26 When
the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for
him. 27 When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to
his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.
But the thing that David had done
displeased the Lord, 1 and
the Lord sent Nathan to David. He
came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one
rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and
herds; 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which
he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children;
it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his
bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a
traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd
to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s
lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” 5 Then
David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this
deserves to die; 6 he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he
did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
7 Nathan
said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord,
the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the
hand of Saul; 8 I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s
wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if
that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9 Why
have you despised the word of the Lord,
to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with
the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with
the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never
depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of
Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11 Thus says the Lord: 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. 12 For you did it secretly; but I will do this
thing before all Israel
Year B
July
31-August 6
August 2,
2015
Title: Sin
and Redemption
Cross~Wind
Going
deeper
II Samuel 11:1-12:15a is the story
of the adultery of David with Bathsheba. The story of David’s adulterous affair
with Bathsheba, and the subsequent murder of her husband Uriah, is one of the
Bible’s most famous and compelling narratives. In the end, Uriah, the
foreigner, keeps himself holier according to Israelite law than does the
Israelite king, but it is eventually that very holiness that gets him killed.
David then develops a plan that will result in the death of Uriah. Uriah
returns to the battlefield, unwittingly serving as the bearer of his own death
warrant. Here again, the theme of action and inaction returns in that David
effectively murders Uriah without having to lift a finger of his own to
accomplish it. He murders Uriah, using Joab as his executioner, and sacrificing
other innocent soldiers in the process (11:14-24). When Joab complains that
more of his men than Uriah died making sure Uriah would be killed in battle,
David even cynically tells Joab not to worry about it because "the sword devours now one and now another"
(11:25). We must David off the hook. David owns this sin.
II Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a
26 When the wife of Uriah heard
that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. 27 When the
mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his
wife, and bore him a son. [The reader knows, however, that all of
this loss of life is not simply a case of "collateral damage." It is
purely and directly David's own doing. David then marries Bathsheba.]
But
the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,
1 and the Lord sent
Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a
certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had
very many flocks and herds; 3 but the poor man had nothing but one
little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him
and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his
cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now
there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own
flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the
poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” 5 Then
David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this
deserves to die; 6 he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he
did this thing, and because he had no pity.” [David was angry at the parable
Nathan tells of a rich man who stole the dearest lamb of a poor man. Nathan uses
a useful type of juridical ploy for occasions when the perpetrator of a crime
is also the reigning monarch, for one can find other fictive legal cases in
ancient Near Eastern literature. Two very similar examples appear in II Samuel
14 and in the Egyptian tale of the Contendings of Horus and Seth. In II Samuel
14, Joab hires the “wise woman of Tekoa” to present a fictive legal case before
David in order to convince him to
bring Absalom back to court. His response was fitting for a king. It shows a
sense of justice.]
7
Nathan said to David, “You are
the man! Thus says the Lord, the
God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand
of Saul; 8 I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives
into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had
been too little, I would have added as much more. 9 Why have you
despised the word of the Lord, to
do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the
sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the
sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never
depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of
Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11 Thus says the Lord: 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. 12 For you did it secretly; but I will do this
thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” [Thus, Nathan pointed to David as
the culprit. The Lord has made him king, yet, he has despised the commandment
of the Lord and done evil in the sight of the Lord. Barth will point out the
sin of David is that, having arrived at the summit of his life, he has
forgotten the Lord whom made him king and brought him to this height.[1]] 13 David
said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” [To his credit, David confesses
his sin. One could argue that in the background of this story is the luxury to
which David is now accustomed. While his soldiers are fighting, David is living
a slothful life that leads to these terrible actions that break a covenant with
God and the people of God. In the context of the biblical tradition regarding
David, he is now closer to Saul, and in fact, one could argue that he has done
worse than Saul was. This shows that the choice or election of God comes from
grace and not from the moral strength of David. In one sense, this story is
strange, for the context is the exploits of David after he became king. It has
an intrusive element. It becomes an occasion for sin entering through sloth.[2]]
Introduction
A member of Cross~Wind UMC gave me
an article with the title, “Does Anyone Believe in Sin Anymore?” It refers to
the idea of updating the traditional “seven deadly sins,” namely, pride, envy,
gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth. They derive from Pope Gregory in the
500s AD. The article refers to Bishop Gianfranco Girotti as thinking of modern
behaviors that can adversely affect people, such as drug abuse, pollution,
contributing to the widening divide between rich and poor, excessive wealth,
and creating poverty. He refers to the Ten Commandments, but also, one offends
God by wrecking the environment, carrying out morally debatable experiments,
and so on. The article refers to Mahatma Ghandi drawing up a list of the seven
blunders of the world, for the seven deadly social sins, of wealth without
work, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity, knowledge without
character, politics without principle, commerce without morality, and worship
without sacrifice. Arun, his grandson, added number eight, rights without
responsibilities.
