| Reading 1 | Response | Reading 2 | Gospel |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23 | Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13 | 1 Cor 15:45-49 | Lk 6:27-38 |
| RCL: Gen 45: 3-11, 15 | RCL: 1 Cor 15: 35-38, 42-52 |
Discipleship: love, mercy, and compassion like God
During Ordinary time the Lectionary presents stories and teachings from Jesus’ everyday ministry. This week’s readings focus on mercy, forgiveness, justice, and love.
First reading (1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23)
The first reading is from the first book of the prophet Samuel, which tells the story of the beginnings of Israel’s monarchy, including stories of Saul and David. Saul was Israel’s first king; David, after killing Goliath, became Saul’s second in command. David was more popular with the people, and Saul began to distrust David, expelling him from Israel. In today’s pericope, Saul is hunting David to kill him. In a plot twist, Saul is delivered into David’s hands, asleep and undefended. David’s general, Abishai, wants to seize this chance to kill Saul, but David refuses to harm God’s anointed king (“who can lay hands on the LORD’s anointed and remain unpunished?”). David realizes that only God can judge Saul (“The LORD will reward each man for his justice”). Instead, David takes Saul’s spear as evidence that he has spared Saul’s life (“I would not harm the LORD’s anointed”). The Lectionary editors chose this reading because David’s forgiveness of Saul echoes Jesus’ demand to forgive enemies.
Second reading (1 Cor 15:45-49)
The second reading is a continuation of Ordinary time’s semi-continuous reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinth ekklesia. Paul writes to the Corinthians to urge them toward unity and to correct their misunderstandings and wrong behaviors. In today’s pericope, Paul presents Hebrew scripture’s story of Adam (“the first human, Adam”) and the Christian understanding and meaning of Christ (“the last Adam,” “the second human”). In a series of contrasts, Paul compares Adam and Christ. Adam is given life by God (“became a living creature”); Christ gives life through his transformative death and resurrection. Adam emerges in God’s creation as a “natural” being; the pre-existent Christ is a “spiritual” being. Adam is “from the earth” (Gn 2:7); Christ descends “from heaven” and is made flesh. All humans share Adam’s earthliness and humanness (“we have borne the image of the earthly one”), but believers can also share in Christ’s life and divinity (“bear the image of the heavenly one”). In the present life, God’s grace helps believers align their lives to Christ’s example; at the end-time, resurrected believers will be conformed to Christ. The Lectionary editors chose this reading as part Ordinary time’s semi-continuous reading from First Corinthians.
Gospel (Lk 6:27-38)
Luke’s gospel is a continuation of the “sermon on the plain.” In today’s pericope, Jesus gives his disciples the “laws” of God’s kingdom. Jesus’ laws are not prescriptive rules, but a way of thinking and living that, guided by the Spirit, enable a disciple to do the right thing at the right time.
- The law of love. Jesus demands that disciples go beyond and do more than simple reciprocity. The human golden rule (“Treat others as you wish to be treated”) is a minimum human response; Jesus calls disciples to follow the divine golden rule: “Do as God does.”
- Going beyond reciprocity. In three examples, Jesus identifies the limits of simple reciprocity: “even sinners do that.” Disciples must act as God does, being kind to all, even to those who are unkind or evil. A disciple’s true test of love is honoring a specific person whose words and actions are unlovable. Those who define their own conduct as the measure of love for others (the human golden rule) necessarily limit their love to others. Jesus calls disciples to use God’s actions as the measure of love for others (the divine golden rule), which requires disciples to rise above and go beyond human limitations of love.
- Measuring love. Disciples experience life in the kingdom by their relationship with God. Disciples must not judge others, not because others will judge disciples in return, but because God will judge disciples. Jesus sums up his teaching about the law of love with a warning: whatever measure a disciple uses in doing, loving, or condemning another will become the measure God uses to measure that disciple’s actions and words.
Summary and reflection
This week’s readings ask us to think about judgement, justice, forgiveness, and love. David, often forgiven by God, recognizes that God alone can judge Saul. Paul tells the Corinthians that they come from Adam’s earthiness, but through God’s grace are called to share in Christ’s heavenliness. Jesus calls disciples to love the unlovable, to forgive the unforgivable, to stop judging and comparing, and to be merciful as God is merciful.
Love does not conflict with justice; love always satisfies justice, even when love exceeds justice’s demands. Whom do we forgive and not forgive? Do we accept God’s grace to align our ways of thinking and living with Christ’s? How does God measure our words and actions toward those who hate, judge, and refuse to forgive us?
—Terence Sherlock
The Lectionary In Context 