The Degradation of the Human Person

Everyone knows the story of David and Bathsheba. In a society that is inundated with sex, we tend to overlook the horror of this epic story. When David was consumed with lust, Bathsheba ceased to be a woman, the handiwork of God and became an object to be possessed and used.

Unlike David, we do not have to climb to the roof of our palaces, we only have to turn on our computers. Lust, fed by pornography, hardens the heart and entices us to live out our fantasies, wherein people become things to be used, abused and disposed of. Society’s focus on pleasure and instant gratification has done horrible things to women.

The Holy Spirit moved the pen of the Sacred Author to record this event in David’s life. We must trust in the Spirit to speak to our hearts and enable us to value the beauty of the human person. By God’s merciful grace, we will receive the helps we need to overcome self-indulgence and pour ourselves out in service to others. By the guidance of the Spirit, we will learn to treat other with dignity and respect. By the outpouring of grace, we will rediscover what it means to say that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Once again, we will come to know the bliss that comes from walking with God in the Garden of His delight.

Lust not only caused David to treat Bathsheba as an object, but it also caused him to think that Uriah was expendable – disposable. Once we desecrate the temple of our body, nothing is sacred, nothing has value. When David fell prey to his lust, he did not see the image and likeness of God in either Bathsheba or Uriah. Sin hardened his heart and caused him to degrade the woman and to destroy her husband. His stone cold heart had to be made flesh again.

God so loved the world that He set in motion a process whereby the children of Adam and Eve might become human again. God became flesh so that sinful human beings might once again be made in the image and likeness of God. The Beloved Son, Who reflects the glory of the Godhead, was degraded and ridiculed so as to restore dignity to a fallen race. The immortal God died on the cross to bring mortal men to the fullness of life. I pray that each of us would experience God’s mercy and forgiveness so that we would stop hurting ourselves and others.

--Father Jerome Machar, OSCO

Do I Trust God?: A Reflection on 2 Samuel 24: 1-17

The LORD’s anger against Israel flared again,^a and he incited David against them: “Go, take a census of Israel and Judah.”2The king therefore said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him, “Tour all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the people, that I may know their number.”3But Joab replied to the king: “May the LORD your God increase the number of people a hundredfold for my lord the king to see it with his own eyes. But why does it please my lord to do a thing of this kind?”4However, the king’s command prevailed over Joab and the leaders of the army, so they left the king’s presence in order to register the people of Israel.5Crossing the Jordan, they began near Aroer, south of the city in the wadi, and turned in the direction of Gad toward Jazer.6They continued on to Gilead and to the district below Mount Hermon. Then they proceeded to Dan; from there they turned toward Sidon,7going to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites, and ending up in the Negeb of Judah, at Beer-sheba.8Thus they toured the whole land, reaching Jerusalem again after nine months and twenty days.9Joab then reported the census figures to the king: of men capable of wielding a sword, there were in Israel eight hundred thousand, and in Judah five hundred thousand.

10Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people. David said to the LORD: “I have sinned grievously in what I have done.^b Take away, LORD, your servant’s guilt, for I have acted very foolishly.”^*11When David rose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying:12Go, tell David: Thus says the LORD: I am offering you three options; choose one of them, and I will give you that.13Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: “Should three years of famine come upon your land; or three months of fleeing from your enemy while he pursues you; or is it to be three days of plague in your land? Now consider well: what answer am I to give to him who sent me?”^c14David answered Gad: “I am greatly distressed. But let us fall into the hand of God, whose mercy is great, rather than into human hands.”15Thus David chose the plague. At the time of the wheat harvest it broke out among the people. The LORD sent plague over Israel from morning until the time appointed, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand of the people died.16But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD changed his mind about the calamity, and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people: Enough now! Stay your hand.^d The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.^e17When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the LORD: “It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Strike me and my father’s family!” (2 Sam. 24: 1-17)

What’s the big deal about David counting the military men? Wouldn’t a king want to know how many troops he has? Why is God so upset that David counted his men? There are several reasons.

First, David could have been proud that Judah, the tribe to which he belonged, had 500,000 soldiers, whereas the other 11 tribes of Israel had 800,000 altogether. He could boast about his own tribe. However this is not the main reason that God was upset with David.

Secondly, the book of Numbers is filled with numbers of the people. So why is God upset that David is counting the people when one of the books in the Bible is all about numbers?

The issue involves trust. As David develops in his relationship with God, God expects more of him that he did earlier. David has gone through some very serious sins of adultery and murder, and God showed him that he forgave those sins and still loved David and kept his covenant with him. So David should’ve trusted that God would take care of him.

