2 Samuel 11:1-5, 26-27; 12:1-9; Psalm 51:1-9
(sermon note: 10-25 sermon note)
1In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
2 Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. 5 Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the Lord was displeased with what David had done.
12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2 The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. 3 The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. 4 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”
5 David was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! 6 He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. 9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.
5 For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb,
teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a man who had a terrible hatred for lawyers. Like, he really hated any and all lawyers he met! And as such, every time he was out driving his car, he would go out of his way to hit them. It didn’t matter when or where, if he saw a lawyer he just had to run ‘em over. The man, however, was also a pious man. One day while driving, he saw the local priest out walking. The man stopped his car next to the priest and offered him a ride to the church where he was going. The priest gracefully accepted, and off they went. It didn’t take long before the man spotted a lawyer walking down the road, and immediately set out to hit him. Just before running the lawyer over, he did, however, remember his passenger, the priest, being with him. He swerved back quickly, as not to reach the lawyer, but still heard a solid *THUNK*, despite being sure he had avoided the lawyer completely. The man, now filled with shame of his sin, turned to the priest and said, “Father, I must confess. I hit that lawyer in pure hate. Can you forgive me?” The priest, looked at him, and gently answered, “It’s okay my son, I got him with the door.”
Ummm, after a year like I just had, I’m feeling more and more inclined to behave like that man or the priest. I might start gunning for lawyers too with my door open! I’m just kidding, but they sure know how to drag out a bad situation. Not impressed by any means…
But contrary to that man and the priest, most of us couldn’t be so ruthless towards lawyers. We have consciences and understand that lawyers are just doing their jobs like the rest of us. Justice can be a hard pill to swallow, and most lawyers understand this and are sensitive to it. They don’t find joy in the suffering of others. They simply want justice to prevail. And life gets messy at times. Just look at the situation in today’s reading. King David, despite all his power and wisdom, couldn’t resist the temptation of a beautiful bathing woman and what a mess it created. Our reading jumped over some important information in the story that I think we need to recall for understanding just how big a mess David got himself into. We heard how David was tempted by Bethsheba bathing on the rooftop of a nearby house. He summoned her to his palace and seduced her and impregnated her. Alas, Bathsheba’s husband was a soldier in David’s army and the shame of David’s deed needed to be kept hidden. David tried to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so that the baby would be considered his but that didn’t work. So David had Uriah killed, not directly but by David moving him to the front lines of his battling army. No one could ever trace Uriah’s death back to David. Well, almost no one. God knew what David had done in both impregnating Bethsheba and having her husband, Uriah, killed and told the prophet, Nathan, all about it. We heard in our reading how Nathan confronted David with a story that revealed his guilt. David went on to write that powerful Psalm 51 to confess his guilt and shame and ask for God’s forgiveness: “against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.”
Now we often dwell on how human David is, that a man of his stature and fame was still powerless to sin and temptation from time to time. Sure, it helps to humanize him and make him more relatable, not to mention affirm Paul’s statement to the Romans, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (3:23) But I often wonder if that’s the primary purpose of this story. Sometimes I wonder if the primary purpose is to reveal God’s wonderful grace and mercy instead. David’s sin of impregnating the wife of a trusted leader and supporter is to many people unforgivable. And then to go have him killed?! Outrageous!! David didn’t deserve God’s mercy and compassion. David deserved punishment of the harshest kind. Heck, David deserved an uprising and being ousted from the throne! But that wasn’t what he received. Instead, the child died and was reclaimed by God. David and Bathsheba went on to have another child, the wise king Solomon, but their first child together wasn’t allowed to live.
Yes, it is a story to reveal God’s amazing mercy and forgiveness. Our God is a good and gracious God! Our God shows mercy despite our weakness. The book of Hebrews tells us, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (4:16) David was in quite the situation in which he needed God’s grace the most. We, too, can find ourselves in situations when we need God’s grace the most. I’ve relied on his mercy in several situations throughout my life as I imagine many of you have. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” (2:8) Salvation comes in and through belief. Simply believe and trust in God’s mercy and you will be saved! If God could somehow save David from his situation, He most certainly can save us from whatever situation we find ourselves in.
God’s mercy is continually illustrated in the stories of the early Bible. Noah and the flood, Abraham and being the “father of many nations,” Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, Moses and Joshua and the Israelites, now David and Bathsheba. Our God is a God of mercy and salvation to those who trust and believe in him. Likewise, let us place our trust and belief in him and rejoice in his abundant yet undeserved grace. Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
