You're the Man! Recognizing Guilt and Grace in Your Life

Scripture: 2 Samuel 11.1-13 and 11:26-12:13

David. David. David. Oh, David, whatever are we going to do with you?

We read this story of King David and Bathsheba, and it is uncomfortable because we can see these tragic events unfolding before us, and we know where they are headed, and we are powerless to do anything about them. We hear this story of adultery and cover-up, and we wonder, “Where did King David go so wrong?” Isn’t this David the youngest in a line of siblings? David, the least likely to ever become anyone great? David, the one whom God plucked from the fields where he watched over his father’s flocks? David, the one chosen to be God’s chosen king, leader of the people?

David. David. David. Oh, David, whatever are we going to do with you?

What happened to the king so overcome with joy and filled with praise that he danced his way into the city of Jerusalem? Where is the David who danced before the Ark of the Covenant – that sign and symbol of God’s promise and presence with the people of Israel? I like that King David a whole lot better than the lying, lustful, and conspiring David we get today … but maybe we should not be surprised. After all David is still a king doing exactly what kings do. King David, like so many kings before him and after him, is taking.

We read this in the opening verse of our first reading this morning. King David is taking the men of Israel – fathers, husband, sons, and grandsons – and sending them to war. It was springtime, the season of the year when kings go out to battle. We have football and baseball seasons, tourist season, and fishing season, but kings have war-making season – the season when they take the best and the strongest and lead them into harm’s way. And why should this taking stop at the battlefield? Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at David’s taking of Bathsheba. After all David is doing exactly what kings do. David is doing exactly what the prophet Samuel warned the elders of Israel a king would do when they demanded a king to lead them.

1 Samuel 8:11-22 “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; 12and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 15He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 16He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” 19But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, 20so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

King David takes. Why shouldn’t he? He’s the king. But we don’t need a king to know this type of taking for one’s own self interest. Have you read the newspaper or watched the television lately? Our world is marred by people taking for their own self-interest. Whether it is a South Carolina governor who takes off to Argentina with his mistress while trying to cover it up with a story about hiking the Appalachia Trail or a former professional football quarterback who was once named NFL Family Man of the Year who is found tragically shot dead by a young woman with whom he had become involved. We know the effects of selfish taking because we see them in our world and our lives every day.

King David thought he had the power to control his world as he takes without inhibition, but he learns otherwise as time after time David encounters at least five complications with his plan and his cover up:

1. David is at home. He is lounging in the royal palace. Remember this is the season when kings go out to battle. So why is King David at home? … Perhaps he has become too important a political asset to risk the dangers of the battlefield. Maybe kings were only expected to show up when final victory was imminent. Perhaps King David was weary of the seasons of kingship. Whatever the reason, King David is at home while his men are at war. But when David was anointed king and when God reluctantly granted the people a king, it was so that they would have someone to go before them in battle – someone to fight for them. King David is not where he is supposed to be. Each of us is called by God to be somewhere. If we are not in the right place, we cannot serve God.

2. At home David sees a beautiful woman bathing. Knowing that this woman is married to one of his soldiers, King David sends for her and sleeps with her, and then sends her away. This was never designed to be more than a one-night relationship. David saw something that he wanted in that moment, and he took it. When David receives the report that Bathsheba has become pregnant, David realizes that he cannot control Bathsheba’s body and that selfish taking in the moment has consequences beyond the moment. We are called to look long and to recognize that our words and our actions linger. Are we acting with God and for God, or are we taking like a king?

3. Thus begins the cover up. Long and elaborate. Take Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, off of the battle lines. Bring him home for a little rest and relaxation. Surely he will go home and reacquaint himself with his spouse, and David’s sin will be concealed. The complication is that Uriah is too loyal. Too loyal to his fellow soldiers, too loyal to the king. King David learns that for all his royal power he cannot control Uriah and he cannot dictate Uriah’s principles. Like King David, the only person we can control is ourselves. How much time do we spend trying to control what another person thinks, does, or says? King David thought he was king with complete control over his kingdom and its subjects, but he learns the hard way: the only person you can control is yourself.

