King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him, "Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the people, that I may know their number."
Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered: in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service; in Judah, five hundred thousand.
Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people, and said to the Lord: "I have sinned grievously in what I have done. But now, Lord, forgive the guilt of your servant, for I have been very foolish." When David rose in the morning, the Lord had spoken to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying: "Go and say to David, 'This is what the Lord says: I offer you three alternatives; choose one of them and I will inflict it on you.'" Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: "Do you want a three years' famine to come upon your land, or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you, or to have a three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me." David answered Gad: "I am in very serious difficulty. Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful; but let me not fall by the hand of man." Thus David chose the pestilence. Now it was the time of the wheat harvest when the plague broke out among the people. [The Lord then sent a pestilence over Israel from morning until the time appointed, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.] But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord regretted the calamity and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people, "Enough now! Stay your hand." The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the Lord: "It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these are sheep; what have they done? Punish me and my kindred."
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 32, 1.2. 5. 6. 7
R. (5) Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Happy is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Happy the man to whom the Lord imputes not guilt,
In whose spirit there is no guile.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, "I confess my faults to the Lord,"
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Gospel
Mk 6, 1-6
Jesus went to his own part of the country followed by his disciples. When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue in a way that kept his large audience amazed. They said: "Where did he get all this? What kind of wisdom is he endowed with? How is it such miraculous deeds are accomplished by his hands? Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary, a brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters our neighbors here?" They found him too much for them. Jesus' response to all this was: "No prophet is without honor except in his native place, among his own kindred, and in his own house." He could work no miracle there, apart from curing a few who were sick by laying hands on them, so much did their lack of faith distress him. He made the rounds of the neighboring villages instead, and spent his time teaching.
We forgive ya too Dave. :-)
Oh nevermind. That was a reading. Wow. A very good one too. I don't think we should give Al his job back.
So none of the translations in any of the dictionaries I have would render "theotokos" as God + mother. (mother of God). It would allow "Interest of God" which is what is meant by Usury. It would allow "bringing forth God", "Child of God" (wow!). I have to say I like that last one best. But, there it is..
And to think that I was nice to Havoc yesterday. I actually said that he wouldn't be foolish enough to pick up on woodkirk's silly notion.
Live and learn.
SD
This brought up something to ponder, for me anyway:)
The passage about Jesus in the temple made me think of the time when he was twelve and stayed behind, Luke 3:41-47. The people there were astonised at his knowledge.
Do you think he was born with that knowledge, or were his parents good parents and taught him well. (Deut 6:7)
Were the people astonished because his knowledge was that of an adult, or just that of a 12 year old. I know from experience that adults are facsinated by a kid who even has a little knowledge of the bible.
One time when my son was 6 and my daughter 3, Charlie was learning the books of the bible for Sunday School, we practiced in the car on the way to town alot. Of course Jenny was sitting there the whole time. One Sat. we went to the airport to pick my parents up from a trip. A convention in Tulsa of Church of Christ preachers was ending and the airport was full of preachers catching flights home. One was sitting next to us. Jenny, 3 was sitting there singing "Jesus Loves Me," the guy next to her (the preacher, I didn't know he was a preacher) started asking her if she went to church, and what else she knew, suddenly she started reeling off the books of the NT, some were pronounced wrong, but there was no mistake what she was saying. The man almost fainted, it was real funny, I didn't realize how much she had picked up, There were several other preachers and such there they were Amening her and praising God. It was kind of funny. But see how people can react to a child with a little knowledge. I wonder if that was how it was when Jesus was 12, or if He was born with all knowledge. Just something to think about.
I have a feeling people were not that much different back then from what they are today, about being as diligent to teach their kids about God. If they had I think more of the Jews would have recognized Jesus.
Becky