The New Testament writings recall the wonders, signs and miracles that Jesus worked in the few years of his ministry,  but still, at least externally, the political landscape Jesus knew seemed little changed by his coming. 

Luke lists the political power structure as he tells of Jesus’ birth. The Romans still held the land tightly in their hands; their allies, the Herodians, were still the local rulers. 

“We were hoping,” two disciples tell Jesus after his resurrection, but no political revolution happened in Jerusalem. The political structures hardly changed. A few tax-collectors became his followers, but the tax system was not reformed. Prostitution was not abolished. The world looked the same after Jesus died and rose again – even if it wasn’t. The Light had come, but the people still seemed to sit in darkness.

The Old Testament readings at Mass these days from the Book of Samuel offer a similar picture as they describe the times of Saul and David when the Jews, a scattered tribal people, became a united nation with Jerusalem as their center. It was a world of wars and political intrigues, one after the other. Hardly a glorious picture revealing the coming of the kingdom of God. 

Rembrandt (above) paints Saul and David sitting in the dark, maybe a picture of their time. Saul, the powerful warrior leader in fine clothes, is tormented by dark thoughts. He finds soothing the music from the harp, played by young David, but soon David will be his bitter political rival and replace him as king.

Saul wipes the tears from his eyes with a curtain nearby. In his hand he holds a spear he will use later to try to take David’s life.(1 Samuel 16;23)

As we look at our own world with its wars, revolutions and increasing disunity we might remember the world we see in the Book of Samuel. It’s a disturbing picture. Where is God in this, we ask. But God was there; God is here.

Our Faith is meant, not only to see the presence of God in bread and wine, but God’s presence in the signs of the times.