2 Samuel 11:26-12:15
“But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan to David.”
Just last week we were talking about David, and how he was God’s only chosen and anointed king, and how he’s a great role model of faith for us. And now this week we’re smack in the middle of the ugly story of King David and Bathsheba. We’re confronted with this man of power, and with the story of what happens when power is abused, and with the conviction that God holds us accountable for the ways in which we use, and abuse, our own power.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s review the story of David so far. So King David, the most powerful person in the land of Israel, the king who says go, and everyone goes, who says come, and everyone comes, who defeated Goliath and the Philistines and the Arameans and the Ammonites and all of the military enemies who wished to harm Israel, King David who’s already been told by God that his son will build a house for the Lord, King David who’s already married to Ahinoam, Abigail, Maachah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, and Michal (King Saul’s daughter), King David sees Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, bathing on her own rooftop. And King David summons her, sleeps with her, and sends her home again. And then he finds out she’s pregnant, and has her husband killed. At which point our story from this morning begins.
“The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” The question for us this morning is, What exactly was the thing that displeased the Lord? And, more to the point, are we in danger of doing that same thing, and likewise displeasing God? What was the thing? Was it the rape of Bathsheba? That’s what it’s called when you summon a woman and lay with her and don’t ask her if she’s actually interested. [If there’s one thing the recent news story of the Stanford swimmer who assaulted an unconscious woman has taught us, it’s that if you don’t hear Yes, then it’s rape. And I encourage you to go online and read the victim’s 12-page impact statement. It will rip your heart out, but statistics tell us that there are at least two women in your life who will know exactly how that poor woman feels.] So is this what displeased the Lord? Possibly, but not likely given the social status of women three thousand years ago.
Maybe something else displeased the Lord. Maybe it’s that David had Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite, murdered. An innocent man, who had done nothing to King David but pledge his allegiance to him and defend him against all enemies, a principled man who wouldn’t enjoy life’s luxuries while his own men were out in the field. And King David had him murdered rather than confess his own sins. Maybe this is what displeased the Lord. If it is, most of us are probably safe, never having done that to anyone.
There’s a third possibility, though, and it’s related to the story Nathan tells David about the rich man who steals and cooks the poor man’s only lamb. Maybe what displeased the Lord is that King David used his power to take something from someone who had no power. You see, the lamb in Nathan’s story of David is meant to be Bathsheba. Wives in those days were property, as were children, at the same level as lambs. That’s why the Ten Commandments say, “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house or wife or slaves or ox or donkeys.” Wives were in the same category as houses and animals - property. And King David took the property of Uriah––the rich man took the property of the poor man. And so it’s likely that this is what displeased the Lord. As the king, David should never have taken something from one of his subjects when he had plenty of his own. Uriah had only one wife, while David had seven at that point. If so, it should be easy for us to look at this story of King David and shake our heads over what he did, and move on. None of us has seven wives and stolen an eighth from someone else.
Except. Except that what I think God is actually upset about, because God has been upset about this before and since, what I think the “thing” that displeases the Lord really is, is the abuse of power. King David uses his position and his privilege as the king to make his own life better at the cost of someone else’s. It’s not like Bathsheba was single. It’s not like King David was using his power simply to get another wife. Aside from the whole polygamy issue, that would have been no problem. It’s that he used his power to get what he wanted by taking it from someone who couldn’t defend themself. This was not a win-win situation. This was definitely a win-lose situation. And King David used his power so that someone else would lose. And this was the “thing” that displeased the Lord.
This is a “thing” we all do. You see, each one of us here this morning has privilege and power. I know that it may not feel like it most of the time. But we do. If you are a parent, or a grandparent, if you are a teacher or a coach, if you have even been the boss of anyone, if you are on a committee of any kind, if you speak and others listen, like among your friends, then you have power. If you have ever bought anything in a store ever, you have power. Whether it’s hard power––like a police offer, or soft power––wielded through influence or the ability to purchase things, we all have some degree of power.
But why do I say we abuse our power? Why do I say there are the things we do that displease the Lord? What do we do in our lives that help us win and others lose? Well, here are some examples: We buy bottled water. We use the power of our money to pay companies to steal fresh water from the backyard wells and aquifers of others who rely on that water for free, and to put it into bottles with caps so we can buy it. We take their water even though we have perfectly good water in our own taps. Like David. We abuse our power in the things we’ve done. And, in the things we’ve left undone. We abuse our power when we stay silent when we see others being treated unfairly. June is National Aboriginal month––we are people who directly benefit from Treaty 7, the treaty between the Crown and the Blackfoot, Stoney, and Tsuu T’ina peoples, signed in 1877 that allows us to use this land, and we abuse our power when we don’t fulfill the obligations of that treaty, which are to live on the land as guests, and not as owners. We abuse our power when we don’t say anything about our country’s history of systemic racism against indigenous peoples. We do very well living on this land, and they have suffered for it.
