Friday of the Third Week of Ordinary Time
“Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.” (Psalm 51:3-4) The first verse of today’s responsorial psalm, one that I usually associate with Lent, is given us today as King David’s confession and plea for God’s mercy for his sins. These are not minor sins, but those of adultery (maybe even sexual assault), deceit, and murder that we read about in today’s first reading from the second book of Samuel.
The story of David giving into his covetous desire for Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers, abusing his power to have her brought to him, having sexual relations with her (we don’t know whether she consented, but it would seem she didn’t have a choice in the whole matter) and then trying to cover it all up when she becomes pregnant with his child. When his plans to deceive Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband) fail, David sets him up to be murdered in battle. All to cover up his own sinfulness.
This is King David through whom God established a new covenant with the people of Israel. This is the David that is believed to have written at least some of the Psalms that we pray in our liturgies. This is a human being that God uses despite his weakness and sinfulness. It is David’s eventual acknowledgment of and repentance for his sins that allows God to continue to work through him.
If we have wronged others, let us pray for the grace and courage to acknowledge and seek reconciliation for past or even present sins. If we have been wronged, let us pray for the grace and courage to forgive. Like the tiny mustard seed in today’s gospel reading, may we trust that reconciliation once sown will “spring up” and branch out, bringing forth the Kingdom of God in our midst.
~Eileen Miller