From the Pastor |
2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13
Back in May, my husband went on a golf trip to Pennsylvania with our neighbor, Bruce. Greg drove, and on the way home, Bruce, who is in his 70’s dozed off. My husband, being the kind and caring friend that he is… looked over… saw Bruce was asleep and… naturally… drove over onto the shoulder and purposely hit the “rumble strip.” Bruce was startled awake and according to Greg, was none too pleased by that little joke. Now, if you have ever hit those “rumble strips” you know that they are pretty loud and they shake the car. It can be quite startling if you hit them by accident. But they serve an important purpose… those lines of small cuts in the pavement can keep you alive by making you refocus your attention back on the area of road you SHOULD be on. You hit the rumble strips and pretty quickly readjust your direction back onto the right path. God used the prophet Nathan as David’s “rumble strip.” Last week, we heard about how David had seriously strayed from God’s path. He coveted and slept with another man’s wife, then when he was afraid the news of that deed would get out, he plotted and schemed to try and cover it up. When that failed he had Uriah carry his own death warrant back to the front lines and was killed. This week, David continues with his cover up by taking Bathsheba as his wife… making the child she carried legitimate. Time passes and the baby is born. It seems that David’s plan to save his reputation (and himself) was complete. He had managed to avoid a great scandal. He was safe! Or was he? The torrid events of Chapter 11 end with a single ominous sentence: “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.” So God sends the prophet Nathan to shake things up. It was time to let David know that he could not hide his sins from God, and that God was NOT happy. However, rather than simply confront David and put him on the defensive… Nathan takes a different approach. As King, David is the final judge over matters of justice in Israel. So Nathan tells him a tale of a great injustice. A rich man with much steals a poor man’s only lamb that “was like a daughter to him” and slaughtered it to feed a traveler rather than use one of his own. “David as greatly angered by this story and “said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity. Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” The wealthy man… the one to whom God has given everything… David… was the one who was guilty of forsaking the ways of God and has done this great evil. As a result calamity is promised on David’s house and family. David seems to have jolted at this… through Nathan… David hit those rumble strips and was startled awake. He recognizes how far he has fallen and admits his guilt. He says “I have sinned against the Lord.” To this Nathan assures him that the Lord has taken away his sin… he is forgiven… and although his punishment will not be the death David declared for the rich man in the story… his punishment… the consequences of his actions remain. Though David lives a long life… he eventually pays a bitter price by the implosion of his family and the horrors that follow. We too are sinners… we too have been given so much and yet we still seem to want more. The problem is that we fail... we are weak. We stumble along through life… never quite living up to our own standards, let alone anyone else's. We fail to follow God’s ways… failing to follow God’s laws… violating not only God’s laws but God’s love as well. Like David, we too need to stop… we need to hit that rumble strip and be startled out of our selfishness and complacency and turn back to the Lord to openly admit “I have sinned against the Lord… Forgive me.” This is the reason Psalm 51 is a wonderful prayer. It is a song of penitence… a reminder that we are… in fact… imperfect sinners. That we all need to cry out: “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.” God loves us and graciously forgive us when we repent and turn back to him with penitent hearts. Like David… God will remove our sins from us… But also like David, we need to recognize that there will always be consequences to our words and actions. Even though we are forgiven… our sins can cause harm to others and the repercussions of our sins will linger on. 1 John 1:8-9 states it plainly, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The good news is that God doesn’t give up on us. By Grace, God calls us to actively seek out what is best within us. If we, in humility, come before God in repentance, God will forgive us and work with us and within us. So we can rejoice because God is merciful and offers forgiveness. If we come before the Lord and ask for mercy, we will receive it. But this is more than simply saying “I’m Sorry!” We need to be willing to not only say, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me,” but to also be open to receive it… to allow God to cleanse our hearts. But what does that mean? Create in me a clean heart? It means to create within us a new life… a new life that comes from the creation of a new inner being… a clean heart. A new life that receives a right and loyal, steadfast and generous spirit. It is this new life that brings great joy. This… THIS is the new life we receive in Christ. Not simply the promise of eternal life in heaven at some future date… but a new life here and now… a cleansed… renewed… inner being… that brings transformation to our whole selves… our whole lives. Repentance is not just about what I have done… but WHO I am… Jesus came to offer new life… transform our hearts with the love of God. With clean hearts and right spirits, we are called to spread hope throughout the world, both individually and as a community. Cleansed by God’s grace and renewed in Christ’s love, we truly are capable of greatness. So today… as we come to the Lord’s Table of Grace… think about what is holding you back… what is getting in the way… what sins do YOU need to confess to the Lord? Then open yourself to the healing power of forgiveness and grace. Let Jesus into your heart to continue the transformation. Ask the Lord Our God… with humility and awe… to “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me… Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
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Isaiah 11: 1-15
For most of her adult life, an older woman had worked as the cleaning woman for a fairly large company. She was very well-liked and her fellow employees decided to honor her on her birthday by planning a big surprise party to express their appreciation for her years of service. As often happens… news of the party was leaked and the woman found out about it… she pleaded for them not to throw the party. “That’s sweet of you,” said her boss, “but it’s not necessary for you to be so modest.” “Modest, my foot!” she exclaimed. “I just don’t want to have to clean up the mess afterwards!” Cleaning up the mess is what David was forced to do. David was the beloved king of Israel… God’s anointed one… the savior who slew the giant Goliath then led Israel through many successful battles. God was so pleased with him that God established a covenant with David and his descendants that God’s love would never be taken away as it had been taken away from Saul… and that David’s house and kingdom will endure forever. [2 Sam. 7: 15] Yet, as Psalm 14 stated “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.” And that is a perfect description of the David we heard about this morning. For although David believed in God, it seems he turned away from God’s ways. Like any human being… David was FAR from perfect. But, today we heard of David at his worst. 2 Samuel 11 is a story worthy of the best soap operas… a story of lust and deception and murder… For David… it was a truly horrible abuse of power that brings a terrible sense of foreboding for what is to come in the life and history of Israel, because it speaks so loudly of the consequences that arise when we fail to trust in God’s ways; when we, instead, look to our own self-interests and selfish desires. God had raised David to be the most powerful man of the kingdom. David had everything he could want: military victories, wealth, status… POWER and prestige. David must have felt powerful and invincible. So much so that when his army went off to war, he stayed behind in his palace in Jerusalem when most other kings would have gone off to war. Maybe he was bored… maybe he had become too full of himself… maybe like so many rich, powerful, successful people throughout history (even to this very day) he believed the rules… the laws did not apply to him. Whatever the reason, David found himself wanting something he had no right to take… but take he did. After David spies a beautiful woman bathing, he inquires as to who she is. He is informed that “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” This is important because Bathsheba is not some nameless woman like so many of our bible stories portray… she is not a slave girl or a prostitute. She is a daughter and the wife of one of David’s loyal warriors. Bathsheba was the good, decent, respectable woman. Yet, as is so typical of these types of situations, people throughout history have blamed her for these events. Why was she bathing where David could see her? She was enticing him or other men by flaunting her beauty. However, I would like it noted that our scriptures make NO such claims. They do not condemn her in any way. David alone is responsible for David’s actions. After all… There is no excuse for what he does, especially after he learns of her being a respectable married woman. Nor does the Bible offer any excuse for him. David’s actions were a blatant misuse of power that… quite honestly… could be construed as rape. Bathsheba was summoned by the king… she was powerless to change what happened. She had NO CHOICE! So David takes what he has no right to take simply because he has the power to do so. However, the story does not end there. Bathsheba discovers she is pregnant from their “encounter” and alerts David to this fact. I read one commentators take on that point. He… yes HE… pointed out that we do not know her reasons for sending this message. He proposed that maybe she was thinking that she could find favor with the king and elevate her position… or maybe she thought it might give her some power to bear the child of the king. This gentleman scholar said… we can’t really speculate. Well… maybe he can’t, but as a woman… I think I can! I can only imagine it was fear that prompted her to send that message… Yes… fear. Think about it from her perspective. She never sought out the king or went looking to sleep with David. She endured what she had to because she had no choice and now HER life was on the line. Her husband has been away at war and she has become pregnant. There is no hiding the sin of adultery. It will soon be visible. So… what does the law say is the penalty for such a sin? Death! Her life will be forfeit when the news gets out. I think of the woman brought before Jesus centuries later… She too was caught in the act of adultery and the crowd wanted to stone her… where was the man she was with? Why was she alone charged? Bathsheba has to be afraid. What woman wouldn’t be? So she does the only thing she can think of… she tells David she is carrying his child. We know this is a fact because the scriptures make it clear that she was bathing as part of the purification ritual following her menstrual cycle. It could only be David’s child. So what does David do? This great and mighty king? He panics! He too knows the laws and the disgrace and condemnation he will face, so he plots and schemes and comes up with a cover-up so elaborate that today’s politicians would be proud… David orders her husband Uriah to come home from the war and tries to arrange for Uriah to go home and sleep with his wife to try and cover up the deed. However, David’s attempts are thwarted… by Uriah’s own sense of loyalty, patriotism and the laws surrounding holy wars. He will not go against the religious dictates that soldiers at war are not to engage in sexual activity. And even though he is back in Jerusalem, he will not even go to his comfortable home out of respect for his fellow soldiers still in the field. So, David sins even more when he orchestrates Uriah’s murder as a way to cover up his sin. This story reveals a dark side to David… the low point of his reign when he allowed his lust and power to pull him from God’s ways. This is not the David we often think of… the shepherd boy who bravely wielded stones at a giant… the good king who led his people to a time of prosperity… the pious poet and musician who wrote beautiful psalms to the Lord. No… this is a different side of David all together… What we see with this story is that even someone as great as David… one who has found favor with God… is capable of atrocious abuses of power and violence. Unfortunately, such abuses are still very common in our world today. There is truth to the phrase that “power corrupts.” We have ample examples with various government officials from all sides of the political spectrum… However, we also have a great deal of violence occurring in our streets, in homes and workplaces as the powerful continue to victimize the powerless. Just look at the terrible cases of sexual abuse and harassment that often take place… Today, sexual assaults are the most prevalent crimes in the US, yet also the most underreported. Over 80% of sexual assaults are committed, not by a stranger, but by an acquaintance. And let us not forget about the epidemic ravaging this world… not the virus but domestic violence cases… an epidemic that grew worse with the global pandemic. Did you know that around the world 37 women are killed in instances of domestic violence each day! So what does that mean for us? Well… You see… as David finds out… Secrets have a way of getting out, and sin always has consequences but we will look at that next week… Our scriptures this week lead us to the realization that no one is perfect, which is why we really need to learn to trust in God’s ways… living out the faith we have in every choice we make… every day. We are shown, through David’s story, what can happen when we turn our backs on faithfulness, integrity and self-restraint… There is so much suffering caused by fear, lust, greed and selfishness, but God’s ways lead us in a different direction. Paul teaches the church that the love of God in Christ is the greatest gift we can know. Success and power, wisdom and knowledge can easily lead to pride and the abuse of power, as we see with King David, but Christ’s love surpasses these things. Every person must make the choice… we each must decide what principles will guide us… In our relationships, our neighborhoods, our communities, our work and play we have the choice to either allow our own self-interest and desires to be primary or we can trust that following the ways of God’s Reign will truly lead us to life. One of the tragedies of the contemporary Christian church is that we have failed to live the faith we so loudly proclaim. We preach about forgiveness and grace, and act vindictively and offer condemnation. We talk love, trust and generosity, but act with greed and selfishness. We speak of courage and integrity, but act fearful and cowardly. If the world is to believe our message, we are going to have to demonstrate it in our lives and communities, and when we do, we may well discover that we contribute to wholeness and peace in our world. The goal for a follower of Christ is to be so filled with God’s love that there is no room for anything else… not another person, nor selfish desire… Being filled with “all the fullness of God” is being drawn into unity and harmony with Christ. This and only this can bring an end to our sinning. |
Yeon Shin
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