2351AFC122223 – A Heart-Healthy Life (Fourth Sunday of Advent) ← Podcast
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Luke 1:38-b – “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
John 2:5 – 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (← Check it out!)
2 Samuel 7:16 – 16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me, your throne shall be established forever.
Psalm 89:3-4 –
3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
4 ‘I will establish your descendants forever,
and build your throne for all generations.” Selah
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him. I also pray that all of us will seek the Life that brings us a heart like King David’s heart, a heart after God’s own heart. Some days that seems to be to be an impossible goal. In fact, “some days” is a massive understatement. You may recall that in his youth, David lived and worked with and in the Holy Spirit … until he didn’t.
You might know that David committed some VERY BIG sins! So we wonder: how could a man whose heart was like the heart of God sin so terribly and still find favor (Grace) from God? We can sum it up in one simple word: Repentance. David did indeed adhere to an important two-step process: [1] He admitted his sins, and [2] he repented. You probably recognize that pattern as it comes up often in these pages: Repent and Believe the Gospel. For us, then, it is a three- step process: [1] believe the Gospel,[2] acknowledge our sins, and repent. Q: Why put “believe the Gospel” first? A: Because it is The Word of God and especially the Gospel which instructs us in the means of repentance. It is the same process which David used: honor the Giver by accepting the Gift.
The Gift is Life, the Giver is God, and the way we honor the Giver is by Gifting Him our obedience – our entire life as our “yes” to his Absolutely Perfect Plan for us. When God called, David said yes. He became a warrior, a ruler, a Prophet, a poet, a sinner, and he still was a man after God’s own heart because he loved God’s Word, and wiling and properly repented when he rejected the Gift of Grace. He turned around and went back to God and said, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord.” Whenever he made any accomplishment as a warrior, he always credited the victory to God. If he was sent out in a role of authority, he behaved wisely because he understood the way of God. David served God well in the pinnacle of his kingship, and even before he was anointed by Samuel in the sight of his father and brothers, God had determined that the Ultimate Messiah would be “of the house and lineage of David.” This is why God promised David, “ Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me, your throne shall be established forever.“
Now, we might say, “David had an edge! God had already clothed him with honor and all David had to do was keep coming back whenever he failed to keep his honor.” Isn’t it the same with you and me, Belovéd? Are we not already anointed Priest, Prophet, and King? Isn’t it true that all we have to do is keep coming back whenever we fail to keep our honor? Well, then perhaps it is too difficult for us to keep our honor. “Yeah! What did David have that I don’t have?” Do you mean other than a heart that was like unto God’s heart? Well, David had that alright, but he possessed something out of God’s Treasure House even before he was anointed King. He loved, lived, breathed, dreamed, honored, cherished, studied, memorized, contributed to, and prophesied in God’s Law. The Word of God was the body and soul of his life. Ah, yes, he was a prodigious sinner! He was also a humble servant who knew the secret of being humble. Wanna be in on that secret? COOL! Here we go!
Here comes one of those invitations for you to go “off-post” and do some reading on your own. Please follow this link to 2 Samuel 22, (↔ Click Link) especially verses 22-25 and 29-33. If you recall from last week’s post, this is a song that is not in the Book of Psalms, therefore it is referred to as a Canticle. It will take less than 2 minutes to read the whole thing and less than 1 minute to read the referenced selection. Please, pause here and give it a try. I’ll wait. {/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\} Thank you! Wasn’t that terrific? Now, try remember what Mary sang after she entered the home of her cousin, Elizabeth? YES! “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, …” Mary’s response was a canticle of praise and thanksgiving.
Why? Is there a connection between the kind of heart King David had and the kind of heart the Virgin Mary had? You have answered rightly, ʻŌmea! They were both chosen by God and both had humble hearts that loved God. we know quite a lot about David’s life, but not much about Mary’s. Let’s digress for a moment and see what we do have.
Mary’s early life is not recorded in the canon of Scripture, but there are some pious traditions from other sources which are not part of accepted Scripture. They are fun to read, but only as fanciful anecdotes about that part of her life. There are many such speculative and alleged non-biblical materials that are interesting to read but cannot be rightfully woven into the Biblical Narrative such as the Book of Enoch, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Laodiceans, and several others. We do not encourage reading them. We have enough wonder and mystery presented to us in the biblical canon of Scripture (Greek kanon / Ancient Greek: κανών – a straight stick used for authoritative [official] measuring, hence the canon is the authorized collection of scripture). For Catholics that includes 73 book, for non-Catholics 66 books, and for all the world the Bible is one of the most read and most sold books ever. Somewhere around 4,000 – 6,000 years ago, the ancestors of Noah were in what would be later called Canaan. There is some evidence that homo sapiens were migrating out of Africa about 60,000 years ago. For our purposes, though, the World began with Genesis 1:1, and someday it will be dissolved in fire. (← Check it out!) I expect all of us would rather not witness that!
