& i hope when you think of me years down the line

you can't think of one good thing to say

A reading from passages of 2 Samuel 11 & 12:

There’s a big gap in today’s lesson. Isn’t there? 

Although, I don’t really need to worry too much about that, after all we all know this is a part of David’s history. 

We know David didn’t just sleep with Bathsheba. That once he found out she was pregnant, he first to get her husband, Uriah, to come home from battle and get a little intimate with his wife. When Uriah wouldn’t go for that, David tired getting Uriah tipsy, to impair his judgement. When Uriah still wouldn’t take the bait, David arranges Uriah’s death. And in a particularly heartless move, has Uriah deliver the message himself. 

The gap in our lesson isn’t the problem. You all already know this. The problem is, what to do with this passage of David’s history…

David, the youngest son chosen by God to be the great king. David, who fought Goliath because Goliath was taunting the God of Israel. And David, who danced before the Ark of the Lord.

This same David who now coldly and calculatedly adds sin upon sin.

We’re not sure what to make of him. Is he just like every other guy in power,

OR is he a man after God’s heart?

Where do you land? Which side of the equation do you put David?

Watching other folks give their verdict is certainly an interesting endeavor:

There are those who would try and write David out God’s of holy writ for this sin. Determining it is the unforgivable sin.

AND then there are those who try and explain away his indiscretion:

Claiming that maybe the Israelites soldiers, before going to battle wrote their wives a bill of divorce. In case they died in battle. Although there’s very little evidence for this. Or, suggesting that Bathsheba was the guilty one, trying to seduce David from her rooftop bathtub. Although that clearly not what the Bible says is happening; Bathsheba is ritually purifying herself. 

Honestly, neither take is particularly convincing. David isn’t written out of holy history after this AND David is clearly guilty…

Watching folks try & make sense of this moment, reveals how much is riding on what verdict we give; guilty or not guilty.

Because David IS the great king of Israel AND he’s the man who wantonly abuses the power. …It’s a contradiction we can’t reconcile.

How could someone so good do something so bad? 

And it’s a contradiction we’re all too familiar with. This week, as I was trying to think of illustrations, my problem wasn’t lack of examples, but an overabundance of them!

Plenty in the news right now, isn’t there? That’s what the “me too” movement is all about. And there’s plenty of takes on this in music and movies. 

Just last night I watched this movie, “Win, Win.” It’s a fictional story about this lawyer who takes cases representing senior-citizens. He’s a good man, a pillar of the community. Only, the cases he takes aren’t the ones that pay well, so he’s also strapped for cash. 

Well, the lawyer, Mike’s lapse in judgement comes when he finds out one of his clients come with a hefty stipend for the care-giver. When it’s determined the client has dementia, and the state is going become the clients guardian.

Instead, though, Mike says that he will. The reason he tells the judge is, so that the client can stay in his home. Although Mike has no intention of doing that, he just wants the stipend. 

Well, the judge agrees, and the first thing Mike does is place the client in an assisted-living center. What the state would have done. And then, Mike starts collecting the checks. And at first, it all works. His life starts coming back together. 

Only, it all comes to light when the clients daughter shows up…

See, we’re familiar with this passage, and all the ways it repeats itself, aren’t we? What we’re not sure about, is what to do with it.

What do we do when the righteous fail? What do we do when we fail?

So, what do you think?

Is David a Good guy or Bad guy? Is he righteous or wicked? 

There’s a lot riding on your verdict, too. Because it’s not just David you’re evaluating. So, what say you? Guilty or innocent?

The truth is, we’re so familiar with the passage because it is familiar, it’s OUR story. I know this is unsavory to say these days, but we’re all David.

We all have done something wrong, and rather than coming clean, tried to cover it up. We all have parts of our history we’re not so proud of. We all live with the consequences of one decision we wish we could take back. We all have family trees with broken branches.

We’re all David.