And we don’t want to hear this, but these are the things that displease the Lord. We, who have food in our fridge, and more than one pair of shoes, and a roof over our heads, we displease the Lord when we take out our wallet and pay $8 for that sequined shirt and don’t even question whether it was made by a 9-yr-old in India who hasn’t seen her mother in months. We displease the Lord when we buy that really cool smartphone and don’t even question whether it was made by a pregnant woman in China who will be told to have her baby on the manufacturing floor rather than get a day off - a whole day - to have her baby somewhere else. We displease the Lord when we crank up the air-conditioning on a really hot day and don’t even question whether the energy that powers it is contributing to the greenhouse gases that will ensure climate change in our grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s time. We displease the Lord when we enthusiastically share our hospitality with some strangers in our midst while ignoring others. So many of our “wins” in the world mean others lose. Our win on a good deal means someone else loses income. Our win of comfortable living means someone else is suffering from floods or heat waves related to climate change.
So what do we do? Well, here we can go back to following David’s example. Because David does three very important things. The first is that he actually listens to Nathan. David hears Nathan tell him that he’s abused his power. And this is not easy. David thinks he’s the good guy. And he is! He’s God’s anointed. But when you’re the good guy, and when you believe God has blessed you with many good things, and when you’ve lived your life defending others and trying your best to do the right thing, it’s very, very hard to hear that, despite your best intentions, you’ve done the wrong thing. That you have, in fact, compromised the very principles you built your life on. Nobody wants to hear that they’ve abused their power. When I tell you that you have privilege, and that you’ve abused it, do you like hearing that? No. But David listens to Nathan. He reclaims his integrity, and he listens to Nathan’s story of injustice, even though he himself is the perpetrator.
And then David admits his guilt. “I have sinned,” he says. This is, actually, what I would consider to be David’s greatest moment. Not his slaying of Goliath, not his defeat of the Ammonites, not the building up of the kingdom of Israel. His humble admission that, as great as he is, he was wrong. It takes a great and righteous man to admit that. And he did. Without defending or excusing himself. “I have sinned.”
And finally, David accepts the consequences of his actions. It’s interesting that we hear Nathan tell David that God has put away David’s sin, but there will still be a consequence. David is forgiven, but his son––who is his property, don’t forget––will die. In other words, David took Uriah’s property, and God will take David’s property. (And there are issues there, that we’re not going to get into today, about punitive justice instead of restorative justice, but we have to leave it for now.) The point is that forgiveness does not erase consequences. Forgiveness doesn’t wipe out all the hurt that’s been committed, and magically make the victims’ lives better. Forgiveness exists alongside of consequences, otherwise God’s forgiveness just re-traumatizes those who are the victims of the sin in the first place. Forgiveness without consequences lets us run around doing all kinds of I-win-you-lose things and then turn and say, “Oops, my bad,” and do it again. David is forgiven, but he still has consequences, and he accepts them.
Like David, we, too, can do each of these things. We can, after we’ve sinned, after we’ve abused our power (because we have and we will), reclaim our integrity by listening to those around us tell us about the harm we’ve done. Even though it’s hard, and even though we want to deny it or excuse it or justify it, we can listen. And then we can admit that we’re wrong. That we are guilty. That’s what we do when we have power and we’ve abused it. That’s how we show that we’re worthy of the power that’s been given to us. By admitting when we’ve used our power to benefit only ourselves. By confessing our guilt. By admitting that we have sinned.
And finally, we can, like David, accept the consequences of our actions. And this is hard because most of the time, the consequences fall on those we love, and not on ourselves. David’s consequence was that violence would now be part of the fabric of his house. Nathan says, “The sword shall never depart from your house. ... I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house.” His first son with Bathsheba died. His other son, Amnon, raped his half-sister, David’s daughter, Tamar. Another son, Absalom, killed Amnon and then was himself later killed by David’s soldiers. Four of David’s sons died for the death of Uriah the Hittite––four lambs to replace the one he took––exactly what David told Nathan would be just repayment in the story of the rich man and the poor man’s lamb. His daughter suffered the same treatment as Bathsheba. I’m sure that David would rather that he himself die than watch his children suffer the consequences of his abuse of power. But he faced it. The consequences of our abuses of power must be faced, too. Dysfunctional families. Sons who do awful things. Children who perpetuate the cycle of hurt. A global economy that serves us and puts just about everyone else into slavery. A climate that will be almost unlivable two generations from now. These are our consequences.
Now you may be wondering how this is Good News. How this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we proclaim. Well, for the times when we’ve been the victims of abuse, this is Good News because it means that God is on our side. God puts limits on human power, and God demands justice when those limits have been transgressed. In those times when you’ve been the victim of someone else’s abuse of power, knowing that God will not let that person get away with it is Good News.
And in times when we ourselves have been the perpetrators of abuse, this, too, is Good News. Because it means that God gives us a chance to make things right. To recognize the harms we’ve caused one another, to make amends for that behaviour and face the consequences, and in doing so, follow a new path. Or rather, return to the path that God originally set us on. A path where we use our power to defend the weak, to ensure equality, to lift up the voices of those who tell us that we’ve stolen their lambs, so that God’s kingdom might truly come, and God’s will might truly be done, on earth as in heaven. We have sinned, but God gives us the opportunity to do better. This is indeed Good News. Thanks be to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment