11 PENTECOST
by John Campbell
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a, Psalm 51:1-13, Ephesians 4:1-16, John 5:24-35
In our passage from 2 Samuel that we have heard this morning, things do not look good for King David. Given his bad press it is only fair that I offer a few words of personal testimony on David’s behalf. As a little boy in the 4th grade growing up in John Day, Oregon David was my first Bible hero. In Sunday School I was captivated when I heard about David and his 5 smooth stones. True, the David story did not draw me to God right away. But I sure wanted a slingshot. For a Cub Scout project I made one. I still have it. [Show Biblical-style slingshot] After some practice I got really good with it. I would gather my stones from Canyon Creek, behind our house, stuff them in my jacket pockets, I would challenge the Goliath cottonwood trees that had already forded the creek and were headed toward town. I would slay 10 right away–on a good day 20. In considering David’s most famous misdeed remember that generations of youths for over 3,000 years have been inspired by how, with a single-straight-slung-shot-smooth stone David delivered his people from the Philistine.
Equal in importance to David and Bathsheba in our story is Nathan the Prophet. Psalm 51 which we read responsively also has a role. King David wrote it as a song of penance and thanksgiving for forgiveness.
Imagine this scene.
One day David took a break from some administrative business and stepped out onto the garden-like terrace of his fashionable 3rd-floor Jerusalem Penthouse office. Then he saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof of a two-story apartment house across the street. Now when you think of David looking at Bathsheba, consider this. David was the greatest king Israel ever had, and he knew it. He had united the northern tribes of Israel and the southern tribes of Judah. He made Jerusalem his capitol—which he had captured from the Jebusites. By uniting Israel and Judah and making Jerusalem the center of worship he consolidated his political and religious power. You can imagine David saying to himself “As absolute monarchs go, I am not so bad. I have only a few secret police. I have no standing army—except for a small cadre of professionals. My soldiers are mostly volunteers. Taxes are high, but that all goes for public works. The chief public work is a palace for the king…which, of course, is me. Surely, after all I have done for Israel & Judah, I should be able to take an occasional break from a life of incessant virtue which can be such a bore.”
Now for a moment, I would like you to identify with David by remembering the biggest temptation you ever had. Maybe it was just a desire to get even or to give someone who needed it a piece of your mind. Or, perhaps it was to buy something you could not afford, to want something someone else had. To conceal something from someone who has a right to know or remain silent when you should have spoken. Maybe it was a temptation like David’s.
As you think of David’s situation and your own–consider this short verse from Milton which, though from another era, puts David’s, our, and all temptations into perspective. In this passage Milton has God speaking to his son of humanity’s fall.
Whose fault?
Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of mee
All he could have; I made him just and right,
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall
Paradise Lost III 96 (1667)
Once David started to believe that he could depart from the way of justice, and ignore conscience yet still control his life, it was not long before he discovered he was mistaken. Bathsheba became pregnant and to cover his original sin he had to commit yet another, only worse. He ordered a hit job on her husband Uriah—with instructions on how to carry it out. After a suitable mourning period, Bathsheba became another of David’s several wives.
David’s crime was not perfect, but it was good enough for government work. For a time it looked as though David had gotten away with it. He was, after all, God’s anointed. Perhaps when Nathan poured the consecrating oil on David’s head it somehow left unconsecrated a shadow area of his mind. Perhaps within that shadow space, he imagined he could do as he pleased. Why would not an absolute monarch think that in addition to God giving him a good deal, God would not also cut him some slack?
But what of conscience? If David had a conscience, it did not seem to bother him until prompted. Perhaps the role of conscience in our lives is over-advertised—that we discover it only when someone else discovers our wrongdoing.
Then David has an interview with Nathan. Why do you suppose David thinks Nathan has come? Before Nathan begins to speak what do you suppose David thinks he is going to say? Imagine David’s surprise & relief when Nathan begins…
“There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor….”
Maybe David thinks, what is he talking about? Nathan is losing it—he is too old to be a Prophet and should not run again. But, the story is undeniably interesting and soon Nathan reaches its end.
“the rich man, … was loath to take one of his own flock to prepare for the Wayfarer, who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest….”
The text tells us: “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; he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.’” Nathan said to David ‘Thou art the man.’”
(2 Samuel 11: 26-12: 13)
After Nathan declares the punishment due to David for his sin David confesses his misdeed and declares “I have sinned against the Lord.”
It may seem in our world no less than in David’s that Kings or Presidents if not above the law can evade or postpone justice for a very long time. But the affairs and transgressions of those in high office only incidentally concern us this morning. The point of our story is not primarily that Kings, in principle, should not be above the law—a very good principle if anyone only knew how to enforce it—but great as may be our shortcomings God’s mercy is greater.
David would bear responsibility for his misdeed all of his life. Yet if we see the human condition from a Biblical perspective, sin—whether personal or the larger structural sins of our society or both—sin shall not have the last word—shall have no dominion, not if we resist and especially when we live lives drawn toward “that presence not ourselves which makes for righteousness.” When I was a boy I identified with David because of his bravery his skill with a sling-shot. As an adult the two qualities of David I most admire are his willingness to listen to his conscience when at last it spoke, and his confidence in the reality of forgiveness–once he confessed and opened his heart to divine grace. Mindful of David’s long-awaited Messiah-son, let us take fresh inspiration from David’s concluding words in Psalm 51 remembering that though he was a King, David, like ourselves, was a penitent forgiven.
11. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.
12. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
13 Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful spirit. (Psalm 51: 11-13)
Great as may be David’s sin and our own, God’s mercy is greater.
Amen!