Children of the Most High
Seventh Sunday - Year C
1 Samuel 26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23; Psalm 103:1-4,8,10,12-13; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38
Saul was the first king of Israel, handsome and "a head taller than anyone else" (1 Sam. 9:2). "There was no one like him among all the people" (1 Sam. 10:24), and yet he disappointed God (1 Sam. 15:10-11). David was the second king of Israel, the youngest among his siblings and of rather ordinary build (1 Sam. 16:12), but God found him according to His own heart (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22). In the course of the biblical story, they became enemies. Saul tried to kill David many times, and today’s reading is taken from their last encounter.
Saul’s spear symbolized his kingship, and a water jar was vitally important in the desert. David takes both. The meaning is obvious. The Lord takes the kingdom of Israel from Saul and gives it to David (1 Sam. 15:28), and Saul’s life is coming to an end. In sparing Saul’s life, David follows the biblical principle that we should not avenge ourselves but let God administer justice (see Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:17-19). In his last speech to David, Saul acknowledged his sins and predicted David’s success: “You shall achieve and you shall prevail” (1 Sam. 26:25).
David’s magnanimity illustrates Jesus’ call to love our enemies. In his sermon, our Lord presents to us two ways: the way of sinners and the way of the Father. Sinners do good to those who do good to them, but the Heavenly Father does good to “the ungrateful and the wicked” (Luke 6:35). This attitude is beautifully illustrated in today’s responsorial psalm. God’s kindness and mercy are particularly seen in His forgiveness. “Not according to our sins does He [God] deal with us” (Ps. 103:10). Having received mercy, we are called to be merciful (Luke 6:36).
The second reading summarizes the essence of today’s message of the liturgy of the Word. The first Adam is the image of the old humanity still in the grip of sin. Abishai is a good example here: “Let me strike him down with a single thrust of the spear” (1 Sam. 26:8). Sinners who love those who love them and lend money to those from whom they expect repayment also fit this category. The last Adam, however, stands for a new humanity, one that can utter this prayer from the cross: “Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). We bear the image of the first Adam that legislated “an eye for an eye” (Lev. 24:20), but our aim is to bear the image of the heavenly one that loves enemies and prays for those who persecute him (1 Cor. 15:49; Matt. 5:38-42). Through baptism and grace, we are transformed into the image of Christ, called to live according to His example.
Three times in today’s Gospel, we hear the phrase: “What credit is that to you?” (Luke 6:32-34). Jesus challenges us to go beyond ordinary human expectations. Loving only those who love us, doing good only to those who do good to us, or lending only when we expect repayment—these do not set us apart as disciples. The Gospel calls us to something greater: a love that mirrors God's own, extending even to those who do not return it.
In the Gospel of Matthew, God’s mercy has a cosmic dimension. Our merciful Father makes the sun rise over the good and the evil and sends the rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:44-45). Thus, in imitation of God, our love and acts of kindness should extend to all. “Great reward” belongs to those who love their enemies, do good to those who hate them, bless those who curse them, and pray for those who mistreat them. By loving as Christ loves, we do more than follow a command—we reveal our true identity as children of the Most High (Luke 6:35).