Now, there is another interesting word that connects with people who have hearts that are meek and humble, full of Love, and devoted to God. They are the witnesses, the martyrs, whose lives “magnify the Lord and rejoice in God our Savior.” When we encounter Jesus, or his Mother – or indeed any of the Saints who have gone before us – our souls, our hearts, and our entire lives conform to the healthy-heart state of joyful service, adoration, thanks-giving, and praise. In this actuality, we readily respond to Mary’s instructions to the servants at the Wedding in Cana: “Do whatever he tells you.” O, Dearly Belovéd, how often we hear that humble command and reply in our best four-year-old voice, “NO! I DO IT MYSELF!” Isn’t that what our First parents said? Isn’t it true that even David said something like that in his heart as he gazed upon Bathsheba, or when Abram and Sarai decided to get ahead of God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan and the result was Ishmael? Isn’t true that we must all admit that that willful child within us whose name is Pride is the most susceptible part of us when the Tempter and his henchmen come around? How can our hearts be healthy like David’s or Abraham’s, or Enoch’s, or Mary, or … Jesus, our Lord and our God?
“Well,” we might say, “Jesus and Mary were made perfect by God, but we lost our individual perfection a lo-o-o-o-ong time ago!” True again, esteemed scholar, so how do we restore that messed up heart to its proper health? How do we reclaim the heart with which we were created when we prefer to make excuses, rather than ask for help? (↔ Music Link) I bet you saw this one coming!
We regain our healthy heart – heart like the hearts of the Saints – when we [1] believe the Gospel, [2] acknowledge our sins, and repent. “And what does that have to do with the celebration of Advent, Old Man?” I suppose the best answer I have is …
EVERYTHING! During this time of reflection, prayer, and penance, we can learn to be just, merciful, and obedient so as to live righteously, and to be open to the absolutely astonishing power of God’s Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, and Eternal Salvation in Christ our Lord. I have often wondered about those shepherds watching their flocks by night. Did they carry the astonishing wonder of the message of the angels all the rest of their lives, and did they share it with their children and their grandchildren? Did a few of them feast on fish and bread in a deserted place near Bethsaida? Were any of them in Jerusalem to witness the Crucifixion? Did some of them influence the content of the Gospels by sharing their own Good News? It’s fun to meditate on those things, but the bottom line is that we, too, have our own Good News that we carry in our own healthy hearts. That Gospel is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and even if it is not canonical, it is restorative for the good of our Souls, and whatever is good for the Soul is good for Heart-Healthy Life. Where does our repentance begin?
Let’s look back at a couple of guys in Scripture that messed up big-time. We’ll go back through time to King David who went to the Source to begin repentance. Psalm 51 (↔ Click Link) is a record of his M.A.P. (← Check it out!) for returning to God. His plea was His plea was “Create in me a clean heart, (↔ Music Link) O God,”” and his sincere contrition and effective repentance restored his heart to health. Another guy who was greatly blessed before his birth was Samson (Note: There is no letter “P” in the middle of that name.) His name was שִׁמְשׁון – Shimshon from shemesh – Sun. Samson was a Bright Smiling Sun that began the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines. Given the events we see nightly on the News, we recall that the name “Palestine” comes from the Romans, who renamed the area “Palestinia” in 63 BC after Rome conquered Judea and renamed it after the Philistines, Israel’s perpetual enemy. This was a lasting way to insult the Israelites.
Recall now that Samson refused to resist the desire to be tempted and moved closer to the territories of the Philistines. Long story short, he was the Jewish Superman for twenty years, counted among the Judges (foremost military leaders). He kept doing things that were right on the border of temptation; he desired to be tempted, and gave in to that desire one time too often. Samson was deliberately exposing himself to the danger of temptation – instead of fleeing from it – and as a result he got trapped in sin. That eventually cost him his pride, his vision, and finally his life; nonetheless he died repentant albeit it after many years lost in shame. When we constantly place ourselves in the path of temptation – you may recall the phrase “the near occasion of sin” – we are essentially risking our souls for the thrill of confronting God’s law. That’s not healthy-heart living by a long stretch! In the end, David and Samson both ended up winners because they trusted in God’s promise of forgiveness of sin. Samson got rest from his shame and his enemies. David got rest from his enemies and One of his descendants will indeed reign on his throne forever and subdue all enemies, including Death. With Death conquered, everyone will have a heart-healthy lifestyle for ever and ever. YOLO-F, amen! We, too, shall ask for a clean heart, because then – we will have a heart after God’s own heart, the heart of a Servant of God. (↔ Music Link) How do we reclaim the heart with which we were created when we prefer to make excuses? (↔ Music Link) Yes, Belovéd, we offer our El Shaddai our humble and contrite hearts. That is the Heart-Healthy Life God has had in mind since the very first time he said “Let there be …”
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
