The Old Testament reading from Samuel this morning in the Office of Readings is a continuation of the story of David’s sin — his arrangement for the murder of Urriah the Hittite so he could cover his sin of adultery and obtain what he wanted, i.e., Bathsheba (Urriah’s wife). Nathan tells him the parable of the poor man whose only lamb was taken from him by a rich man, and how David was that kind of sinner that he himself proclaimed deserved death.
I suspect none of us are guilty of murder, but I suspect most of us are guilty of wanting and taking unjustly the goods of this world that we really don’t need, but simply want, and in doing so we deprive a poor man or woman of the only possession they may have to their name. We do this a lot blindly, given the social structure of economic sin that exists today. Have we done this with open awareness too? I passed a few beggars on the street yesterday in Chicago and gave them nothing. Easy to rationalize my reasons, not so easy to look them in the eye and offer them what in some sense may have been rightfully theirs.
The social teachings of the Church need our careful study and attention. Then we need to take it all to prayer. Finally, we need to take action. That seems to be the hard part.
There are a lot of Urriah’s out there. There are a lot of Nathan the prophets too. Let us listen to both. And act justly.
