Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Scripture

Many of the prophets we can immediately think of in the Old Testament are rather fiery and often dramatic. They challenge apathetic authority and call the people back to their covenant with God. As they delivered the message of God, prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah and especially Ezekiel engaged in many public displays that must have been something like street theatre, all with the intention of drawing the Israelites back to God.

We learn, though, of other prophets in the Old Testament, generally referred to as “court prophets.” Court prophets were hired by kings to work as their personal spokesmen for God. As you might imagine, they usually said whatever the king wanted to hear, especially since he was signing the prophet’s paycheck, so to speak!

We hear of Nathan, King David’s court prophet, in today’s first reading. Nathan is a wild exception to the rule of court prophets, telling the brutal truth to his king. Nathan speaks in the aftermath of David’s horrifying lustful move to have Uriah killed in battle so that he wouldn’t interfere in his wife, Bathsheba’s affair with King David. Nathan tells a story that he knows David will find appalling and then delivers the blow that the man David says deserves death is indeed himself! (2 Sm 12:7, 10). David repents, exhibiting the depth of his love for God. David was the greatest king of Israel and one of the ways he demonstrates his holiness is by having a honest prophet, who speaks the true word of God to him.

The life of faith necessarily involves others. It has been acknowledged by many that it is impossible to be a Christian all by oneself. Therefore, let us pray today that like David we may have the courage to surround ourselves with those who speak honestly about the shortcomings in our lives and, more importantly, that we may have the grace to hear them!

- Tim Gabrielli