In the name of God:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
You’ll recall a few Sundays ago that I mentioned that the
lectionary gives us three strikes against King David. The first was three
Sundays ago, when David relocated the Ark of the Covenant for his own political
gain. Two weeks ago, David built himself a very fine house of cedar before he
thought about building such a house for God. Then last week, when I was on
vacation, you all heard the story of David and Bathsheba. I understand that the
guest preacher focused on the Gospel last week. So as an introduction to
today’s reading from 2 Samuel, let’s quickly review the events of that third
strike against David which we heard last Sunday.
The way the reading started was “In the spring of the
year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers
and all Israel with him… But David remained at Jerusalem.” The whole mess that
David gets himself into comes from his derelict of duty. Kings were supposed to
be out leading their armies, but David decided to stay at home. The saying is
that “idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” How many stories of trouble start
with the phrase, “Well, we were all sitting around with nothing to do, and then
we had an idea.” David wasn’t where he was supposed to be and he wasn’t doing
what he was supposed to be doing, and he found some trouble to get into.
He notices the beautiful Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah,
one of the soldiers in David’s army, taking a bath. Bored because he wasn’t
doing his job, he took up the hobby of voyeurism. And, being the king, he used
his power to find out who this woman was. Then he lusted after her. Now the
Bible doesn’t provide the exact details of how the event unfolded, but there
are few reasons to think that what happened was consensual.
As it
often happens, the cover-up is always worse than the original crime. Bathsheba
reports “I’m pregnant,” and David goes into damage control mode. He says, “Bring
me Uriah, I want to ask him about how the war is going.” Odd that David doesn’t
bring in a top general to ask, but he’s the king, and so Uriah comes to him.
David then said, “Since you’re back in Jerusalem, why don’t you go and spend
the night at home- you know, you and Bathsheba could use a date night.” But
Uriah had more honor than David, and he replied “The ark and Israel and Judah
remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in
the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie
with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.”
When
that plan didn’t work, David brought Uriah back to his palace and got him
drunk, thinking that might entice Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba and presume to
be the father of the child. But still, Uriah refused. So David sent Uriah back
to the battle, but gave orders that when the fighting was at the fiercest, the
troops should retreat without telling Uriah, leaving him for dead. In this incident,
we see King David break commandments against coveting, adultery, and murder.
Later, in the book of First Kings, when David’s legacy is being considered, the
Bible says this- “David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and did not turn aside from
anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter
of Uriah the Hittite.” Today’s reading notes that “But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord.” In
Hebrew, the word “displeased” is the phrase “was evil in the sight of.”
Later in
this sermon, I do want to say some positive things about David, but at this point,
what we have before is a king who puts himself before others, and even God,
neglects his duties, and abuses his power to commit heinous crimes. The text
then tells us that God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. Notice how
cunning Nathan is. He could have gone to David and said to him “David, you’re a
terrible sinner and you need to repent now.” But he didn’t. Instead he told him
a parable, because everyone likes a good story and no one ever thinks the
parable is about themselves.
There
was a rich man who had a huge flock of sheep and there was a poor man who had
one, beloved ewe. And a traveler came to the rich man’s house, and he knew he
needed to provide hospitality to him, but didn’t want to slaughter any of his
own lambs to serve the guest. So he takes the one lamb from the poor man and
serves that. It’s obviously not fair, and King David gets enraged and says that
this rich man needs to die for his sin. Now, I’ll acknowledge that I don’t like
the fact that in this parable that Bathsheba is compared to a piece of
property, but it remains a poignant parable.
Nathan
then pronounces to David, “You are the man!” Through Nathan, God recounts the
many blessings bestowed on David, voices divine displeasure with David’s
actions, and promises that there will be repercussion for his sins. Before we
move on to consider David’s response, I want to spend some time with Nathan.
Specifically, I’m wondering who your Nathan is? Who is that person in your life
that can tell you the tough truth and that you’ll listen to. I don’t know what
kind of friendship that David and Nathan had, but there had to be a strong
relationship there for Nathan to have the courage to confront David. And David
must have respected Nathan enough to listen to him. David could have continued
the cover up. He could have dismissed Nathan. He could have said that this was
a “matter of national security” and ignored the accusations. He could have said
“Well, thank you for your opinion on this matter Nathan, but I need to let you
know you know that I’ve appointed a new prophet over my kingdom. Oh, and Joab,
would you please drive Nathan home, and make sure he gets there safely, wink
wink.”
A true
friend is someone who will forsake the friendship for the sake of the friend.
Nathan cared more about David than he did his relationship with David. And so
he was willing to speak a hard truth in love to him. Who is your Nathan? When
you’re over the line, who can call you back? When you’re not being true to
yourself, you can remind you of that? Think about that this week, and give God
thanks for that person in your life. Because we all need a Nathan.
