34th Sunday in Ordinary Time
2 SAMUEL 5:1-3
All the tribes of Israel went to Hebron to see David and said to him:
– “We are your bone and flesh; for a long time, when Saul was still our king, you were the one leading Israel’s comings and goings. Moreover, the Lord has promised you: ‘You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel, you shall be the leader of Israel.’”
All the elders of Israel came to Hebron to see the king, and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron, in the presence of the Lord, and they anointed David as king of Israel.
The two books of Samuel are named not because Samuel is their author but because he is their protagonist. They are the work of the Deuteronomistic School and were written around the reign of King Josiah, around 620 BC.
In these books, the birth of the monarchy in Israel is narrated. These events must have taken place around 1010 BC. Israel had been a confederation of tribes sporadically led by charismatic and occasional leaders, the “judges.” But political circumstances led it to need a stronger central power, a king.
Faced with this situation, the people were divided: some thought that fidelity to the Lord required not trusting in these human criteria and staying as they were. Others argued that the monarchy could also be desired by the Lord and did not mean any infidelity. The arbiter of the situation would be the prophet Samuel. He anoints the first king, Saul, who fails. After this, Samuel anoints the second king, David, who will achieve the union of all the tribes and definitively enlarge the kingdom. Today’s text presents the moment when the tribes of Israel, represented by their elders, accept David as king of all Israel.
These books are “historical,” but with the peculiar way of understanding historicity of the Deuteronomistic School. They use properly historical materials, ancient chronicles, annals, and traditions, to write the “sacred history,” the history of Israel’s fidelity and infidelity, so that they are concerned, more than with exact historical fidelity, with the meaning of history seen from faith, from the perspective of “The Covenant.”
The monarchy will gradually become a “sacred” institution in Israel, and the king will be seen as little less than the presence of the Lord at the head of his people. Israel’s fidelity will depend on the fidelity of the King, and the blessings or punishments of God will depend on the conduct of the King.
In reality, the monarchy will be a disaster, in Judah and even more so in Israel, the northern kingdom. Barely four kings (David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah) will be pious and observant of the Law. This will be one of the reasons why the Lord will cease to support his people, will allow Jerusalem and the Temple to be conquered and destroyed, and will send them into exile.
From the idealized memory of King David, a Messianic idea is born in the people, perfectly alive in the time of Jesus: a new David will return, savior of the people. This Davidic Messiah, with clearly political connotations, of the triumph of the people over their enemies, will be expressly rejected by Jesus.
COLOSSIANS 1:12-20
Let us give thanks to God the Father, who has made us fit to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Traditionally it is thought that this letter was written by Paul from his imprisonment in Rome, around the year 63, although current research doubts that the letter is really from Paul, and some believe that it is from a disciple who skillfully imitates his style. It is addressed to the Christians of Colossae, a city in Asia Minor.
The fundamental intention of the letter is to address some erroneous teachings, very likely of Gnostic origin, which were beginning to circulate among those communities.
After the usual greetings, the letter begins with a Hymn to Christ, which is what we read today, one of the most complex and profound passages of Pauline Christology. It is thought that this may be a liturgical hymn, which Paul uses here to expound the basic doctrine about Christ.
Powerful images are used from Scripture:
• As an introduction, the opposition LIGHT — DARKNESS, the action of God as liberator who brings out of darkness into light and leads to the kingdom. It is like a summary of the entire message of the book of Exodus. Christ is the one who brings us out of sin and leads us to Life.
There follows a series of “cosmic attributes” of Christ as the incarnation of the Wisdom of God, which directly connect with the way God is conceived in the Wisdom Books of Israel.
• Christ is the IMAGE of the invisible God. We recall that this is what the human being is in the first creation account, in Genesis 1.
• Firstborn: blood brother, but the first, the heir of the Promise.
• Christ is the incarnation of the Wisdom of God, prior to all things, creative force, meaning of all.
And it concludes with an ecclesial interpretation of Christ:
• He is the head of this body which is the Church.
• The First to rise from the dead.
• The point of reconciliation, the definitive encounter of humanity and creation with God.
We encounter a somewhat disconcerting Christology. All that is said is precious, but two questions arise for me: first, does it refer to Jesus of Nazareth? In that case, it seems a bit excessive, giving priority to his divine nature, with assertions only applicable to the Word of God: second, where does all that theology come from? It seems that all this cannot be derived from the Gospel accounts, but is indicative of the characteristic evolution of theology from the end of the 1st century, which is based more on rational speculation than on the Word of the Gospel.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.