A 2008
survey (http://www.greymatterresearch.com/index_files/Sin.htm)
of Americans listed several possibilities and asked whether they considered
them sins.
The behaviors a majority of all Americans describe as sinful
are:
· Adultery
81
· Racism
74%
· Using
“hard” drugs such as cocaine, heroine, meth, LSD, etc. 65%
· Not
saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change back 63%
· Having
an abortion 56%
· Homosexual
activity or sex 52%
· Not
reporting some income on your tax returns 52%
A number of other behaviors are considered sinful by a
significant portion of all Americans, although not a majority. These are:
· Reading
or watching pornography 50%
· Gossip
47%
· Swearing
46%
· Sex
before marriage 45,
· Homosexual
thoughts 44%
· Sexual
thoughts about someone you are not married to 43%
· Doing
things as a consumer that harm the environment 41%
· Smoking
marijuana 41%
· Getting
drunk 41%
· Not
taking proper care of your body 35%
Then there are behaviors that fewer than one-third of all
Americans see as sinful:
· Gambling
30%
· Telling
a “little white lie” to avoid hurting someone’s feelings 29%
· Using
tobacco 23%
· Not
attending church or religious worship services on a regular basis 18%
· Playing
the lottery 18%
· Watching
an R-rated movie 18%
· Being
significantly overweight 17%
· Not
giving 10% of your income to a church or charity 16%
· Drinking
any alcohol 14%
· Working
on Sunday/the Sabbath 14%
· Spanking
your child when he/she misbehaves 7%
· Making
a lot of money 4%
· Dancing
4%
I wonder, however,
if the problem is not failure to believe in sin, but failure to envision the
possibility of redemption.
It
gratifies me that so many Americans think of racism as a sin. For the
percentage to be that high, regardless of political affiliation, racism is
sinful.
Parker Rice
and Levi Pettit were members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the
University of Oklahoma. The video of their racist sing-a-long gained much press
in the early part of 2015. Eventually, the President of the school expelled
them, he shut down the fraternity, and the fraternity itself would go through a
nationwide examination. Given the circumstances, all of this may well be the
best path of action. I do not know the individuals involved, so I am not
passing on evaluation of their actions.
However, I
find it striking that Isaac Hill, the president of the Black Student
Association at the University told Megyn Kelly that people should forgive the
students. His counsel was to fight hate with the power love. Cal Thomas,
columnist, was quite right to suggest that the goal of actions by fellow
students and especially by the university should have been redemption.
Redemption is a harder path to travel, but the destination is to change the
thinking of the students.
We saw this
pattern by the church in South Carolina that a horrific murder within its
walls. Yet, the members urged forgiveness. As a result, instead of rioting in
the street, we saw unified action by the citizens and politicians.
In her article, "The Power of
Forgiveness: Why Revenge Doesn't Work," Dr. Judith Orloff writes:
"...revenge reduces you to your worst self, puts you on the same level
with those spiteful people we claim to abhor."
Now, let us step back and consider
a larger issue.
