Rev. Eric Dillenbeck

2-23-2014

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13 & Psalm 32 

Old Testament Core Stories: This isn’t Cheap Grace

Psalm 32

¹Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered ²Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. ⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. ⁶Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. ⁷You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. ⁸I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. ⁹Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. ¹⁰Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. ¹¹Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13

²⁶When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. ²⁷When 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, ^12:1and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, ‘There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had very many flocks and herds; ³but 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 meagre fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 

⁴Now there came a traveller 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.’ ⁵Then 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; ⁶he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’ ⁷Nathan 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; ⁸I 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. ⁹Why 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. ¹⁰Now 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. ¹¹Thus 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. ¹²For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’ 

¹³David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ 

Nathan said to David, ‘Now the Lord has passed over your sin; you shall not die.

The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God

“Old Testament Core Stories: This isn’t Cheap Grace”

“I'm gonna be a mighty king

So enemies beware

I'm gonna be the mane (main) event

Like no king was before

I'm brushing up on looking down

I'm working on my roar

I just can’t WAIT to be king”  

Everyone can probably recognize these lyrics.  They have dominated popular culture for almost 20 years now. These are the words of Simba, the lion cub prince from Disney’s classic, The Lion King.  

When Simba sings these words he is yearning to be the top cat on the savannah, he wants the power that comes with being King; he wants to be able to do what he wants and tell people what to do.  

Poor Simba, he’s only a cub…he doesn’t know what he’s yearning for.  

We like to believe that people in positions of power would out-grow those feelings and inclinations, but too often we see how easy it is for monarchs and political leaders to get trapped in this mindset. This is the attitude God’s prophets tried to warn against back in the book of Judges, when the people were crying for a king.  The Prophet Samuel kept saying no, because the prophet knew kings would just take from the people instead of caring for the people, but the people wouldn’t listen, they kept asking for a king. “We just want to be like everyone else” the people cried to God. Finally God relented, and gave the people Saul, the first king of the Jews.  When Saul died in battle David assumed the throne.  There were high hopes for David.  

This is THE David, the victorious teenager who triumphed over Goliath with just a slingshot and pebbles. This is THE David, the author credited with all those Psalms we find in the Bible.  

This is THE David, the anointed King, the one described as “a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14b), the defining ancestor of Jesus.  

It seems, that somewhere along the line David’s train of righteousness went off the tracks.  This beloved David could be singing his own version of Simba’s song. 

“Oh it sure is good to be king.

I can have anything I want…

I can send my men off to war…

I can take another man’s wife

and place that man on the front lines to die.”

That is the background for our passage today.  In verse 26, we find Bathsheba in mourning for her husband who died in battle. David, who is King of Israel and husband to many wives of his own, should have been out leading the war effort, but instead he is at home in his palace when he spies Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop. Her beauty captures his attention, and even though he is repeatedly told she is a married woman, he sends for and commits adultery with her. Through the years many have interpreted this scenario in different ways…

some have tried to make it into this mad love story where these two just couldn’t live without one another…others have tried to say that Bathsheba seduced David by bathing on her rooftop. 

But, let’s be clear here.  This relationship was not about love and it wasn’t Bathsheba’s idea.  

David was the King; he was the most powerful man in Israel. Bathsheba was the wife of one of David’s soldiers…she was in no position to refuse the King. We have no idea how Bathsheba felt about what happened.  The text doesn’t tell us. She is silent; her only communication was a note sent to King David letting him know that she is pregnant with his child. When he receives this note he immediately recalls her pious husband, Uriah, from the battlefield. King David tries to convince Uriah to enjoy “personal time” with his wife, in order to mask the paternity of the child, but Uriah honors the rituals required for battle and abstains. Frustrated by Uriah’s piety, King David instructs the commander of the army to place Uriah in a position in battle where he is sure to be killed and that is exactly what happens, leaving Bathsheba a widow.

I bring up this sorted tale because I want us to be clear, this whole escapade was David’s own doing. King David does not need to “brush up on looking down” like Simba because this series of events, orchestrated by David, clearly demonstrates the many ways the power of being king has affected this once very pious man.  

