20200124
DEALING
WITH THE BETRAYAL OF OUR LEADERS
24 January,
2020, Friday, 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
These are the readings for the feria
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First reading
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1
Samuel 24:3-21 ©
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I will not raise my hand
against the Lord's anointed
Saul took three
thousand men chosen from the whole of Israel and went in search of David and
his men east of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheepfolds along
the route where there was a cave, and went in to cover his feet. Now David and
his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave; David’s men said to him,
‘Today is the day of which the Lord said to you, “I will deliver your enemy
into your power, do what you like with him.”’ David stood up and, unobserved,
cut off the border of Saul’s cloak. Afterwards David reproached himself for
having cut off the border of Saul’s cloak. He said to his men, ‘The Lord
preserve me from doing such a thing to my lord and raising my hand against him,
for he is the anointed of the Lord.’ David gave his men strict instructions,
forbidding them to attack Saul.
Saul
then left the cave and went on his way. After this, David too left the cave and
called after Saul, ‘My lord king!’ Saul looked behind him and David bowed to
the ground and did homage. Then David said to Saul, ‘Why do you listen to the
men who say to you, “David means to harm you”? Why, your own eyes have seen
today how the Lord put you in my power in the cave and how I refused to kill
you, but spared you. “I will not raise my hand against my lord,” I said “for he
is the anointed of the Lord.” O my father, see, look at the border of your
cloak in my hand. Since I cut off the border of your cloak, yet did not kill
you, you must acknowledge frankly that there is neither malice nor treason in
my mind. I have not offended against you, yet you hunt me down to take my life.
May the Lord be judge between me and you, and may the Lord avenge me on you;
but my hand shall not be laid on you. (As the old proverb says: Wickedness goes
out from the wicked, and my hand will not be laid on you.) On whose trail has
the king of Israel set out? On whose trail are you in hot pursuit? On the trail
of a dead dog! On the trail of a single flea! May the Lord be the judge and
decide between me and you; may he take up my cause and defend it and give
judgement for me, freeing me from your power.’
When
David had finished saying these words to Saul, Saul said, ‘Is that your voice,
my son David?’ And Saul wept aloud. ‘You are a more upright man than I,’ he
said to David ‘for you have repaid me with good while I have repaid you with
evil. Today you have crowned your goodness towards me since the Lord had put me
in your power yet you did not kill me. When a man comes on his enemy, does he
let him go unmolested? May the Lord reward you for the goodness you have shown
me today. Now I know you will indeed reign and that the sovereignty in Israel
will be secure in your hands.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
56(57):2-4,6,11 ©
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Have
mercy on me, God, have mercy.
Have
mercy on me, God, have mercy
for
in you my soul has taken refuge.
In
the shadow of your wings I take refuge
till
the storms of destruction pass by.
Have
mercy on me, God, have mercy.
I
call to God the Most High,
to
God who has always been my help.
May
he send from heaven and save me
and
shame those who assail me.
Have
mercy on me, God, have mercy.
O
God, arise above the heavens;
may
your glory shine on earth!
for
your love reaches to the heavens
and
your truth to the skies.
Have
mercy on me, God, have mercy.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.2Th2:14
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Through
the Good News God called us
to
share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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2Co5:19
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
God
in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,
and
he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark
3:13-19 ©
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He appointed twelve to be
his companions
Jesus went up
into the hills and summoned those he wanted. So they came to him and he
appointed twelve; they were to be his companions and to be sent out to preach,
with power to cast out devils. And so he appointed the Twelve: Simon to whom he
gave the name Peter, James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to
whom he gave the name Boanerges or ‘Sons of Thunder’; then Andrew, Philip,
Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the
Zealot and Judas Iscariot, the man who was to betray him.
DEALING WITH THE
BETRAYAL OF OUR LEADERS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 SM 24:3-21; PS 57:2-4, 6, 11; MK 3:13-19 ]
In the gospel, we read
that the Lord, after praying all night, “summoned those he wanted. So they came to him and he
appointed twelve; they were to be his companions and to be sent out to preach,
with power to cast out devils. And so he appointed the Twelve.” But
the gospel ended with a note of sadness, the last of the Twelve, Judas
Iscariot, was named as “the man who was to betray him.” But this
footnote of Mark should also be a source of consolation for us in dealing with
leaders who have betrayed the Church and our Lord. If the Lord, in spite
of all His discernment and prayers, could have chosen one who betrayed Him,
which is, 8.3% of His chosen leaders, what more when the Church chooses men as
her ordained ministers or those for consecrated life; and lay leaders as
well? So the truth is that the Church being divine and yet human, will
bear the marks of a Church that is imperfect in many ways because of the sins
and imperfection of her ministers and members.
How, then, do we deal
with our religious leaders who betray the trust given to them? Should we go public to expose their
wrong-doing using emails and social media? Should we write anonymous,
nasty letters to their superiors to complain about them? Such methods are
counter-productive unless our goal is to destroy them, to humiliate and to
remove them, not so much to help or to correct the persons whom we perceive to
have done wrong. Indeed, when we attack someone, it is only natural and
human for the person to respond because we all have a sense of
self-preservation even when we are in the wrong. We all want to maintain
our dignity and self-respect.
