August
2nd, 2015 “Judgment” Rev. Heather Jepsen
Summer
Sermon Series: Dancing with David
2
Samuel 12:1-25
Today
we continue our summer sermon series: Dancing with David. Throughout the summer we have charted the
course of David’s rise to prominence in the land of Israel. Last Sunday we discussed David’s fall and his
sinful actions in the story of David and Bathsheba. David’s acts of evil in the rape of Bathsheba
and the murder of Uriah were hard for all of us to face. Today we will discuss the consequences of
David’s action.
At this point in the story, David is
probably thinking that the matter with Bathsheba and Uriah is finished. He has done his best to hide all evidence of
his wrong-doing. But unfortunately for
David the Lord is far from finished with the matter. The reading opens with the statement that
what David had done displeased the Lord, or was evil in the eyes of the
Lord. The Lord sends Nathan to speak
with David and to inform David of the Lord’s great disappointment with him.
Nathan begins by telling David a
parable. It is the story of a rich man
and a poor man. The poor man has only
one ewe lamb to his name, and it is an animal that he loves. The poor man has brought the lamb up in his
household, feeding it food from his table and cradling it in his arms. The lamb is like a child to him. In contrast the rich man has many sheep and
lambs to his name. One day the rich man
is visited by a traveler and not wanting to loose any of his bounty, he takes
and slaughters the poor man’s lamb to serve the stranger. The rich man’s act is particularly callus as
he is disguising his injustice as hospitality in the service of his guest.
David reacts as we all do to the
story, with great anger. Being the king
and familiar with the role of judge, David declares that this rich man deserves
no less than the penalty of death for his heinous act. David seems particularly incensed that the
rich man shows no pity to the poor man in the story.
In what is one of the most powerful scenes
in our scriptures, Nathan now turns the tables saying to David, “You are the
man!” In his condemnation of the rich
man, David has condemned his own act of taking what was not his to take. Nathan goes on to state the Lord’s
disappointment with David. God is clear
that God had given everything to David; land, kingship, and wives. God would have done even more if only David
had asked. But for David to go and take
Uriah’s wife and to kill Uriah, such an act is not only a sin against Uriah and
Bathsheba; it is a sin against the Lord.
Nathan asks David, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord, and done
what is evil in God’s sight?”
And now the punishment is given. Because of David’s acts of rape and murder,
the very acts David has committed will now be committed against him. While David’s line will be blessed to rule forever
in Israel
It is here, at the lowest point in his
life, where David shows his true colors.
It is now, I believe, when he really shows his heart for the Lord. Many people at this point would turn away from
God. Many people would be unable to
admit their own sin, and would turn away in anger at the things God has spoken
against them. But not David; it is at
this moment, when judgment against him has been passed, that David turns toward
the Lord. “I have sinned against the
Lord,” he boldly declares and begins his repentance.
Despite David’s repentant spirit, the
Lord strikes the child he has conceived with Bathsheba and it becomes gravely
ill. For days David prays and fasts,
pleading with the Lord for the child’s life.
David has declared his own sinfulness, he has shown he is sorry for his evil
acts, and he is hopeful the Lord will spare the life of his son. But it is not to be, and on the seventh day
the child dies.
Again the strength of David’s faith is
remarkable. After the death of his child
the first thing David does is worship God.
It is almost an unbelievable act that David could turn toward the God
who has executed judgement in such a harsh fashion. David forgoes the dictated period of
mourning, for he has already pleaded with the Lord for grace that was not
given. Now he believes it is the time to
move on. He rises from his fast, washes
and eats. David’s acts of mourning show
an advanced theology of suffering and death as he appears to accept the death
of his child as a part of life, but not the end. As he tells his servants, “I shall go to him,
he will not return to me” he already shows a budding faith in the afterlife.
David
then returns to Bathsheba and lays with her again, conceiving another son. For traditional readers of the Scriptures it
is at this point that grace enters into the picture. David is given a new son, Solomon, and this
child will be loved by the Lord. In fact
Nathan sends word that the child should be called Jedidiah, “the beloved of the
Lord.”
Now I have to admit, I had a hard time
last week with the story of David and Bathsheba. In fact, I don’t think I liked preaching that
sermon any more than you liked hearing it.