More is expected of those to whom more has been given. As David grows in his relationship with God, he is expected to grow in trust of God. Perhaps he trusted himself and his troops more than God. Maybe he was considering what battles he could win or if he could win them, and he wanted to know the number of troops in order to make this determination. God held David to a higher standard than other military leaders and kings, because God had shown David that he, God, could be trusted. When David went out to destroy Goliath with a slingshot and five stones, God gave him the victory. Then 40 years later, when David is returning from battle, the women sing, “Saul has killed his thousands and David his 10,000s.” This certainly indicated that the victory was God’s, not David’s.

David has a lack of trust that God could deliver him from his enemies no matter how many troops he has or how many troops the enemy has. Unlike the time when David sinned with Bathsheba, this time David feels guilty before the prophet comes to him. In the case of Bathsheba, and the killing of Uriah the Hittite, David did not recognize his sin until the prophet Nathan confronted him with it. In the situation of the census of his people, David recognizes his sin before the prophet Gad comes. David asks God for forgiveness, and then speaks to Gad who comes to tell David, “OK. God has forgiven you. But you don’t get off scott free. As a punishment, do you want a b or c?” David’s response is interesting. He says, “Let us fall by the hands of God rather than by the hands of men because God is the most merciful.”

David understood God’s mercy. He wrote about this mercy many times in the Psalms. David is writing from his own experience. He experiences a deep sense of sorrow in his heart, a sorrow for the suffering of his people. He had been protective of his people before, but now we see the compassion and tenderness he has toward his people.

David does not say, “I, the king have sinned” or “I, the leader, have sinned.” Rather he says, “I, the shepherd, have sinned.” By calling himself a shepherd, he may have been looking back to his childhood when he, as a shepherd used to watch his sheep and have to take care of them. At that time he would defend his flock by using a sling to ward off predators, and God protected his flock. David says that he killed a bear and a lion who were going to attack his flock, all by the grace of God. David sees the people as sheep who are vulnerable, gentle, unsuspecting. He feels a deep love for the people. This shows that he has a deeper understanding of God.

David says, “Punish me, not the sheep. I am the one who is guilty. I am the one who lost trust.” David is not just willing to fight for his people but also to suffer for those in his charge.

This passage from Scripture helps us to consider what God has done for us and the many graces that he has given to us. Are we responding to those graces? Am I worrying about things? Am I still lazy? Do I not put up a fight? Am I not responding to what God has done in my life? Am I not responding appropriately to God? Is my trust in God strong in comparison to what he has shown about trusting him in Scripture? My trust is so small compared to what I have seen. My failure to trust, my lack of trust is not in accord with what God has done in my life. Why is that?

Consider the mercy of God. Do I trust enough in God’s mercy? Do I trust God’s mercy, not my own ability, talent, work? Where is my heart? Am I willing to not only trust God but also love him and love my neighbor? Am I advancing in love of neighbor or do I just love myself? Do I think I am this, I am that, it’s all about me, or am I truly beginning to think about those whom the Lord has given me to care for and pray for? Do I want to not just fight for Christ but also to enter into suffering with him, to lay down my life for him?

What about those of us who are in religious life in the first, second, or third orders? Jesus told us that the good shepherd would lay down his life for his sheep. David said that he would rather be punished for the sake of the others. Wasn’t that an example of the good shepherd? The willingness to suffer penance for our sins, however that penance may come, all done out of the love of Jesus, shows our love for him and for the sheep. And I willing to give Jesus my all? Do I trust in God and in his mercy and in the love that he showed us on the cross?

-- Transcribed as best as possible from a homily by Father David Engo, FBM

Staying on Campaign

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.” (2 Samuel 11: 1-5)

One of the saddest and most detrimental of events in David’s life is David’s committing adultery with Bathsheba and then having her husband Uriah the Hittite killed when David discovered Bathsheba’s pregnancy. David married Bathsheba to cover up his adultery, but the sin became known. The long-term result of this was not only the death of an innocent man, Uriah, but also the death of the innocent baby, the later rebellion of David’s sons, and the splitting of Israel into two kingdoms. All of this happened because David took a walk on the roof when he should’ve been out on campaign.

Nevertheless, in all of these terrible circumstances, we learn about the mercy of God. God shows mercy to David when David repents. God does not remove the kingship from David nor will He abolish the covenant that he made with David when he told David that one of his sons would sit upon the throne of Jacob forever. David will still share paternity with God in Jesus, and this through Bathsheba, the very woman with whom he sinned. Bathsheba became the mother of David’s son Solomon and, through Solomon, the great great great great great great grandmother of Jesus.