Today, David shows us
how we should deal with our leaders who have gone astray. Firstly, he did
not seek to attack Saul and his men. Indeed, “Saul took three thousand men
chosen from the whole of Israel and went in search of David and his men east of
the Rocks of the Wild Goats.” But instead of confronting him with his
men, David hid from them and avoided direct confrontation, which would only
have led to bloodshed on both sides. This is what we should try to do as
well. We should not seek to destroy our enemies but to restore them to
the right path in life. Like Jesus, we come to save the lost and the
sick. Our intention must be to heal, to restore life and to bring them back to
the truth. It must not be motivated by vindictiveness, revenge,
resentment and anger. Otherwise, we are no better than them since
anger blinds us to the truth and the call to love.
Indeed, David had the
opportunity to kill him but he did not. He submitted to God’s choice of Saul as
King. “David’s men said to him, ‘Today is the day of which the Lord
said to you, “I will deliver your enemy into your power, do what you like with
him.” ‘David stood up and, unobserved, cut off the border of Saul’s
cloak. Afterwards David reproached himself for having cut off the border
of Saul’s cloak. He said to his men, ‘The Lord preserve me from doing
such a thing to my lord and raising my hand against him, for he is the anointed
of the Lord.’ David gave his men strict instructions, forbidding them to
attack Saul.” Indeed, David would not do anything to the Lord’s
Anointed. Even though Saul was doing wrong, David respected him in his
office. He did not take into his hands, the responsibility of removing him
because he respected God’s choice.
Secondly, David sought
to reason out with Saul.
In other words, he engaged Saul in sincere dialogue. He appealed to his
common sense. He asked him to open his mind and not be influenced by
gossips and rumours. David said to Saul, ‘Why do you listen to the men
who say to you, “David means to harm you”? Why, your own eyes have seen
today how the Lord put you in my power in the cave and how I refused to kill
you, but spared you.” Quite often, our enemies are wrongly influenced by those
who do not like us. They have their selfish agenda and they will spread
negative news or their own skewed judgment of us. That is why a personal
dialogue that is carried out in sincerity and honesty with charity can help to open
up the minds of those who wrongly perceive us as their enemies. Most of
our enemies’ fears are conjured by wrong or distorted information. That
is why the only way to win over our enemies or to assure them that we have no
intention to harm them is to seek dialogue.
Thirdly, David showed
proof that he had no intention to kill Saul and that he was a faithful servant
of his. He shouted out to
Saul as he left the cave, “I will not raise my hand against my Lord, for he is
the anointed of the Lord. O my father, see, look at the border of your cloak in
my hand. Since I cut off the border of your cloak, yet did not kill you,
you must acknowledge frankly that there is neither malice nor treason in my
mind.” Indeed, he had the opportunity to kill him as Saul was off
guard. But not only did he not but he also refused to listen to his men
who urged him to take the opportunity to subdue his enemy once and for
all. This showed David’s sincerity and desire to work for Saul, not to
take over his throne. He had nothing against Saul, only devotion and
respect. On the contrary, he was totally harmless to Saul. He
said, “On whose trail has the king of Israel set out? On whose trail are
you in hot pursuit? On the trail of a dead dog! On the trail of a
single flea!” Indeed, Saul was over reacting because of his fear,
suspicion and the rumours he had heard.
So, too, for dialogue to
take place, we must first demonstrate our sincerity through positive actions. It is just like the situation
between North Korea and United States. The latter said there could be no
talk unless America removes all the sanctions against them and the military
threats. Of course the United States also in turn asked for sincerity
from the North Koreans, that they must demonstrate positive actions by not
antagonizing her neighbours. What is true at the international level is
true at every level of life. We need to show goodwill first before we can
begin dialogue. If we are sincere in assuring that we are also interested
to protect other’s interests, then dialogue can take place in an ambience of
trust. But if we are attacking each other and showing hostility, any
dialogue will fail.
Finally, David asked God
to be his judge. He was ready to swear before God his utter
sincerity. He
was ready to let the Lord decide on his life. He would not take the
life of Saul into his own hands. He said, “May the Lord be judge between
me and you, and may the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be laid on
you. (As the old proverb says: Wickedness goes out from the wicked,
and my hand will not be laid on you.) May the Lord be the judge and decide
between me and you; may he take up my cause and defend it and give judgement
for me, freeing me from your power.” He trusted in the Lord’s judgment
rather than his own. Like the psalmist, he could only pray thus, “Have
mercy on me, God, have mercy for in you my soul has taken refuge. In the
shadow of your wings I take refuge till the storms of destruction pass
by. I call to God the Most High, to God who has always been my
help.” Eventually and tragically, Saul was killed, not by his enemies
when he was fleeing after being injured badly by the Philistines. Instead of
allowing his enemies to kill him, he took his own sword and killed himself.
(cf 1 Sm 31)
Indeed, it was David’s
sincerity, humility and charity that won over Saul’s heart, “When David had finished saying these
words to Saul, Saul said, ‘Is that your voice, my son David?’ And Saul
wept aloud. ‘You are a more upright man than I,’ he said to David, ‘for
you have repaid me with good while I have repaid you with evil. Today you
have crowned your goodness towards me since the man comes on his enemy, does he
let him go unmolested? May the Lord reward you for the goodness you have
shown me today. Now I know you will indeed reign and that the sovereignty
in Israel will be secure in your hands.'” Even though the spirit of envy
did not leave him completely, at least logically in his mind and heart, Saul
was assured that David had the right attitude and heart to be the next King of
Israel.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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