Instead of a sermon this morning, how about a love story? I mean a real love story, not the tragedy of David and Bathsheba. The story of David and Bathsheba is written as a drama of lust, abuse of power, conspiracy and murder. It feels so odd, so uncharacteristic of God’s beloved King David, that we wonder why it wasn’t edited out years ago. But because it is here in our scripture, we maybe need to rethink the message. I do think there is a love story here – but not the one between David and Bathsheba. It’s the love story of God with his people, us. God loves us so dearly, he sends messages, stories, parables and finally himself to wake us up, get us to stop hurting ourselves, and finally woo us and as the parable says, actually marry us.
We know that God did love King David, with all his faults. And David, like most of us, had a few weaknesses. First we can ask, what David was doing at home when his armies were out battling the Ammonites? In the spring, kings usually led their armies out to war. Maybe it was an unusually hot spring that year, and David thought he’d be better off planning strategy on the cool rooftop of his Kings House on the hill in Jerusalem. Much better than out in the fields with Joab and the army. It also could have been the heat that brought Bathsheba up to bathe on her cool roof that late afternoon. And maybe something or someone planted an idea in David’s mind, to take a stroll. Maybe the Opposer suggested to David that it would be pleasant to take a roof-top stroll after his late-afternoon nap. And, over there, what’s that, could it be a woman bathing? “Take a closer look, David, just to be sure.”
Our human nature is so fragile. There’s an important lesson in the prayer Jesus taught, asking God to, “Lead us not into temptation.” Temptation is a very pleasant thing. It starts small and seemingly innocent, but it grows perniciously. Before you know it, the smallest temptation becomes the root of a nest of lies, self-deception, and behaviors that alter our personality. Temptation can easily lead us to do unimaginable things, such as plotting and carrying out the death of an innocent, plunging whole families into chaos and pain and shame.
Here’s how it goes: David asks about the beautiful woman, is told of her family and how husband Uriah is off fighting with David’s army. David sends messengers to fetch Bathsheba. Even if she were suspicious of his motive, how can anyone refuse the request of the King? In a story that might be out of Hollywood or the tabloids or a corporate office park, consent or no, adultery occurs. Pregnancy ensues. The cover-up begins.
David sends word to Joab, his Field General, to send Uriah to him. Figuring he was chosen to report on battle progress to the king, poor Uriah hotfoots it to Jerusalem. David asks him, “How’s it going with the army, the war?” Uriah gives his report, then David urges Uriah “go on down to your house and wash your feet.” A euphemism for “domestic intimacy.” He sends a present along. But Uriah, the upright infantryman, refuses special treatment and sleeps in David’s courtyard along with the servants. David is frustrated, since his cover plan was for Uriah to appear to be the father of Bathsheba’s child. David asks Uriah why he didn’t go home, and receives a stinging rebuke: The army, the generals, the men are camping in the open field and the ark of the Lord is in booths; shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, lie with my wife. As you live, and as your soul lives, I will do no such thing.
David must have felt stabbed in the heart at this double accusation of his sin. He tries again, hosting Uriah at a banquet and getting him drunk. Uriah still won’t go down to his house. Now David is desperate, and plots Uriah’s murder by “friendly fire.” Uriah delivers his own death sentence to Joab, who at David’s direction puts Uriah into the front in the hardest fighting, then leaves him fighting alone to die.
David’s dilemma seems resolved. Now that Bathsheba’s husband was dead, David didn’t see a problem. He just went about his business and added the widow as a wife. But what David had done was wrong in the eyes of the Lord. The prophet Nathan helped David see his sin, his error in the parable of the rich man who takes a poor man’s pet lamb for his dinner. David confessed fully, no excuses. “I have sinned against the Lord.”
The next events are very important to understand the critical role of confession and forgiveness in our lives. Once called out by Nathan and made fully aware of the sins he had sunk into, David acknowledged his sin and accepted blame for it fully. He blamed no one else. He didn’t try to justify it by circumstances. He didn’t share blame with others. David fully confessed and meant it. David loved God.
