David's Sin of Murder and Adultery

Homily for Friday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time

The readings today draw us into the mystery of how God works with human weakness and how His kingdom grows in ways we often cannot see.

In 2 Samuel, David—Israel’s great king—falls hard. His sin with Bathsheba is not a small stumble but a deliberate series of choices that spiral into betrayal and death. Scripture doesn’t hide this. It shows us that even the strongest among us can lose our way when desire, power, and secrecy take over. Sin always begins quietly, but it never stays small.

As the first two verses of Psalm 51 tell us, used today as our response to the first reading, David wrote this psalm himself after Nathan the prophet accused him of his heinous crime of murder and adultery. It is David’s own cry for mercy: “Have mercy on me, O God… a clean heart create for me.” Notice how David expresses his sorrow. He mentions God’s mercy, love and compassion before even getting to the reason for his plea. The psalm reminds us that God’s mercy is bigger than our failures. What God wants most is not excuses but a heart that returns to God honestly.

Then Jesus in Mark’s Gospel speaks of the Kingdom of God as a seed—small, hidden, growing silently. God’s grace works like that. Even when we’ve made a mess, even when we can’t see progress, God is quietly planting, healing, restoring.

Put together, the message is simple and hopeful: We all have the capacity to fall like David. We all have the ability to rise again through repentance. And God is always at work, often invisibly, growing new life in us.

The Eucharist stands as our great prayer of reconciliation which God had initiated immediately after the sin of Adam in the garden. It is the sacrament which fuels all of the other sacrament, all of which are signs of God’s mercy, love, and compassion.