Reading 1
2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17
At the turn of the year, when kings go out on campaign,
David sent out Joab along with his officers
and the army of Israel,
and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.
David, however, remained in Jerusalem.
One evening David rose from his siesta
and strolled about on the roof of the palace.
From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful.
David had inquiries made about the woman and was told,
“She is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam,
and wife of Joab’s armor bearer Uriah the Hittite.”
Then David sent messengers and took her.
When she came to him, he had relations with her.
She then returned to her house.
But the woman had conceived,
and sent the information to David, “I am with child.”
David therefore sent a message to Joab,
“Send me Uriah the Hittite.”
So Joab sent Uriah to David.
When he came, David questioned him about Joab, the soldiers,
and how the war was going, and Uriah answered that all was well.
David then said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.”
Uriah left the palace,
and a portion was sent out after him from the king’s table.
But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace
with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down
to his own house.
David was told that Uriah had not gone home.
On the day following, David summoned him,
and he ate and drank with David, who made him drunk.
But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his bed
among his lord’s servants, and did not go down to his home.
The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab
which he sent by Uriah.
In it he directed:
“Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce.
Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead.”
So while Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah
to a place where he knew the defenders were strong.
When the men of the city made a sortie against Joab,
some officers of David’s army fell,
and among them Uriah the Hittite died.
Gospel
Mk 4:26-34
Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”
He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
Meditation: 2 Samuel 11:1-10,13-17
Nice guys finish last. At first glance, it might seem that this is the message of today’s first reading, in which a faithful soldier loses both his wife and his life to a scheming king. But this isn’t just another “bad things happen to good people” story. It’s worse.
Uriah belonged to the elite group of military heroes known as “the Thirty-seven” (2 Samuel 23:39). He was one of King David’s most upstanding warriors—too upstanding for his own good, a cynic might say. While Uriah was out fighting David’s battles, David was repaying his loyalty by taking Uriah’s beautiful wife, Bathsheba, into his bed. Then, to cover up her pregnancy, he recalled Uriah from battle and urged him to spend some romantic time with his wife (2 Samuel 11:8).
But Uriah didn’t pick up on David’s pointed suggestion or on his efforts to get him drunk the following day. Considering himself still on duty, he stuck to the regime of sexual abstinence that the Law of Moses required for active-duty soldiers. So David conspired to have him killed in battle. It seems that doing the right thing cost Uriah his life.
We live in a world that is full of scheming, lies, and injustice. Sometimes the situation gets so bad that good people die. Of course this is unfair and very difficult to accept. But sometimes there is nothing we can do about it.
So how should we respond? By all means, we should not give in to anger or cynicism. It doesn’t help the situation, and it only darkens our own hearts. Whenever Jesus saw injustice, he called it what it was. But he never let it get the better of him. He knew that injustice is the work of the devil and of human sinfulness, not of God, and that helped keep him pure in the face of evil.
If you yourself have been wronged, try your best to forgive and show mercy. Remember: It’s not a question of if something bad will occur. It’s a matter of when. That’s just the nature of life in this fallen world. So we should all make sure we are ready for it when it happens!
“Lord Jesus, give me a trusting heart, no matter what goes wrong. Protect me from bitterness, and help me to love and serve everyone you bring across my path.”
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