Defiance vs Weakness

Saul was rejected because his heart was hardened in defiant rebellion, whereas David was restored because his heart was broken in humble repentance. The Scriptures and the Church’s tradition make this contrast clear.

Saul’s failure: the sin of defiance

1 Samuel 15 records that Saul obeyed the outward command to attack the Amalekites but kept the best of the spoil for himself and the people, disobeying God’s explicit instruction to destroy everything ( 1). Samuel confronts him, saying that “rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry” ( 1). Saul’s excuse—“I feared the people” ( 1)—shows that he placed his own reputation above God’s word. 

The Church Encyclopedia explains that this disobedience of a divine command is the decisive motive for God’s rejection of Saul: “the failure to carry out fully the command of the Lord… led to the Lord’s disfavour and the anointing of David” ( 2). Augustine, in Contra Faustum, stresses that although Saul also said “I have sinned,” the divine eye saw a different heart; his repentance was not genuine but a superficial claim ( 3). 

Thus Saul’s “evil” was not merely weakness but a deliberate opposition to God’s will, a hardened pride that made him unfit to remain king.

David’s failure: the sin of weakness, met with true repentance

David’s greatest moral collapse is recorded in 2 Samuel 12, when Nathan confronts him about the adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah ( 4). David’s immediate response is the classic confession: “I have sinned against the Lord” ( 4). 

Cyril of Jerusalem points to this moment as the model of repentance: “the king … was not indignant, … he said, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ … because he candidly confessed, he received a most speedy cure” ( 5). The word reminds us that “the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart” ( 6). David’s tears and confession were met with God’s promise, “the Lord also has put away your sin” ( 7). 

The Church Encyclopedia on David records that, despite his grave sins, “the Bible records David’s repentance, his acts of virtue… and his piety” ( 8). Augustine’s comment that the “divine eye saw a difference in the heart” explains why David, though guilty, was granted forgiveness ( 3).

Defiance versus weakness: what the Church teaches

• Defiance (Saul) – a willful, proud refusal to obey God’s explicit command, motivated by fear of human opinion or self‑interest. The heart remains hardened; repentance is superficial. Consequently, God rejects the king ( 1, 2). 

• Weakness (David) – a serious moral failure stemming from human frailty, but followed by genuine contrition, confession, and a desire for divine mercy. The heart is humbled; God forgives, though temporal consequences remain ( 4, 5, 6).

The Church teaches that mercy does not erase justice; David still suffered (the death of the child, ongoing turmoil), but his spirit was restored ( 5). Saul’s rebellion left no opening for mercy because his heart was not turned toward God ( 3).

Conclusion

Saul was “left” because his sin was a deliberate, proud opposition to God’s command, a defiant heart that refused true repentance. David, though he fell through human weakness, responded with a contrite and humble heart, which the Church holds up as the proper path to forgiveness. The difference lies not in the severity of the acts but in the condition of the heart: defiance closes the door to mercy; sincere repentance opens it.

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Two laws of the New Covenant: Love God, Love Others

 

Love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Everything I am. 

Love one another as Jesus has loved me. Telling the truth and leading someone to love God, their greatest joy. 

Love is not mushy feelings, that allow and approve of other to do what they want, that leads to hell. 

God will not force me or anyone to believe Him against their will. 

He offers grace to everyone but I am responsible for my own responses, as are everyone else. 

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We blame God for not changing hearts by force. 

He does offer grace to all but we are also responsible for responding. 

In the garden we tried to blame him, but it was our choice. 

God gives grace to all

We are responsible for our response

Reformed makes God choosing some

Catholic makes God good and love asking all

I am responsible for my responses



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15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:1–12, RSV2CE)

REFLECT

Jesus is the Vine. The Father is the Gardner. 

I am a branch of Jesus’ vine. If I don’t bear fruit I get cut off from Jesus. If I do bear fruit, I will get pruned so I bear more fruit. 

I am cleaned by the Word of Jesus. 

Abide in Jesus and He will abide in me. 

If I abide in Jesus and his word abides in me I will bear fruit ask for whatever I will and it will be done for me, this glorifies the Father. When I ask and it is done, it produces much fruit and proves I am a disciple. 

As the Father loves Jesus, so Jesus loves me! Abide in Jesus’ love. If I keep the commandments I will abide in Jesus’ love. Jesus kept the Fathers commandments and abided in the Fathers love. 

The commandment is love one another as Jesus has loved me. (Telling the truth, and leading someone to love God-their greatest joy-not mushy feelings that allow them to do what they want-that ends in hell)

Jesus tells me these things so I can have joy and that my joy is full!