If David
finds any redemption in this story, it is because he repents and confesses his
sin. How many politicians have you seen caught in a scandal who admit it when
they are caught red handed? Nixon, Clinton, Cheney- they all covered up the
truth. And it’s not just politicians, we all know that Barry Bonds used
steroids and that Tom Brady knew about the inflated footballs, and yet they
haven’t come clean. Maybe they don’t have a Nathan in their lives. And I can’t
help but think of the so-called friends of Dylann Roof, who murdered nine
people at Mother Emanuel in Charleston. Some of them have admitted that they
heard him talk about wanting to do something evil. They knew he was terribly
racist. There are conflicting reports about how he got the gun used to commit
the murders- but either a gun shop didn’t run a background check, or a family
member who knew that he was troubled gave it to him. That whole senseless
tragedy could have been avoided if someone in his life had the courage to be a
Nathan.
How many
of us know a friend or a family member that needs a Nathan in their lives right
now more than anything? We all know someone that needs to be told that they’re
drinking too much or that they really shouldn’t still be taking those pain
pills. Perhaps you know of a situation where you suspect that domestic violence
or bullying is happening. Maybe you are in the midst of a lie that you’ve
weaved and you’re not sure how to get out of it and you need to be your own
Nathan. The fact of the matter is that there is no such thing as “getting away
with it.” Even if you never get caught, you will have to live with the sin and
its consequences. As David finds out and as we pray at the start of each Sunday
service- all hearts are open to God, all desires known, and from God, no
secrets are hid. Speaking a hard truth to someone is rarely easy to do, but it
changed David’s life, and as we have seen in most every instance of mass
shootings in this country, the lives of so many people could be saved if people
had the courage to follow in the prophetic footsteps of Nathan.
What
this incident shows us is that sin is real, and it binds us together, even when
love does not. Anglican priest and poet John Donne famously wrote that “no person is
an island,” and how true that is. Nothing we do is done in isolation; there is
no such thing as a morally autonomous action. What we see at the end of this
reading, and we’ll more fully see next Sunday when we continue reading about
David, is that sin affects our relationships.
God
reports, “I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I
will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he
shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it
secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” And
if we had read just another verse more today, we’d find that the text says
“Because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.” And just a
few verses later, the child dies, and calamity falls upon David’s family. Don’t
ask me to explain this, because I can’t.
But what
I can say is that sometimes unfair things happen for reasons that we can’t
begin to comprehend, and in our search for meaning, we ascribe them to God. We
to do this today, and people did it back then. I don’t think God caused that
child to die because of David’s sin, but I think it made it easier for people
to understand the tragic death of a child. I could be wrong on that, but we’ll
just to ask God about it when we are face to face.
But this
incident is also a parable for the way the world works- those with privilege
get away with murder, while others are punished mercilessly. There have been a
lot of stories in news recently about our broken criminal justice system. Millionaires
who have committed terrible crimes get out on bond while non-violent offenders
spend months, sometimes even years, in jail awaiting a trial because they can’t
afford bond. We know that white people and black people use illegal drugs at
approximately the same rates, and yet blacks are incarcerated on drug related
offenses at rates nearly ten times higher than whites. There’s been a lot of
discussion nationally about privilege, and this story about King David shows us
that it’s nothing new. Because he was the king, he got away with murder, but
had he been the man in the parable told against him, he would have been
sentenced to death. I think it’s fair to say that nearly every single one of us
benefits from privileges that not everyone in our society has, and this story
forces us to at least acknowledge that reality as we seek justice.
And so
David repents. Some ancient manuscripts insert the text of Psalm 51, which we
read this morning, into this passage as King David’s response. In part, the
Psalm says “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your
great compassion blot out my offenses. Wash me through and through from my
wickedness and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin
is ever before me… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me.” And forgiveness does indeed come. Later, in genealogy of Jesus in
the New Testament, Matthew records “and Jesse the father of King David. And
David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.” Despite the sins of
David, he is still a part of the lineage of the Messiah. God promised to
establish David’s throne, and the Good News that we find here is that there is
more mercy in God than there is sin in us.
As I’ve
said over the past few Sundays, David is like us is many ways- not completely
evil and not completely good. He was a great city planner- building the city of
Jerusalem. He was a superb military strategist. He ruled over the united
kingdoms of Israel and Judah. He was an accomplished musician and composer, as
many of the Psalms are attributed to him. When confronted with his sin, he did
repent. But then there was that incident with Uriah the Hittite. I know that
I’ve been portraying a negative view of David, and I’m not saying that I’m
without sin or imperfection, but I think the story of Scripture is even more
profound if we understand that David was both a faithful man of God, and also a
very flawed human being.
Sin is
real and damaging. We all need a Nathan to call us to repentance. But what is so
amazing is that God doesn’t give up on David. God is more ready to forgive than
we are to repent. God is more merciful than we are contrite. God is willing to
let us be instruments of God’s mission even if we are imperfect instruments. If
God’s salvation can come through someone like David, just imagine what God
might do through you.
