David is restored to the throne. Joab has to confront David in strong terms in
order to get him to cease mourning for his son, the usurper, Absalom, telling
him that if he does not stop mourning not a single man will be left with
him. The people of Israel are the first
to suggest that David should be brought back as king, the very men who followed
after Absalom and then slunk home when he was killed. David, a member of the tribe of Judah, sends
to his own people that they might be the ones to restore him, promising Amasa,
the commander of Absalom's army that he will be elevated above Joab as head of
the army. Shimei, who cursed David as he
went out of the city fleeing Absalom, is the first to greet David as he
returns, begging forgiveness for his sin.
David is feeling magnanimous this day, no one will die for their sins
this particular day but David will not forget this insult, he will pass along
this particular vengeance to Solomon.
The recitation of these two commandments is a part of our
liturgy each week and is followed by the response, Lord have mercy upon us,
Christ have mercy upon us. The reason is
clear, we have failed to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and we have
failed to love our neighbor as ourselves and we cry out to Him for the very
quality He said was His, mercy. The two
commandments are like one another in the sense that loving our neighbor as
ourselves is loving those created in the image of God, so they could be
restated as love God and love the image of God.
The best antidote for hatred should be the reminder that our neighbor,
everyone on earth, reflects the image of God and so we are to love them. God so loved the world that He gave His only
Begotten Son. We should do no less if we
have the love of God within us.
Forgiveness is to be as much a part of our nature as it is the One whose
image we bear. We are to be merciful as
He is merciful.
How is it that Paul stirred up riots among all the
Jews? Are people not responsible for
their own actions? The riots happened in
reaction to Paul's preaching of the Gospel but was that preaching inciting a
riot or did they have other options in opposing him? In his defense Paul raises again the issue of
resurrection, possibly in hopes of once again dividing his accusers but also
because it is the central action of the Gospel.
If Jesus is not resurrected from the dead the story is hopeless. Fortunately for Paul the governor, Felix, has
"a rather accurate understanding of the Way." This particular judge knows something of the
Gospel and so this is not for him simply some obscure Jewish religious
controversy. The issue, however, is
whether Paul was disturbing the peace, not the truth or falsity of the Gospel
itself. Justice here will not be based
on forgiveness or ultimate truth, it will be based in civil law of Rome. Oh, how we should long for the coming of
God's kingdom.
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