important symbolic and sacramental meaning, the real presence of Christ is in his Body, in his people. For us Christians, our Temple is the temple of our own bodies, individually and collectively.

As we mentioned earlier, if the city of Rome and all in it were to be obliterated by a massive earthquake, it would not made a jot of difference to the continuing existence of the Church. The same can be said for our own parishes. And, in fact, we see parishes being closed down and new ones being established all the time.

Another point for reflection might be our understanding of what God wants from us. David was sure that he should build a house as a dwelling place for God, but the Lord had very different ideas. Do I really know what God wants me to be doing? Are my plans the same as his? Maybe we should spend a little time today thinking about this.

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Commentary on Mark 3:31-35

We know that many of Jesus’ family already thought he was mad, and he had become an embarrassment to them. Now they come to the house where Jesus is teaching and, standing outside, send in a message asking for him. Do they want to talk with him or to remove him from what he is doing?

The message is sent in:

Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.

To which Jesus replies:

Who are my mother and my brothers?

And pointing to those sitting at his feet listening to his teaching, he says:

Here are my mother and my brothers!

And he clarifies that further by adding:

Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

We should note that Jesus’ family is described twice as being on the ‘outside’. They are ‘outsiders’. By implication, those sitting in a circle with Jesus are on the ‘inside’—they are the ‘insiders’.

What Jesus is clearly saying is that being on the ‘inside’ is not just a question of location, but of relationship. That relationship is not by blood, but by identification with the Way of Jesus. To be a Christian is to enter into a new family, with stronger ties than those of blood, and where everyone is seen as a brother or a sister. The ‘insider’ is defined simply as anyone “who does the will of God”. So, it can include those who are not Christian at all.

A disturbing question that might arise from this passage is the status of Jesus’ mother, Mary. Was she also on the ‘outside’? The answer is an unequivocal no! We know from Luke’s Gospel that, when invited by the angel to be the mother of Jesus, Mary gave an unconditional ‘Yes’.

Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word. (Luke 1:38)

This was her total surrender to the will of God, and it was something that she never withdrew through all the difficulties she experienced and, most of all, when the “sword of sorrow” pierced her heart as she saw her own Son’s heart pierced on the Cross. She was with him to the very end, and finally would share his joy in the Resurrection.

On one occasion, when Mary was praised as blessed and privileged for having a Son like Jesus, Jesus replied:

Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it! (Luke 11:27-28)

Mary is on the ‘inside’, not because she was the mother of Jesus, but because of her totally identifying with his mission and being with him to the very end. May we be able to say the same.

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 6:12-15,17-19

Today’s reading describes a very joyful occasion as David has the Ark of the Covenant brought into Jerusalem. This was in fact a second attempt. The Ark had been in the house of Abinadab in Baala of Judah. From there, the Ark was mounted on a cart to be brought to the city. It was guided by Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, who walked beside it, while David and the people played instruments and sang songs. At one point, when the oxen seemed to be causing the cart to lose its balance, Uzzah reached out and touched the Ark to steady it. Immediately he was struck down for his sacrilegious act which caused great distress to David. He was even afraid now to bring it into Jerusalem. Reverence for God can so easily degenerate into superstition. For us Christians, that is also so true.

For three months the Ark remained in the house of Obed-edom, and this brought him many blessings from the Lord. It is at this point that our reading begins today.

Having seen how God had blessed the house of Obed-edom and that God’s anger had been appeased, David decided to bring the Ark up to Jerusalem with great fanfare and jubilation.

However, after the bearers of the Ark had only advanced six paces, David offered a sacrifice of an ox and a fatling. Thus, he showed his great reverence for the presence of God which the Ark symbolised.

We are told in the First Book of Chronicles, when speaking to the Levites, David says:

Because you did not carry it the first time [when the Ark was brought from Abinadab’s house], the Lord our God burst out against us because we did not give it proper care. So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the Ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.
(1 Chron 15:13-15)

A little later we are told:

And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. (1 Chron 15:26)

As the Ark was brought up, David, in his great joy, danced before it “with abandon”, wearing just a linen loincloth. He had just offered sacrifice and was about to give a blessing. The garment he was wearing was a close-fitting, sleeveless pullover, normally of hip length and was different from the special ephod worn by the high priest.

In a verse omitted from today’s reading we are told that David’s wife, Michal, who was the daughter of Saul, was quite disgusted to see her royal husband making a show of himself, “leaping and dancing” before the Lord. His behaviour was quite unworthy of the dignity of a king.

After it had arrived in the city, the Ark was placed, for the time being, in a special tent prepared for it. David, as king, offered holocausts and peace offerings and then blessed the people in the name of God. Food was then distributed to all – for each one a loaf of bread, a cut of roast meat and a raisin cake. At the end all returned to their homes.

The Ark represented the presence of God among his people. It was, to some extent, seen as a “real” presence and, in that sense, could be seen as a forerunner of our church tabernacles.

On the one hand, let us use every opportunity to spend some time before the special presence of Jesus in our church tabernacles (the word really means “tent”). At the same time, let us deepen our awareness of God’s very real presence in every single person, thing and event of our lives, a presence of which the Eucharist is the sacrament and sign.