It was a group of 10th Graders, and I was their catechist for 5 weeks in what was (a pretty weak attempt) to get them engaged with the Old Testament. We had already spent one class on the two creation accounts in Genesis, noticing the differences, but also the major similarity (“God saw that it was good.”), and I think they walked out of class that night open to the possibility that they God saw them as good (not an easy concept, sad to say).
On another night, we took a look at David. David of “David and Goliath fame.” We read the story of David and Goliath, and after he downed the great giant, I asked the class, “Would you let this guy date your daughter?” A unanimous approval ensued.
We then moved on to the political war between David and Saul, seeing how Saul wanted to completely destroy the hero. But when David had the chance to kill Saul, he opted for peace. Again asking the class about whether we’d let this handsome young upstart date their daughter, they maintained their unanimous posture. Some even wanted to start wedding plans.
But then the story turns dark . . . to keep reading , please press the "Read More" button below
We then moved on to Psalm 51 – this past weekend’s Responsorial Psalm – a psalm we believe David wrote after he woke up and realized just how low he had sunk. It is a psalm where he expresses deep, deep remorse for his deeds, and completely throws himself before the mercy of God.
Asking the class one more time about the dating prospects for their daughter and this less-than-perfect hero. All but one wouldn’t even let David on the front lawn. But one student expressed an openness to reconciliation. Calming the class down and allowing him the safety to speak freely, he mustered up the courage to do so. “Yeah, he made a big mistake, but he owned up to it, and said he was sorry.” He was pretty pensive when he said it, possibly because he knew his peers; he barely finished and they turned on him. In no way was he justifying the infidelity or the subsequent murder and lies to cover it all up. He was merely struck by one who was so great would allow himself to be so humble.
One of the Keys in Paprocki’s book is humility. Such an important key. As long as we remain humble, recognizing our relationship to God (and that we’re not God), things not only go well, they go great. But as soon as we start to think that we can do it alone, on our own, without God, things fall apart. Throughout the Scriptures we see it. Adam and Eve were fine until they walked away from it. David? Ditto. But we also see others who were so humble and thus saw God do incredible things through them. Abraham. Esther. The prophets. Elizabeth. John the Baptist (you know what they say about the apples not falling far from the tree…) Mary. Jesus. The disciples were truly ineffective until they got it right. And throughout history, we see it over and over again. Saints and sinners alike. As long as they recognized their relationship to God, and that they’re not God, incredible things happen. And it continues to happen to this day. Why are we drawn to the Gandis, the Dalai Lamas, the Mother Teresas and (now) the Francises of the world? Why was that one student drawn to David’s humility after a tragic mistake? Maybe because deep down inside we hunger for that very humility which God calls us to. Maybe we long for the peace (and lower blood pressure!) we get when we realize that there is only so much we can do in a situation (good or bad) and then we have to turn it over to God. Yes, there are those times when we need to let go completely. But there are other times when we have to let go some so as to allow space for God to step in and grab on.