Homily for Wednesday, 4th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
4th Week of Ordinary Time

Feb. 5, 2020

Year II:  2 Sam 24: 2, 9-17
Salesian Missions, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army …, ‘Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beersheba and register the people, that I may know their number’” (2 Sam 24: 2).

This chapter of 2 Samuel presents some challenges to us concerning David’s fault and his repentance.  It’s not entirely clear what he did wrong in ordering a census—after all, we do that every 10 years in our country.  We conjecture that its objective was to measure Israel’s fighting capacity; the results are presented to us in terms of the number of “men fit for military service” (24:9); and thus the census was an act of pride in David’s fighting strength and an act that implicitly expressed less reliance on God for protection—a power that David should have known well from his own life story.

In the verses skipped over in the reading, Joab objects to David’s directive (24:3).  It’s the only instance in the David stories in which Joab shows some religious sensibility; usually he’s quite unscrupulous, e.g., in slaying Absalom in yesterday’s reading (18:9-15).  But David doesn’t listen to him.

King David at Prayer

(The Art Bible,

wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons)

We’re not told what leads David to repent of what he’d ordered (24:10).  But he turns then to God for mercy (24:10,14).

Two lessons.  1st, in the worst of people, like Joab most of the time, there is still some good deep within.  It’s not ours to judge them, no matter how much we love to do that.  We might even find some good advice from them.  After all, Don Bosco said he’s tip his hat to the Devil if it would help him save a soul.

2d, in the best of people, like David—who’s a saint—there’s sin, especially pride.  It’s easy for us to forget God or let him slide into a lesser place in our lives.  When we do, eventually we suffer for it—not because God’s mean but because our sinful choices disrupt the harmony of the universe, the balance in our lives.  When we center the universe around ourselves, our desires, our worries, our daily concerns, then conflict, trouble, and unrest are inevitable.  When we let God rule, we find inner peace, which fosters peace around us.