Yes, America has its faults and
sins. They flow from its history of connection to Europe. Most of us can list
them. Slavery and treatment of the Native American would rate high on the list.
Critics will implicate Christianity and white people in these sins.
Such imperfections are there. No
one can erase it from the history.
What would redemption look like?
Maybe you would have preachers
throughout the country, known as abolitionists, encourage America to abolish
slavery. Maybe you would fight a war at great cost in human lives to remove it,
and maybe you would work tirelessly for another 100 years to remove racism from
any form of respectability. An avowed racist could not receive a majority
anywhere in this country.
Yet, the path of revenge will lead
to your worst self. You might become like the people you hate. It might lead to
riots and violence in the streets, destroying the businesses your community
needs to make progress. It might lead to harming relationships with the police,
the people you need to protect you from those in the community who wish harm.
Many Americans are quick to label
almost anything a “sin,” even if they do not use the word. For some people, the
only path to redemption is to agree with them.
Application
We
need to have conversation about sin, recognizing that sin has many dimensions
to it. It may show itself as rebellion. It may also show itself as missing the
mark. In essence, we are having that conversation within the church and in
culture, even when we do not use the word.
According
to author Theodore Zeldin, such conversations have the power to change our
lives. In his book called Conversation[3]
he says that “real conversation catches fire” and changes people. It involves
more than sending or receiving information, and it requires that we talk in
such a way that we are willing to be changed by the conversation. Zeldin
believes that real conversation is at the very root of creativity, and it is
even better than laws in helping to change our mind-sets.
That
is what the prophet Nathan discovered. If he had simply delivered God’s
anti-adultery law to David, the prophet might have been thrown out on his ear.
In a little conversation about a rich man, a poor man and a lamb, Nathan helped
David to change both his mind-set and his life.
“Conversation
is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits,” observes Theodore
Zeldin. “When minds meet, they do not just exchange facts: They transform them,
reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of
thought. “Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards,” he concludes: “It
creates new cards.”
So,
what are the new cards we create when we engage in honest, faithful,
nonjudgmental conversation with one another?
To
answer this, let us leave Nathan the prophet and go to Jesus.
New
cards?
There
is the card of love rather than
indifference.
Jesus once had a conversation
with a lawyer who knew all about the law of God, and he felt that he was well
on his way to eternal life by maintaining the proper boundaries between men and
women, priests and Israelites, Jews and Samaritans. The gospel of Luke tells us
that the lawyer wants to justify himself and his religious practices, and so he
says to Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). Jesus tells him the story of
the Good Samaritan.
The
card of forgiveness rather than
resentment.
How often should I forgive, one
wondered, as many as seven times? No, said Jesus, “seventy-seven times”
(Matthew 18:21 -22).
The
card of righteousness, not
self-righteousness.
“Who is righteous?” asked others.
It is not the people you might expect, replied Jesus. The righteous are the tax
collectors — not the Pharisees — who beat their breasts and confess their sins,
trusting in God instead of in themselves (Luke 18:9-14).
The
card of justice rather than despair.
Should we not just throw in the
towel, since there is so much that causes us to lose heart? No, said Jesus, be
like the persistent widow who keeps bringing her case to the unjust judge.
Justice will come, Jesus promised, so keep on praying to God (Luke 18:1-8).
And
— to return to David — the card of humility
rather than arrogance.
The story of David’s confession
and repentance is well-known.
Conclusion
Left to themselves, people tend
to fall into sin — discriminating against others, failing to forgive, showing
self-righteousness and giving up. Some of us have walked where David walked in
his hour of disobedience.
The
time has come for us to take a stand against sin, as Nathan did. When we make
such a move, we will find that the key to a successful intervention is being
objective without being callous, being judgmental without being condemning and
caring without sentimentality.
With a power given from God, shout "No!" to
those who promise you the whole world if you worship them. Turn instead to the new life of power - love,
joy, peace, patience and all the fruits of the Spirit. In the name of God who knows us, Christ our
model, and the Holy Spirit who sustains us.
Amen.
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