If I don’t abide in Jesus I cannot bear fruit. Apart from Jesus I can do nothing. If I don’t abide my branch (me) is cast forth and withers and will be gathered and thrown into the fire to burn. 

PRAY

Jesus, please open my heart soul mind and body to want your gift of grace that will have me be a branch of your vine and abide in you and your word. Help me do your commands so I continue to abide and not get cut off. I want to bear fruit for the Glory of the Father. I want fruit that proves I am a disciple. I want to be in your love and prove I love you. Help me love others by telling them truth so they may be saved. The greatest human happiness is to know and love God, not being in sin. Sin is killing us and we are being cut off from you. Help me tell people the hard truth that keeps them in the vine. Joy is being in God! I can do nothing without you, it is only by your power, please Holy Spirit fill me and create in me a new heart! Amen. 

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When my sister starts acting up with evil thoughts and behavior:

I love her

I do not hate her

I hate the way she is behaving and thinking 

I am grieved she cannot see truth

I am grieved she refuses to want to change and be clean

I am grieved that she likes filth

I am disgusted and don’t want to be around her but I do not stop loving and wanting her to change. 

I do love her but I love her so much I don’t want her to stay as she is. 

I don’t love her as she is, I love her as what she could be 

Is this how God loves us?

God’s love for us is both deeply personal and oriented toward our good. He loves us as we are, created in the image of God, and at the same time He loves us as what we are called to become—the persons of holiness He intends us to be. This dual aspect of divine love helps to answer the tension you feel toward your sister.

Love the person, not the sin

The Church teaches that charity obliges us to love our neighbour as ourselves, even when that neighbour is “still an enemy” (cf. Mt 5 44) 1. St Thomas Aquinas explains that we must love sinners out of charity because of their nature, while we may rightly hate the sin that separates them from God 2. The “perfect hatred” of the sinner’s evil is itself an expression of love, since it seeks the person’s ultimate good 3.

God’s love is mercy, not disgust

God’s love is always mercy. Pope John Paul II reminds us that “our love of neighbour… is nothing other than our response to the love with which God has first loved us” 4. The infinite mercy of the Father is repeatedly emphasized in the magisterial documents: the “love which is more powerful than sin” is the very foundation of the Church’s proclamation of mercy 5, and the “service of charity is an indispensable expression of the Church’s very being” 6. Thus, God never looks upon a sinner with disgust; He looks upon the sinner with compassion that wants conversion.

Desire for conversion is part of love

Jesus “came not to call the righteous, but sinners” 7, and He rejoices “over one sinner who repents” 7. The love that “covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4 8) is precisely the love that prays for, supports, and accompanies the one who is far from the truth 8. The Catechism teaches that the works of mercy—feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, consoling the afflicted—are concrete expressions of this love 9, and that love must be “patient, kind, and benevolent” 10.

How to love your sister as God loves you

1 Love her as a person: Recognize her inherent dignity as a child of God, regardless of her present choices. 

2 Hate the sin, not the sinner: Feel sorrow for the harmful thoughts and behaviors, but let that sorrow be directed toward the sin, not toward her as a person 2. 

3 Pray for her conversion: Entrust her to the Holy Spirit, asking God to soften her heart and bring her to repentance 7. 

4 Accompany, not abandon: Offer fraternal charity—listen, advise, and be present—while maintaining healthy boundaries if her behavior harms you 11. 

5 Model Christ’s mercy: Follow the example of Christ who washed the feet of His disciples and called them to serve one another 4.

A balanced picture of divine love

God’s love is unconditional in that He does not cease to love the person, yet it is conditional in that He calls each of us to repentance and transformation. He “does not love us because we love Him, but because He loves us first” 12. In the same way, you can love your sister as she is—as a beloved child of God—while also loving what she could be and earnestly desiring her conversion. This is precisely how the Church understands the love of God: a love that embraces, heals, and leads the beloved toward the fullness of life in Christ. 

[1] CCC 1825

[2] Summa Theologiae II-II, Q. 25, A. 6, co.

[3] Summa Theologiae II-II, Q. 25, A. 6

[4] 13 October 1989: Eucharistic celebration in Tuntungan, Indonesia - Homily 3

[5] Dives in Misericordia 13

[6] Evangelii Gaudium 179

[7] CCC 545

[8] Amoris Laetitia 306

[9] CCC 2447

[10] Catechism of the Council of Trent The Ten Commandments - The Fifth Commandment

[11] St. Thomas and the "Good News" of Punishment? page19

[12] CCC 604

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Providence

Joseph declared to his brothers standing before him, “God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. So it was not really you but God who sent me here.” 

