Bonded Souls
What was the relationship between David and Jonathan?
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David's hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The troops of Israel and Judah rose up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. The Israelites came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent. When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is this young man?" Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I do not know." The king said, "Inquire whose son the stripling is." On David's return from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?" And David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite." When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. - 1 Samuel 17:50-18:4
Today's reading ends with a covenant between two people of the same gender, and that open display of love for one another has generated a lot of controversy over the years.
The relationship between these two is definitely special and deeply intimate, though not necessarily sexual.
We don't know how intimate it was in that regard, but does that matter?
What this passage should do is open our eyes to the reality of two souls bound together in a way that has one person willing to die for another.
As we read on, we will follow these two and learn just how much Jonathan was willing to sacrifice for his friend, and that is what we should focus on.
If we take sex out of the picture and just focus on the commitment to one another, what do we have?
There are many relationships that are rooted in love that we accept easily between two people, but for some reason, when the two are not members of the same family, we tend to question the love, or turn our thoughts to something else, something we see as sinful.
Why can't we stay focused on the love between two people?
Jesus taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves. That's easy to say, but how does it manifest itself?
Maybe the reason we have trouble accepting deep affection between people of the same gender has something to do with our inability to truly love everyone with all our being, the way we should love God.
Jonathan and David are examples of making a true bond between two souls, something we may shy away from, fearing the commitment to another.
If we can accept this deep bond between two people, we should be more open to the love we see being shared more openly today than ever before.
Of course, we have to be open to truly doing what Jesus said, to loving one another.
Something to think about.
More to come...