How you come down on David, determines how you come down on yourself.

So, where do you land? Are you tempted to explain what David has done away? Or, do you feel compelled to condemn it?

David, like Mike in “Win, Win,” thinks he can get away with the indiscretion; 

after all it’s at least 9 months before he confesses!

But one person did see what David did; God. So God sends Nathan to confront David. And Nathan traps David with a parable. Gets David to render a judgement, David HIMSELF has failed to live up to!

*Which is, of course, what I’ve been trying to do with you: Get you to give a guilty verdict, so I can pronounce one on you! Or, get you to explain away David’s guilt, so I can pronounce you guilty of trying to turn a wrong into a right!

We’re so familiar with the passage, because it’s OUR story. Isn’t it? And the same question that hangs over this passage, hangs over us, too. Guilty, or not guilty?

We’re all David. Which, believe it or not, is our only hope! It isn’t landing on the not guilty side of things through some loophole, it’s through our kinship with David!

After all, David is the one God choses! Even though, Davis is ALSO the one who has done this thing that is evil in the sight of the Lord!

What holds those two contradictions together isn’t a legal pronouncement or a technical loophole, it’s God’s mercy. God’s determination to keep the promise made to David, no matter what.

That same determination God has for you!

The reason we’re tempted to explain away David’s actions is, because if he’s guilty, so are we. The trouble, though, is what David did is clearly wrong!

And that’s the predicament we’re caught in. And sometimes it feels like the one we’re doomed to be caught in forever.

But here, at this story we’re so familiar with BUT unsure what to do with; the cycle is already BROKEN. And forever, too!

On our own this is predicament, this tension is not something that can be resolved or explained away. For us it is unsolvable.

Only Jesus, and his birth into this family history can solve this predicament. Jesus who won't contradict himself or his promises! To accomplish this, Jesus doesn’t use royal prerogative like David, but instead his cross!

Jesus doesn’t find loopholes, or cast David away forever. Jesus does something else with this moment; he redeems it! He bears it himself. He takes the predicament and makes it his own, and in turn gives us his hard won peace!

David’s story is OUR story; and not just because we’re more like David than we care to admit, BUT because it is to Davids like us that Jesus sticks with, redeems.

Unlike us, Jesus is not afraid of messy histories and crooked family trees. They are the  places he chooses time and time again!

Honestly, the impulse to indite David is the closest to what scripture commends today, but even that stops short. David doesn’t just confess he’s guilty, he also ask for forgiveness. To be made new. Made clean. 

When Nathan delivers the punchline that knocks David out, “YOU are the man,” David doesn’t try and explain himself and he doesn’t try and have Nathan court-marshaled, either. He just admits he’s guilty, and then he pleads for mercy.

Honestly, that’s the most shocking part of today’s scripture; that after everything David has done: adultery, murder and a nine-month cover-up; David would ask to be forgiven, and right there on the spot, too!

We think David should have to make some restitution first! 

Which is what that movie “Win, Win,” tries to hold up. Mike is found-out by the clients daughter. And Mike does stop what he’s been doing. It even shows him working at a bar after-hours to pay the bills. But, Mike never actually confesses, he’s just caught!

Because finally our restitution isn’t enough. And even Hollywood knows that. 

The only way forward is the one who comes and takes the predicament upon himself. Bear our contradiction by his own faithfulness!

David’s story is our story. 

If you’ve been going along, trying to cover up some past sin. If you’ve been going along, looking for a loophole. Come clean. Confess your guilt; you have a savior who comes to give you mercy, wear your guilt himself and in turn give you his righteousness. 

If you’re here and you think you’ve committed some unforgivable sin, that you’ve been written out of God’s family, just try God. God’s mercy knows no limit. It is new each morning. 

David’s story is already your story, take his confession too. I promise you, you already share what matters with David, his savior.

Jesus is steadfast, he will not contradict himself. Jesus who has determined to be merciful, come what may.