4. Uriah is too loyal, and what do we do with people who are loyal? We kill ‘em. Do you see the absurdity of it, how twisted King David’s thinking has become? He is consumed with himself and his own desires. So he sends Uriah back to the front lines carrying the orders for his own death. Uriah is placed on the frontline where the fighting is most intense and at the right time – in an otherwise utterly stupid tactical maneuver – the other soldiers pull back leaving Uriah exposed to the enemy. Innocent lives are lost. When we live for ourselves we lay waste to others around us. … God would have given even more to King David had he not taken this blessing and turned it into a curse, had David not taken the gift and grasped it so tightly that he could not receive more.

5. In the aftermath of Uriah’s murder by King David, the king does the “honorable” thing and marries Bathsheba. Honorable, right? King David took Bathsheba and took Uriah’s life, then suddenly find his honor – or is it just the last step in the cover up. Either way, case closed, crisis averted, sin hidden away … but damn those pesky prophets. Nathan the prophet shows up speaking the word of God. Nathan says, “David, you think you’ve wrapped up this whole Bathsheba incident, but not so in the eyes of God. For you have done evil in the eyes of the Lord.” David thinks he’s got the royal power to shape and mold the nation of Israel, but he misses that God’s power is the true force shaping the people. It is God’s hope, God’s power, God’s expectation that David and all of us are accountable to.

Now, you cannot walk up to the king and say, “King, you’re a murder, a liar, and an adulterer.” That’s probably not going to go over very well with the king or anyone else. And King David has already shown a capacity and a willingness to eliminate those who threaten his power. The prophet has to come in the back door, so to speak, and so he begins telling a parable or abusive power. At the end of the story in an ironic twist, just as Uriah had delivered his own death sentence, now David proclaims his own punishment saying, “That man deserves to die!”
Nathan says, “Yes! And you’re the man! You’re that one! You have done these very things! You deserve to die!!”

King David simply and profoundly responds by claiming his guilt. He doesn’t attempt to hide or deny or justify his actions. He doesn’t even turn on the prophetic messenger. David simply acknowledges his guilt. It is such a crucial step. It’s one of Dr. Phil’s favorite steps. If you watch Dr. Phil on television, you hear him saying all the time, “You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.” People get all excited, “Oh, Dr. Phil you’re so wise and so profound.” And he is, but he’s not saying anything new; it’s right here in the Bible. Dr. Phil just helps people do it. Acknowledgement is the first step of repentance. You cannot repent of or turn away from the destructive behaviors that you refuse to acknowledge. We call that confession.

Here’s the amazing thing: when David acknowledges his sin, his wrongdoings, his failures, he finds God’s grace. He is forgiven. The death sentence which David pronounced upon himself is commuted … We are all guilty in one way or another. Some of us need to acknowledge that guilt; we need to open our eyes and see and confess the ways that we have broken relationships with the people around us and with God.

Others of us have already pronounced guilt upon ourselves and proclaimed our own punishments. We walk around believing that we deserve death for what we have done or failed to do. But here is the Good News: for as deep a whole as David had dug for himself, for as far as he had fallen, and for as horrendous as his sin had been, David never lost the capacity to choose God, and God never lost the willingness to forgive David. That’s the God we believe in.
David. David. David. Whatever will we do with you, but join with you in your acknowledge of sin before a gracious and loving God.

Let us pray silently our confession before God.

13David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.

Have mercy on me, O God,according to your steadfast love;according to your abundant mercyblot out my transgressions.Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,and cleanse me from my sin. . . . . .Create in me a clean heart, O God,and put a new and right spirit within me.Do not cast me away from your presence,and do not take your holy spirit from me.(Ps 51:1-2, 10-11 NRSV)