Receiving the Promise, Living in the Light

Today’s readings speak quietly but firmly about what God gives
and what He asks in return.

They are about promise and responsibility, gift and response.

In the first reading from 2 Samuel, David goes and sits before the Lord.

This moment follows one of the greatest promises ever spoken in Scripture.

God has promised David
an enduring house,
a lasting kingdom,
a future shaped by God’s own faithfulness.

David’s response is striking.

He does not rush to act.
He does not boast.
He does not claim credit.

He sits. And he prays. “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house,
that you have brought me thus far?”

David recognises something essential: everything he has is gift.

His kingship is not an achievement.
His future is not secured by strength.
His legacy is not self-made.

It is God who has spoken.
It is God who will act.

David repeats God’s promise
back to Him —
not to remind God,
but to anchor his own heart in trust.

“Do as you have spoken.”

This is not passivity.
It is faith.

David entrusts the future
to the God who has been faithful in the past.

This posture of humility
prepares us for the Gospel from Mark.

Jesus speaks in images
that are simple
and searching.

“Is a lamp brought in
to be put under a basket
or under a bed?”

Light is not given
to be hidden.

Truth is not revealed
to be contained.

What is received
is meant to be lived.

Jesus then adds a warning
and a promise:

“Pay attention to what you hear;
the measure you give
will be the measure you get.”

What we do with the light matters.

If we receive God’s word
and hide it,
it dims.

If we receive it
and live it,
it grows brighter.

Faith is never static.

Either it deepens,
or it fades.

David shows us
what it means to receive rightly.

He does not try to control the promise.
He does not rush to define its outcome.

He lets God be God.

And because of that,
David’s life becomes a lamp —
not perfect,
but shaped by trust.

Jesus reminds us
that God’s revelation
is not given for private comfort.

It is given
for witness.

Not for performance,
but for faithfulness.

This Gospel speaks gently
but directly
to us.

We hear the Word regularly.
We receive the light.

The question is not
whether God has spoken.

The question is:
What do we do with what we have received?

Do we place it under a basket —
keeping faith safe, quiet,
and unchallenging?

Or do we allow it
to shape our choices,
our relationships,
our priorities?

Jesus’ words about measure
are not about punishment.

They are about openness.

The more space we make for God,
the more God can work in us.

The more attentively we listen,
the more clearly we see.

David’s prayer ends with confidence:

“Now therefore, O Lord God,
confirm forever the word
that you have spoken.”

David trusts
not in his own constancy,
but in God’s.

That is the heart of today’s message.

God gives generously.
He reveals Himself freely.
He places light in our lives.

Our task
is to receive humbly
and live openly.

May we, like David,
sit before the Lord
in gratitude.

And may we, as Jesus asks,
allow the light we have received
to be placed on the lampstand —
so that it may shine,
not for ourselves,
but for the glory of God.