19 January 2016 - free spirit

[ Today's Readings ] 

Not as man sees does God see,
because he sees the appearance
but the LORD looks into the heart.

David is an unexpected choice in the world's eyes. It's true he's handsome. But like Saul, that isn't why he gets the job. He is the youngest. His eligibility seems so unlikely that he is off tending sheep. He isn't even invited to the interview.

But he is chosen by the LORD. The LORD doesn't necessary choose the qualified. Instead, by his Spirit, he qualifies the chosen.

Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand,
anointed him in the midst of his brothers;
and from that day on, the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.

The Spirit rushes on David. And more than almost anyone else David welcomes the Spirit. This is why he the LORD considers David, "a man after his own heart". It isn't for anything David brings to the table that the LORD chooses him, it is his willingness to let the Spirit rush on him. It is his openness to being transformed by the LORD's anointing. This is good news because it means that we too can be men and women after God's own heart. We too have been anointed at Confirmation. The Holy Spirit has not ceased to rush on on from that day. Ours job is like that of David. We must welcome the Spirit.

I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong

This is why David has the freedom of the Holy Spirit.

Have you never read what David did
when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?

This is a freedom we are called to share.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another (cf. Galatians 5:13).

If we welcome the Spirit we will not use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. The Pharisees only understand the letter of the law. They use it as an opportunity for the flesh. They build their own pride at the expense of others. But we serve under the Spirit of the law. The letter kills but the Spirit gives life (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:6). On a human level, the letter seems safer. It seems like more of a sure thing. We imagine that it would keep us from just the sort of errors of which Jesus is accused. But in the genuine freedom is the Spirit these apparent errors might turn out to be in the service of God. 

The relationship which the Holy Spirit makes possible is amazing. We become sons and daughters of the Most High, men and women after God's own heart. May the Spirit rush upon us today.

He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
And I will make him the first-born,
highest of the kings of the earth.