The origin of David’s sin was sloth. It was a lack of attentiveness to his duty. Scripture tells us that this incident happened at the turn of the year when kings go out on campaign. David was a king, so why wasn’t he on campaign? He should’ve been campaigning, that is rallying his troops and fighting his enemies. Instead David was home where he got into trouble. In his idleness, he is walking on the rooftop when he spies Bathsheba. And thus his great sin begins.

In the spiritual life, sloth and idleness become the doorway to sin. The saying goes that an idle mind is the devil’s playground. Think of a motorboat that is not anchored but is not moving through the waves. The tide will take that boat wherever the tide flows. The evil one waits for us to be idle, that is not seeking a virtuous life, because when we are idle we become prey to the tide. We then fall into sin either through the evil one or through our own fallen nature. We are prone to influence by both of these. One or the other will sweep us away.

In the spiritual life we need to be always on campaign. The campaign to holiness requires virtue, fortitude, attention to the matter at hand. We need to give God our attention, be mindful of Him, be attentive to our state in life and our vocation. David’s state in life was that of a married man who was also a king. But he got lost in wandering on a rooftop, and he probably made excuses about why he did what he did.

Once we recognize our vocation, we must give ourselves completely to it. Our duty is to our vocation. We are to be on campaign, to engage in the battle to become who God intended us to be. If we grow lax and slothful, this will have an effect on our own soul and the souls of others who we were to lead to God by our example. St. Francis said that whenever we turn back to our own wills, we become murderers. Yes murderers, because we fail to participate in the salvation of souls. We are not there to lead others to God. We must give our whole selves and our attention to our vocation. We can’t be slothful. David took a walk on his rooftop that devastated his life, caused his kingdom to be divided, and brought destruction to Israel. St. Paul said, “Let us fight the good fight and not grow gloomy or lax,” because “rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength.”

We need to keep on campaign for the holiness of life. This will cause us to drink the cup of suffering, but self-denial will lead us to glory in heaven. Keep the end result in mind. “Great things we have promised,” St. Francis said. “But greater things have been promised to us.” We must yearn for the eternal and the heavenly homeland, and not grow lax or weary because rejoicing in the Lord must be our strength. Give us the grace of fortitude, Lord, to fight the good fight and to remain on campaign.

-- Transcribed as best as possible from a homily by Father David Engo, FBM

God Cannot Be Outdone in Generosity

God’s Covenant with David

Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.’

 But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever. In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

David’s Prayer

 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, ‘Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God; you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. May this be instruction for the people, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness, so that your servant may know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God; for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Who is like your people, like Israel? Is there another nation on earth whose God went to redeem it as a people, and to make a name for himself, doing great and awesome things for them, by driving out before his people nations and their gods? And you established your people Israel for yourself to be your people for ever; and you, O Lord, became their God. And now, O Lord God, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it for ever; do as you have promised. Thus your name will be magnified for ever in the saying, “The Lord of hosts is God over Israel”; and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, “I will build you a house”; therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant; now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue for ever before you; for you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed for ever.’

David wanted to build God a house. He tells the prophet Nathan about this, and Nathan basically says, “Go ahead and do what you want.” But then God speaks to Nathan and says, “Tell David not to do this.”

God’s response contains an element of surprise. God is saying I never asked for a house. I’ve been moving about in a tent all this time, and never needed a house.” But God recognized that David wanted to do him good and to give God glory. So God is more generous than David. He says to David, “You are not going to build a house for me; I will build a house for you. Your son shall be my son.” God and David are going to share fatherhood in one of David’s sons. This prophecy would take 1000 years before it was fulfilled in Jesus.

David’s son Solomon built God a temple, as God had predicted. But God built his own temple in David’s son Jesus.

What incredible love existed between David and his household and God! God introduced a new way to approach God, to search for God, to become a closer friend of God. God taught us a great lesson, to lean on God’s mercy. God built his own temple on Jesus, and that new temple is the Church. The temple of Solomon was destroyed and rebuilt until it was finally destroyed and never rebuilt. But the temple of the Catholic Church built on Jesus will last forever. It has endured sufferings, blows, and beatings, but it has endured. We see in the Church God’s love for us. To those who give, Scripture tells us, more will be given. We give to God, and he gives far more generously back to us. God cannot be outdone in generosity. The more we realize that God is building something beautiful in our lives, the more we will trust God, the more we will understand the beauty of the relationship with God and how awesome we are to him.

Jesus told his disciples that he would not ask the Father for them, because they could ask the Father themselves. The Father loves you, Jesus said. Take courage and approach the heavenly Father. Our Lord and God is so good, so near, so merciful. He cannot be outdone in generosity. Give something, and God will give you more back. Trust in God who so loves us and who gave Jesus to us. What more can we ask for than that?

--Transcribed in general from a homily by Father David Engo, FBM