Much has been made in recent scholarship of the relationship between David and Jonathan. Revisionists, looking for a way to baptize their own desires, label it homosexual. The absurdity of this notion becomes readily apparent when we remember that David is described as one of God’s choosing, a man after his own heart, a king who would rule as God would have a king to rule. Even a cursory glance at the expectations that God had for a king would note that he expected the would-be king to know and be submitted to the Law of Moses (see Deuteronomy 17). Current apologists for homosexuality themselves recognize that the Law of Moses is not kind toward homosexual activity. To suggest then that David and Jonathan enjoyed a sexualized male-to-male relationship is to suggest nonsense.
The stumbling block for these folks is the strong language that characterizes Jonathan’s love for David (see 1 Samuel 18). But the real reason for Jonathan’s love for David was Jonathan’s love for God. He saw in David a kindred spirit, a man who loved God and possessed great faith that God would defend his name.
Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, echoed this exemplary response to the presence of the Lord’s anointed (see John 12). Like Jonathan to David, her soul was knit to the Lord’s anointed and she responded with devotion and love. To the contrary are the responses of Saul and the Pharisees. They saw in the exploits of the Lord's anointed reasons to hate and fear, and they plotted to destroy the object of their wrath. But it was not to be. God was with David, and God was with Jesus. The plans of the jealous come to naught as God's plans overrule.
These disparate responses are worthy of contemplation. And rather than finding ways to minimize their impact by suggesting, for instance, that Jonathan's love for David was coupled with lust, we should ask for the grace to see the Lord's anointed as Jonathan and Mary saw him, worthy of total devotion.
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