But David had sinned. He paid a price for his sin. We can ask why a price had to be paid for sin, for injustice, for wrongful harm to others and to God. Why can’t God just forgive and forget? Didn’t David acknowledge his sin? I don’t know the answer, but both Judaism and Christianity have similar explanations. In short it’s this: There is a cosmic balance. Sin is a distortion, a force which tears the fabric of the cosmos, and it must be rebalanced by a restorative force. We see this in Psalms where on the one hand, there is understanding, justice and judgment, and on the other side there is wisdom, mercy and compassion. These seemingly opposed principles are linked in some divine way and when the balance is equitable, there is harmony and beauty in the cosmos. Participating in this divine harmony is an act of Love.
And that is why this is a love story. In Christian and Jewish mysticism these seemingly opposed, but linked eternal truths, justice and righteousness on the one hand, mercy and compassion on the other taken together form the foundation of the world under God. Another word for the grace-filled balance of these divine principles might be Love. God loved David. And David loved God.
The balance in this sad case was restored by a personal price for transgression. David confessed, did penance and paid a price for his sins. He and his family suffered and were scarred. The son born of their adultery was stricken by the Lord, and became very ill. David prayed for the child, he went hungry and sleepless, lying on the floor in sackcloth for seven days. On the seventh day, the child died. Everyone expected that since David had prayed and fasted so fervently, David would go into prolonged mourning, become bitter and look for vengeance.
Instead, David got up, washed and ate. He went on with his life. David did not wail about his bad luck. David did not mourn for the rest of his life. David did not curse God. At some level, David understood that he had confessed, he had suffered, he had paid. God had taken David’s repentance and restored balance. David accepted his sin and the justice of the price paid for it. Yet David still had an important life to be led and work to be done. God took David’s contrition and decision to go on, and God multiplied David’s good works in the rest of his years as king to God’s purpose and to the world’s benefit.
And I think this is the point of the story. God has a purpose and use for each of us. If David had put Bathsheba away, become a monk or gone crazy the history of the world might be very different. David chose to stay with and to love Bathsheba. David and Bathsheba’s next child, Solomon, succeeded David as King and was allowed to build a Temple that lasted for centuries. But this was not the eternal house promised to David. That came much later, through the child born of a later descendant of David - her name was Mary. And her child Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Son of God, born of the House of David.
David’s example is good advice. David did his part, and God was able to take what David had begun and multiply it for God’s purposes and for the good of all of us. God’s son Jesus paid a one-time price on behalf of every future human being who accepts it. We have to acknowledge our wrongs, confess, and try to do better. The balance is restored. We can be freed from the negativity, the downward pressure, the guilt and shame of what we know in our hearts is wrong. Then we need to take inventory of what we do have and what we must do. God can multiply our little works into big outcomes.
Talk about multiplication of assets - Our gospel reading from John recounts the problem of feeding hungry crowds. Jesus asks his disciples, “How will we feed these people?” The disciples start down the road of “woe is me” and “there’s nothing to be done.” The easy route. Jesus points in the right direction by asking “What do you have?” Examining our inventory breaks the self-pity and focuses us on what we have and where we’re short. True whether we’re inventorying the pantry or our soul.
Now, the disciples took inventory and turned up small resources, nowhere near enough bread and food to get the job done. Jesus then asks the disciples to give the few loaves and fish to him. Your assets may seem skimpy to you, but with God’s help, small things can grow enormously, like little seeds and big trees.
None of us has enough innate virtue to please God. But we all have a scrap, a fish, a barley loaf. All God asks of us is that we recognize the need in front of us and look at the resources we have. Then offer it to God for his multiplication.
I think the practical lesson here is this: If we haven’t sinned already, we very likely will. We are just human. God encourages us to do a clear-eyed inventory of both our shortcomings and our gifts. First acknowledge where we’ve followed temptation and done wrong. Repent and put it in God’s hands to re-balance. That much is our job. Jesus paid the price for us so we do not have to pay again. Understand that, think on that, and use it. The beautiful balance of the cosmos will be restored. This will clear your decks from the murky cloud of sin. Then, with clear eyes search for your gift, you will uncover it. Ask and you will find a way to do the works God planned for you before you were born. It may seem inconsequential to you, but just put your talents and gifts into God’s hands. God can multiply what we commit to God beyond our imagination. Why is this so? Because this is a Love story.
Love God back.