I know it, David knew it, and apparently God knew it too because God sent the Prophet Nathan to have a little chat with David, to confront his brokenness and call him back to faithfulness. This Nathan is good.  He doesn’t come at David directly. He uses his story to spin a fine web into which David throws himself with much energy and style.

“As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!” 

“YOU are the man!”

David is confronted by his own eagerness.  He has done these things…he has committed these atrocities and now he is being called to the carpet for them. As David sits there, dumbfounded and tongue-tied, Nathan doesn’t pull any punches.  He very pointedly reminds David to whom he is accountable because it appears David has forgotten that he is accountable to anyone. He has forgotten that he has been given much and more would have been given if only he had asked. And to kick him while he is down, Nathan tells him the consequences for his actions: “the sword shall never depart your house…trouble shall come from within your house…”  

What comes next is extraordinary…we don’t see an irate king take out his frustration on the prophet…we don’t see a politician shifting the blame…

What we see, is a broken man, throwing himself at the feet of God…what we see is a contrite heart softened by honesty, ready to accept responsibility…what we see is grace, but it isn’t cheap… 

David admits his sin against the Lord…I wish he would also have admitted his sin against Bathsheba,

but he owns his mistakes in the eyes of God.

In that moment, the Lord forgives, but doesn’t let him off scot-free. God loves David fully and without question, but there are consequences to his actions that even forgiveness can’t wipe away; there are consequences to our actions that even forgiveness can’t wipe away; a brokenness that dwells within you…it’s how you choose to live with that brokenness and what you cake around it to make it feel better that makes the difference.    

I did a lot of reading on my Mission Study Leave.  One of the books I read was “The Weight of Mercy.” In it I encountered many faces and stories of homeless and addicted people living on the streets of Greenville, SC. One of them was named Mason, a recently out of work prison guard who had left his job to move home to be with family. That move didn’t go well for him and he found himself on the streets after being kicked out by his family. He lived under a bridge for two days and found himself living off the mercy of the Salvation Army and the Triune Mercy Center.  

Here’s the thing, folks living on the margins and on the streets learn pretty quickly that there are consequences for their actions…they also learn that not many people are willing to look past their very obvious brokenness to see Christ looking back through those weary eyes.  To deal with their own failures and the pain of their brokenness some turn to unhealthy vices that mask their pain. I would be remiss to point out that many who are not homeless and on the margins do the same thing.

Mason, could have easily done that, he was tempted to, it would have been all too easy, but he wrapped his brokenness up in the belief he was held in the loving embrace of God. 

Mason lives in the shadow of his brokenness, but he didn’t let it define him.  He moved forward with this life and looked beyond his last mistakes, trusting in the grace of God.  

I imagine King David was a total mess after Nathan leaves.  He has been shamed, he as been held accountable in a very public fashion…he knows everyone is talking about him. He is wearing his brokenness on his sleeve for everyone to see. We’ve all been there before, haven’t we?  We’ve all experienced situations, where we have messed up and been called on the carpet for our actions. Humiliated, we have had to pick up the pieces and move forward.  We have lived, wondering how God or anyone else could possibly love us.  

But here’s the thing, God does love us.  God loves us just the way we are, warts and all.  

David trusted in that grace.  

In the face of his humiliation it would have been understandable if he had hidden in his palace until their was a regime change, but that’s not what happened. David and Bathsheba’s first child died.  The tragedy of the situation is beyond understanding. That would have been enough to wreck even the best king, but David trusted in the grace of God. Their second child grows up to be Solomon, the builder of the temple, the wise king the ancestor of Jesus. 

David messed up.  But trusting in God’s steadfast love, David confessed his wrongdoing and believed that God’s grace was still for him.  And it was.  

God loved David…

God still worked through David to care for God’s people and secure their future….

Generations after his death, God still loved David and worked through the first cries of David’s ancestor to secure the future for all God’s children everywhere.  

We all get it wrong sometimes…we all miss the mark…we are all walking around with various degrees of brokenness but God’s love is still for us. Trust in that love…Trust that God is working in and through you to secure the future for all God’s children.  

Amen.