“It was not really you, but God, who sent me here.” In that one statement is the key to one of the greatest of all mysteries: the interplay of God’s providence and human sinfulness. 

Of course, Joseph’s brothers were responsible for kidnapping him and selling him into slavery. And the Egyptian woman who falsely accused Joseph was responsible for having him unjustly put in prison.

When Joseph says, “It was not really you, but God, who sent me here,” he’s not just giving his brothers a pass, or saying that they weren’t free, or pretending that they weren’t responsible for a lot of what he went through. They did what they did freely. Nobody forced them, least of all God. But Joseph’s brothers, and the other protagonists in his story, didn’t fully understand what was happening or what their actions were bringing about. And to that extent, they weren’t really the main movers and shakers. They weren’t the ones who were shaping or directing the course of events.

Only God, who knows everything and governs everything, can perfectly nudge and synchronize, and coordinate all the events of the world. Only He really knows what’s going on. Only He really knows what He’s doing. And it’s always for the best.

We say that God doesn’t choose or do or will sin and evil, but that He “permits it.” The technical term is “God’s permissive will.” But be careful. Permissive doesn’t mean passive. 

God is always at work, always active, always creative in the human story. To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of ‘predestination,’ he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace. 

Think of it this way: God is the great composer, and the notes from every human instrument come before Him in all eternity for Him to arrange. We are free to play our instruments however we want to. God will permit us to play the notes we want. Some of us, like Joseph, will offer God beautiful notes: tones of trust and fidelity. Others, like Joseph’s brothers, will send up ugly notes: harsh discordant sounds of envy and resentment and selfishness and anger and arrogance.

We play the notes freely, and to that extent, we make the music that becomes the human story. But God arranges all our sounds, puts the notes together so that even the ugly, dissonant notes, when they’re put in the context of the rest of the music, end up contributing to the beauty of the overall symphony.

So who makes the music, us or God? Who is responsible for the human story? Is it us or God? The answer is: both. We provide the individual elements of the story with our free choices, whether those choices are good or evil. But God writes the story with our free choices. And the story is always magnificent. 

So it is not really us who are ultimately responsible for the splendid outcome of providence. It is that Supreme Artist who is the Lord.

So what’s the takeaway of Joseph’s story and our resolution for the day? There is nothing, no sin, no injustice, no tragedy, that God does not orchestrate for beauty and for a happy ending. 

This happens time and again: first and foremost at Calvary, then in the lives of the saints and martyrs, and even, if we look carefully, in our own lives.

Everything that happens is God’s will, in the sense that the convergence of all the different factors and forces at work at any time and place has been arranged by Him. 

Here is our resolution: God is watching over and orchestrating whatever has happened and whatever happens today. If there is nothing you can do to change it, then say to God, “I trust you are working this for the greatest good, and I thank you ahead of time!” Thank you, God, for working this out for good!”

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If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you (John 14:15–18, RSV2CE)

20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (John 14:20–21, RSV2CE)

23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. (John 14:23–24, RSV2CE)

26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:26–27, RSV2CE)

REFLECT

If I love Jesus, I will do his commands. 

Jesus will ask the Father to give me the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will be with me forever! The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and will dwell with me and in me. 

Jesus will not leave me desolate he is coming in the Holy Spirt. 

Jesus is in the Father, I am in Jesus, and Jesus is in me. 

If I love Jesus and do his commands, I will also be loved by the Father and Jesus will love me and manifest himself to me. Both the Father and Jesus will make their home with me.  

The Holy Spirit who the Father sends in the Name of Jesus will teach me all things and remind me what Jesus has said. 

Jesus gives me Peace. Jesus’ own peace is given to me. I am to hold it and keep it and commanded to not let my heart be troubled and commanded not to be afraid. 

PRAY

Lord, I do love you and I want to do your commands. Thank you Father, for sending me the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus to dwell with me and in me. Holy Spirit you know I don’t have the strength wisdom or power, so please empower me to do the commands and bring them to my remembrance. You are Truth and will guide me into all truth. Thank you Jesus for loving me and manifesting yourself to me. Thank you Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit for loving me, never leaving me, and wanting to live with me. I receive your gift of peace. Not just peace but YOUR PEACE! Strengthen me not to let my heart be troubled or afraid, you are walking me all the way home. Amen!

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