Feb. 23: Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Learning from David and Saul

1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; Pm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1 Cor 15:45-49; Lk 6:27-38

One of the gifts of 1-2 Samuel is that the books contain some of the richest portrayals of biblical characters that we have. Saul and David are full characters with complex emotional lives, and an even more complex relationship.

Watching them navigate this relationship can leave us with a lot of questions to consider. How can I know for sure when I am in the right? How do I handle betrayal? Today’s reading might make us wonder: How do I protect myself without being rash or careless? This is perhaps one of the most difficult life skills to learn. Danger has always been a part of the world.

Our Old Testament reading today comes from a difficult time in Saul’s life. He has grown older under the pressures of encroaching international powers, a difficult relationship with God and a young upstart who is now favored by the very people and God who chose him to be king.

While Saul has not been a perfect person, he has tried to protect his people. He has tried to show mercy to his soldiers and even his enemies. For this, he was rejected by God and the prophet Samuel. He has watched his once promising career fall to pieces all around him. The young upstart he brought into his court, David, is now vying for his throne.

It seems these pressures have led him to a dark place in his mind. He is a human who feels abandoned, alone and afraid and he grows paranoid and reckless. Blinded by this pain and fear, Saul loses sight of himself and of his grasp on reality. David is the victim of Saul’s spiral.

So, we can easily understand why David might jump at Abishai’s offer to murder Saul in today’s reading. Saul has not given David much reason to do otherwise. Yet, he does. David’s choice comes out of the recognition that Saul’s life is precious to God. So, the decision David makes is essentially based on Saul’s humanity.

It is easy to look on another and pass judgment on them, especially if we are in a heated conflict with them. But starting from a place of judgment leads to labels. We see these labels often. Scroll through any social media site and you can see human beings labeled as “monsters” or “demons” or “scum,” be they violent criminals or simply someone with whom another disagrees.

Most of us don’t want to think of ourselves as anything like those with whom we are diametrically opposed or who have done horrible things. So, we label them as something wholly different from us, something inhuman, even though they are not. They are every bit as human as you and me.

This is what David realized in the moments after Abishai offers to kill Saul. He does not think of Saul as a monster, but as another human being. This allows David to think clearly, and he refuses to engage violently. He is also able to confront Saul safely and without escalating the situation (1 Sm 26:17-25). The situation could have gone much worse had David approached it differently.

These are all difficult things to do, especially in the heat of the moment. But by recognizing that we all share the same humanity, we can manage relationships better and keep ourselves safer in daily life.

For example, rather than ignoring my intuition because the man watching me in the parking lot does not look like a “monster,” I can remember that all the “monsters” in our history have looked every bit as human as I do. This reminder allows me to respond to my intuition and be more vigilant.

When in a conflict with another, I can remember that I experience the same human emotions that they do. Then I can try to understand them and search for common ground. These are skills that take practice to learn. They have become more difficult to master because the media — social and otherwise — encourage us to dehumanize each other. We are flooded with these messages every day. But if we refuse to recognize the humanity in others, we will become less human in the process. Then we will truly be lost.