Today’s readings for mass all boil down to the heart. In the first reading for mass from the book of Samuel God said, “Not as man sees does God see, because he sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” Even in today’s reading, God is concerned with Samuel’s heart because He told Him, “How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel?” It makes you wonder why Samuel was “grieving” for Saul? Was it because God had withdrawn His blessing from him? Or maybe Samuel was concerned for his salvation. Whatever it was, God felt like he had been grieving enough, it was time to move on. He had another task for him to do.
Samuel was afraid Saul would kill him if he heard that God was sending him to anoint another man as king. God had a solution for this situation. Saul wouldn’t have to lie about his reason for going to Bethlehem, because God gave him an excuse, or another pretense for going there. God sounds almost human in these verses in scripture. He helped Samuel to deceive everyone into thinking he was offering a sacrifice and was having a banquet, when Samuel’s true purpose was to anoint David as the next king.
When Samuel began to look at each one of Jesse’s sons at the banquet, to spot the next king, it sounds like he was going on the assumption that the next king would be a grown man with a certain commanding presence and other leadership traits. Samuel thought it might be Eliab. He was a perfect candidate. But, God said, “Not as man sees does God see, because he sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” God chose the littlest one who was tending the sheep. Why did God choose him? Maybe he took good care of the sheep, led them safely to green pastures and water and defended them from wolves and wild animals. Maybe David also was accustomed to seeking God in prayer, in the silence and solitude of the pastures where the sheep were grazing. David had a good heart and probably genuinely cared about the sheep he tended each day. If David took good care of the sheep, then he would surely take good care of God’s people as well.
David’s heart was the first thing that came to Jesus’ mind when the Pharisees criticized him in today’s gospel, for allowing his disciples to pluck grain to eat in the field they were traveling through, even though it was on a Sabbath. Jesus was doing something that was clearly wrong by the rules of their day, and as usual, the Pharisees were quick to point it out. The disciples were hungry though. What harm was there in letting the disciples break this minor, man made rule, and pick grain to eat on the Sabbath? Jesus let them do it. However, when the Pharisees criticized Jesus for allowing his men to do this, David was the first person who came to Jesus’ mind.
King David broke a rule too, out of compassion for his men, who were hungry. There was no harm done in allowing his men to eat the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat. Jesus remembered King David’s compassion for his men. The Lord valued David’s compassion and concern for his men more than the rule that he broke. Maybe that is why God chose David to be king, because he had a good heart. Jesus certainly thought so too. Man judges by appearances but Jesus judges the heart.
As a side note, when Jesus was accused by the Pharisees, he didn’t defend himself or his men’s actions just by explaining that his men was hungry. Jesus recalled the story from the scriptures about King David letting his men eat the bread of offering. King David broke a rule too, but Christ supported his own decision by David’s example in the scriptures.
We should remember that in our own lives. Rules are not more important than people. Jesus broke more than a few rules during his life, in order to show love to others. That’s not an excuse to disregard all the rules, or to break rules on a regular basis, but simply to realize that sometimes love takes precedence over the rules.
Also, the scriptures never fail us. If we are ever unsure of the right decision to make, we should remember Christ’s example today and base our decision on the scriptures. If our decisions are made based on the scriptures, they will never be wrong in the eyes of God. Maybe other people will not understand our actions, but God will. Man judges by appearances but God judges our hearts.
