May I Tell You a Story?

From my sermon on 8/02/09

May I tell you a story? How many times have I used that line with you in my 2 years here? I love stories. Stories give us room to move around and find our own meaning. Jesus used to tell stories that revealed truth to people who heard. So today, before I read the scripture, I need to set it in a larger context. May I tell you a story?
Once upon a time there was a little boy. He was overlooked because he was not the first born or second or third, no, he was the eighth son. He was thought so little of that he was given the job of tending the sheep. This is a necessary job, but kinda like being a parking lot atttendant. So when the holy man Samuel came to this household to anoint the next king of Israel, no one gave the little boy any thought. But who was the one Samuel chose? The first, or second, or third? No! But the eighth son was anointed to be king.
Now this little boy had tremendous gifts. He was a brave warrior. In fact, while still a child, he faced a giant from the Philistines, and defeated him with a rock from his slingshot. Do you remember this story? Who was the giant? Goliath. This little boy grew up to be a great military leader.
He had musical talents. He was a singer and instrumentalist. In fact, his tunes could soothe the fits of depression of the current king. He was also a song writer. In fact, many of his songs are found in our Bible in the book of Psalms.
By now, you know who I am talking about....that's right, David.
David was also a skilled politician. He united the northern and southern kingdoms into one with a new capitol in Jerusalem. He further made Jerusalem the center for religious life as well, bringing the ark of the Covenant there. He married into the royal family. And his best friend Jonathan was also the son of the current king.
David had a heart for God. Remember how he worshiped, sang and danced before the ark as it was being transported to Jerusalem.
But David, like most of us, had some issues, some broken places. There was a time when the armies went off to battle, but David stayed behind. He delegated the fighting to others. Maybe he had too much time on his hands, but he was roaming around his palace, maybe catching a cool breeze on the rooftop, when he spied a beautiful woman next door taking a bath. Her name was Bathsheba. Now David did something wrong: he took another man's wife. He committed adultery. I believe that is number 7 on the top ten list of thou shalt not's.
The story reads as if it could come from today's headlines. Someone used his power--position, money, size, gender to get what he wanted. And to make it even closer to home....for 8 years I was in charge of clergy sexual ethics in the Southwest Texas Conference. I found out that clergy when they act out don't go postal--we are not usually violent--and we don't usually abscond with funds. No the way we act is sexually.
I am wondering how we might be David in the story. How have we used our power to make someone do something they didn't want to do?
How might we be like Bathsheba? Have we been the victim of abuse? Have you ever been pressured to do somethng you didn't want to do? I find that such persons often have a hard time telling their story because of the feeling of shame. They did nothing wrong, yet they feel invaded, dirty, less than whole.
Then the story takes a turn that sounds like a modern soap opera. Bathsheba reports, "I'm pregnant." Now David attempts a cover-up. He calls Uriah, who is married to Bathsheba, back from the battlefield. He tries to get to go home and sleep with his wife. But Uriah sleeps at the door of the king's palace. When David asks, "Why?, Uriah replies that other soldiers are sleeping out in the fields and even the ark is in a tent so why should he be any different. David get Uriah drunk the next night, but still he won't go home to his wife. Then David does something terrible. He sends word to have Uriah sent to the most fierce part of the battle and in the thick of it to have troops pull back so that Uriah is killed. Essentially, David breaks number 6 on the top ten of thou shalt not's.
I am wondering how we might be like Uriah, blindly obedient, so much so, that we can't see the bigger picture. Do we just follow orders?
Now at this point in the story some of you adults are wondering if it is such good advice to say to children, "Read your Bible!" That is a lot of ugliness and sin in our story.
Finally, we come to this week's scripture. The first line is II Samuel 11:26, "When 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,"
There enters another character into the drama, Nathan, a prophet, counselor, and advisor to David. He does a gutsy thing. He makes an appointment with the king, and he asks, "May I tell you a story?" "Sure," David says. The next part of the scripture is 12:1-7, “There were two men in a certain city, the 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 meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 4Now 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.” 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.”
I can almost hear David say, "Is this a true story?" "Yes," Nathan replies. "Then who is the one who did this?" And Nathan says, "Are you sure you want to know?" "Yes," David demands. Nathan says, "You are the man!"
Have you ever been Nathan? Have you ever loved someone enough to tell them the truth about themselves? What courage! What faith! Have you ever put yourself on the line so that another might be restored? I know I have been a part of some interventions in the past: I love you very much. I am concerned about your behavior as it relates to alcohol. I have seen you under the influence and it scares me. That time you swore at me for no good reason. I was hurt, and angry, and afraid. Are you Nathan in the story?
The next verses say that there are consequences. "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.”
Even though there is repentance, reconciliation, and healing, there are still consequences that won't go away.
You may be asking where is Christ in this Old Testament story? I like what Jesus said in John's Gospel, "the truth shall set you free." Here the truth leads not to a death sentence, but new life for David. May it be so for us too. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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