Sermon: Seek the truth, come what will (The Reverend Shelby Owen)

August 2, 2009, Trinity Church

One evening this week, the nightly news showed a video taken from a police car where the police are following a car that is swerving, and not stopping at stop signs and basically exhibiting some very poor driving. And NOT stopping for the police! The police follow the car until the driver pulls into his own driveway. By this point the viewer is intrigued, wondering what criminal would actually lead the police to his/her own home? Well, right after the car pulls into the driveway, out pops a very young fellow, who slams the car door and hits the ground running. It turns out the “criminal” is seven years old and is trying to get out of going to church! I see that all of you here today did not get out of going to church and I am glad to see you!

I do have to wonder how his parents handled that one and in light of today’s O.T. reading wonder if the young man was fully aware of his wayward action!

In our reading from Samuel, we have the fortunate and somewhat surprising inclusion of a story of the greatest and most beloved king in all of Israel’s history. King David. The handsome one. The tall one. The musically gifted one. The one with excellent rock throwing skills. The one of God’s own choosing. The one who would sit on the throne during Israel’s glory days. The one who was often victorious in battle. And the one who would be claimed as the ancestor to Jesus himself. The accolades could go on and on. And yet, here the ancient elders who selected the stories that would become part of Hebrew Scripture chose to keep this poignant story about David in the written tradition. These editors consciously chose to keep a story that showed another side to David. A side that showed his weakness, his vulnerability, his arrogance, his sinfulness. A side that exposed his inner darkness.

Our passage today begins at the death of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba. If we take a look at the preceding passages we see that it is in David’s lust for Bathsheba that he commits adultery with her while her husband Uriah is out at battle. She becomes pregnant with David’s child and when David learns of her pregnancy, he quickly tries to arrange a cover up; when the plan goes awry, David actually has Uriah, the husband, sent to the front line of battle, thereby basically sentencing him to death. So David digs a deeper and deeper hole for himself. [What begins with lust moves to deceit and murder.] But David in marrying Bathsheba must think he has “taken care of the problem.” David is content enough with how he settles the matter. But we quickly see that through the divine perspective, the matter is not finished. Hence, we hear that “the thing that David had done displeased the LORD, and the LORD sent Nathan to David.”

Nathan, the prophet, is given the difficult task of speaking truth to power, of bringing light to David’s denial, of bringing clarity to David’s sin. And Nathan in his wisdom chooses to begin the process with a story-a story about someone else, of course. As Nathan tells of the poor man owning the beloved lamb, that the rich man insists on taking from him, David responds with horror, with righteous indignation and in the process indicts himself. David actually says, “This man deserves to die!....because he did this thing and because he had no pity.” Nathan then says boldly, “You are the man!” And with those words light is dramatically shed on David’s secret, on David’s denial, and on David’s sin. And Nathan proceeds to tell David of all that God had done for him and how this series of sinful actions on David’s part will have lasting consequences and ramifications. And finally David, in his wisdom, in his love for God, in his willingness to see truth, says, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

The sweet irony here is that in David’s darkest hour, as he is exposed to the truth about his sin, as he confesses to Nathan, grace is absolutely present, too. Judgment is not the final word, and it will be through David’s repentance that life is made possible. The Hebrew concept for “repentance” is to turn; to go in a new direction away from patterns of brokenness. Guilt over our sin is not the goal (contrary to what our teachings as a child were and maybe even as a parent suggest). Guilt is backward looking and holds no life in it. Guilt can cause us to be paralyzed in our faith journey. Repentance, however, allows us to respond to God’s desire to bring us to him. Repentance is a way of looking forward, of allowing in the light, even in the midst of dealing with the very real pain of the consequences of our sins. And it is God who calls us to repent; we do not repent of our own accord.

This story strikes close to home. We hear daily of leaders like Mark Sanford, governor of SC, Bill Clinton, Martha Stewart, and Bernie Madoff who succumbed in some way to the corrupting influence of power and who may have felt immune from divine judgment. But David’s story tells us otherwise. David’s story reminds us that the divine call affects all of us and that all of us whether we are famous world leaders or ordinary people are within God’s reality, not a reality we create for ourselves.

Most of us cannot face the truth about ourselves all at once. Nathan knew this important characteristic of human nature. And so Nathan chose to reveal David’s sin through a story, knowing that this subtle approach would allow a more effective message to seep through. And maybe it is through the story that we can begin to see ourselves. When Nathan confronted David with his sin, God didn’t leave David in his darkness. David became open to God through Nathan. Because David was willing to turn again toward God and able to accept God’s loving kindness and forgiveness, was able to be transformed.

We can thank the ancient editors for leaving this story in Scripture. As we face David’s sin, perhaps we are able to face our own sin. We all sin; we all fall short of God’s glory. Sin brings pain- real pain and sorrow not just to the sinner but to many around us. When we lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, nurture our addictions, we wreck havoc and create chaos. We damage ourselves, our family, our friendships and damage the community that we are a part of. Sometimes we see sin in ourselves and very often we do not. When we catch a glimpse of ourselves not being truthful, succumbing to greed or being self-serving, then we know that God is passing very near as it is he who shows us this truth and it is he who calls us to turn around. It is God’s desire that we be in a vibrant relationship with him-not a relationship riddled with guilt but a relationship that is loving and living. It is God’s desire to draw us toward himself and to draw us close to one another as his people. So how do we get there? How do we allow that to happen? How do we turn to God and accept his wonderful invitation to live in his company?

Sometimes we find small glimpses of light shed on ourselves and sometimes great big beams of light pour in, such as happened to David today. If we are truly open to the spirit of God we will be open to the ways in which the light pours in. Sometimes we will experience that light through the reading of Scripture; sometimes the light will come in the form of words of a trusted friend or family member and sometimes the light will shine brightly on us with the words or actions of someone we do not even know but can sense that truth is present. God’s great desire that we be in a right relationship with him prods us to be open to the truths in ourselves –both the wonderful truths as well as the difficult ones- that we don’t really want to see or simply have not been able to see. David was self centered and became open to God through the words of the prophet Nathan. The same God is at work in us ALL THE TIME as he nudges us or compels us to seek the truth come what may. Can we trust that with whatever God chooses to reveal in us he will give us the grace and love with which to face it? There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. Can we consider David’s words of hope, of truth, of forward thinking as heard in Psalm 51 of today allowing us to go into the world with confidence of a loving God who blots out all our sin as we turn to him for help:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving –kindness;

In your great compassion blot out my offenses.

For behold, you look for truth deep within me.

And will make me understand wisdom secretly

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

And renew a right spirit within me. Amen