THE PROPHET SAMUEL is at Jesse’s house. The Lord has told him that among his sons is the future king of Israel. When the oldest of that family, named Eliab, appears, Samuel believes that he will be the chosen one, but God tells him: “Do not look at his appearance or his great stature, because I have discarded him. God’s gaze is not like man’s. Man looks at appearances but the Lord looks at the heart” (Sam 16,7). Jesse presents his seven sons, but none is chosen. It will not be until David arrives, who was pasturing the flock, when the Lord says to Samuel: «Get up and anoint him. He is” (Sam 16:12).
God invites us to go beyond appearances; that is, to overcome the first impressions that a person can cause us. Sometimes it can happen that, when we meet someone, we quickly put up a wall because we believe that they do not fit our affinity parameters. This attitude, however, deprives us of enriching ourselves with that person’s way of being. Surely neither his father nor his brothers imagined that David, the youngest, would be chosen for a central mission in the history of Israel. Looking at the hearts of others, as the Lord does, leads us to discover their true value, much greater than we could have thought.
“The understanding that is the fruit of charity, of love, “understands” – writes the prelate of Opus Dei –: “sees”, first of all, not the defects or faults, but the virtues and qualities of others»[1]. Affection makes it easier for us to focus on the positive. Despite everything, it is not always easy to overcome appearances. Despite our effort to look at the heart, we can have misunderstanding reactions towards other people. It is time to ask the Lord for help, without getting discouraged, so that we can say with the psalmist: “You have expanded my heart” (Ps 119,32).
BEFORE the Lord’s election, David was a simple shepherd. In fact, when Samuel showed up at his house, he was pasturing the flock (cf. Sam 16,11). After being anointed by the prophet, he was invaded by the spirit of the Lord. From that moment on he would no longer be just a herder of animals, but he would be in charge of taking care of the people of Israel. He used to take care that the sheep did not stray from the flock and were not attacked by the beasts; now, instead, he will be primarily concerned that the Israelites stay on the right path and stay away from false lights. A mission that he will be able to carry out because God, the true shepherd, has chosen him. “He leads me in straight paths,” David will write, “for the honor of his name. Even if I walk through dark valleys, I fear no evil, because you are with me; your rod and your staff soothe me” (Ps 23:3-4).
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Despite being the shepherd of Israel, David himself will sometimes stray from the path. An experience that, to a greater or lesser extent, happens to all of us. Sometimes we can feel the inconsistency between what we should be and what we are; between what we say and what we do. However, in David’s life there is a common thread: dialogue with God. At all times, both in victory and defeat, he tries to turn to the Lord, for he knows that everything he has comes from him. He is the shepherd of Israel not because he has earned it through his merits, but because God, looking into his heart, has chosen him. “The experience of sin should not make us doubt our mission,” said Saint Josemaría. (…) The power of God is manifested in our weakness, and prompts us to fight, to fight against our defects, even knowing that we will never fully obtain victory during our journey on earth. The Christian life is a constant beginning and beginning again, a renewal every day»[2].
Even if we are weak, we can convert and be for others a source of God’s unconditional love, because he makes us worthy of being loved beyond our own sin. His mercy is not expressed only as forgiveness in the face of human misery, it is not a exception for those who err, but expresses the breadth of God’s love, which is prior to the experience of sin: «You were not yet born, the world did not even exist, and I already loved you. Since I exist, I love you»[3]. God’s mercy in a way defines us: it is at the origin of our being and at the origin of his providence throughout our lives. With that love David is chosen, forgiven and confirmed in his mission; and with that love he is called to be Israel’s shepherd.
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FROM THE descendants of David will come the Messiah, the shepherd who will not only guide the people of Israel, but who will rescue all humanity. He himself will be the light of the world, the one who will bring men out of darkness so that they seek what pleases the Lord (cf. Eph 5,8). With sin “we become blind and we feel better in the dark and we go that way, without seeing, like the blind, moving as we can. Let the love of God, who sent Jesus to save us, enter us and (…) help us to see things with the light of God, with the true light and not with the darkness that the lord of darkness gives us. »[4]. In the same way that when a room is illuminated you can distinguish its objects, with the arrival of the Messiah the darkness disappears and it is possible to embrace good works.
When Jesus restored sight to a man blind from birth, the miracle was actually much greater than bodily healing. “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” he asked. «“And who is he, Lord, so that I believe in him?”, He answered. Jesus said to him: “If you have seen him: the one who is talking to you, that is.” And he exclaimed: “I believe, Lord.” And he prostrated himself before him” (Jn 9:35-38). Christ has cured his blindness so that, seeing him, he recognizes that he is the Messiah. That man, contemplating the face of Jesus, has not only left physical darkness, but above all that of the soul: with his faith he has been able to welcome the light that Christ offered him. Instead, the Pharisees, unable to admit his blindness, closed themselves off from the Lord’s action. «Jesus said to them: “If you were blind you would not have sin, but now you say: ‘We see’; therefore your sin remains”» (Jn 9:41). We can go to the Virgin so that we know how to recognize our mistakes and thus let Jesus enlighten our soul.