While I believe that what I said was the truth behind the text, facing
David’s acts of rape and murder makes me uncomfortable, and speaking about them
from the pulpit made it even worse. And
I am fairly confident that I was not the only one to be uncomfortable last week.
Today, I am afraid we are no better
off. I have been quick to pass judgment
on David, for the rape of Bathsheba and murder of Uriah are surely despicable
acts. And like David, I am also quick to
pass judgment regarding the parable that Nathan tells; it is wrong for the rich
man to take the poor man’s lamb. But
then I am afraid that leaves me in the same place that David finds himself; with
Nathan pointing an accusing finger and declaring “You are the one!” For although I haven’t raped and murdered, I
have certainly committed my own share of wrongdoings and have racked up plenty
of tallies in the sin column of my life.
From the declaration of guilt comes
the declaration of judgment, and the judgment David faces is a cruel one for
certain. It is painful to read, but the
text pulls no punches as it clearly states, “because by this deed you have
utterly scorned the Lord, the child born to you shall die.” And later, “the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s
wife bore to David, and it became very ill.”
What sort of punishment is this?
I believe that Bathsheba and the child are innocent in the matter, even
victims, and now they too are made to suffer for David’s sin. This week as I pondered the text in the
presence of my own children, I began to think that this punishment is even
cruel for David the very committer of the atrocities.
As a modern reader I am troubled by
this text and wonder what it says about our God. But, the writer of the text is not concerned
with such matters and they don’t ask such questions. In fact, in their view, grace is present in
the text; for though David will suffer all that the Lord declares against him,
he still bears another son. This son is
loved by the Lord and he will be richly blessed; that is the moment of grace.
I
don’t think that’s good enough and I am not satisfied with this ending. Although grace is present here, it is not
what I am accustomed to when thinking of grace.
Frankly, the grace that God shows to David just doesn’t seem like enough
to me. A God who punishes us by taking
the life of another is not a God I am interested in worshipping.
This
is where my opinion as a 21st century pastor and the opinion of the
writer of the book of Samuel differ. I
do not believe that the Lord will strike us down in such a way for our
sins. I do not believe that the Lord
punishes us like this. And frankly, when
we suffer the tragedies of illness and death, especially the death of a child,
I do not believe that the Lord is in any way the cause of such a thing. The grace that I believe in tells a different
story, the story of Jesus Christ, the one who is present with us in our
suffering. The grace that I believe in
is one where if you turn to the Lord in true repentance, declare yourself a
sinner as David did, then you are given forgiveness. This is the God that I have come to know and
love.
Even though I can argue away God’s
role in the punishment David receives for his sin, I cannot argue away the
horrible things that David’s sin brings into his life. Although David experiences grace in the birth
of his new son, the consequences of his sin remain as his family will now
suffer because of his example of wrongdoing.
It is from David’s acts that they have learned to excuse their sinful behaviors. For the remainder of his life David will reap
what he has sown, and it is not a pretty picture.
Perhaps that is why I am so
uncomfortable with this story. None of
us can read the story of David and Bathsheba and not think of our own sinful
nature. While I do believe that we receive
grace when we turn to God in repentance; our forgiveness does not erase our
sinful acts. Like David, the
consequences of our sin will remain in the world and in our lives. No amount of grace can erase the harm we cause
when we sin. We cannot poison the world
around us and then expect to receive only good things. We cannot sow violence and then expect to
harvest blessings.
But, there is grace for us nonetheless. For David, grace came in the form of his son
Solomon, and in a small way it comes for us this morning by that same path. As I mentioned last week Jesus himself will
come from this union of David and Bathsheba.
But, rather than bring conceived in violence, Jesus will come from the
line of this new son, who was conceived in love; Solomon, who is so favored by
God. While the writer of Samuel does not
see God’s whole plan of salvation here, the modern reader certainly does.
Such is God’s love for us; a love that
transcends all time and space, a love that offers true forgiveness to those who
repent, a love that will make good of even David’s sin, a love that will not
let us go, even as we struggle with these ancient stories of punishment and
retribution. Thanks be to God for the
freedom to honestly explore these stories and their meaning in our lives; and
thanks be to God for a grace we can never fully understand. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment