In the morning

2nd Samuel 11: 1-15, page 284 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.” Sermon This Scripture lesson is full of contrast. There is the image of the entire army out there fighting and risking their lives away from the comforts of home, while David remained at Jerusalem lying around on a couch. There is the image of Bathsheba’s silence through the whole affair that takes on a new meaning when set against the only words she speaks: “I am pregnant.” Then there is David’s behavior, dishonesty of the worst kind in attempting to get Uriah back to his wife before it is clear who this child doesn’t belong to, that manages to appear even worse when compared to Uriah’s refusal to even go to his own house while the other troops are out in the fields sleeping in tents. The morality of a Hittite, not even an Israelite, sets the example in this story when the greatest of the kings of Israel fails us. And that is the greatest contrast of all – comparing who David is supposed to be, with who he truly is. We turn to Scripture when society fails to guide us clearly. Indeed, when society fails - faithful people issue the call to “wipe off the dust from the Bible,” and return to the age old standards of right and wrong. But the problem is that here in the Bible is the very story that we’d all like to get away from. You thought President Richard Nixon had faded into the past, but here the same old story of mistakes and betrayal and secrecy rears its ugly head. It’s better to remember Martin Luther King Jr. by what he said and not what the CIA said he did, but this story of David reminds us that just because he was faithful to the cause of equality didn’t mean he was faithful to his wife. This story of David and Bathsheba brings up memories of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, it reminds us of pastors and priests and college football coaches – here is the story of people in power taking what they want and thinking that getting away with it is all that really matters. It’s the story of power and how power corrupts, and it’s not supposed to be here in the Bible because the Bible is supposed to be better than that. Here it is however, and that it’s even in here astounds me, especially when you consider what is at stake. Surely no presidential campaign could withstand a scandal like this one. The recorded conversations from Watergate were all it took to call for impeachment, and when you consider how much image matters, the fact that David is one of the heroes of our faith, this story threatens the foundation of who we are and what we believe. How can a monarchy stand, especially if that monarchy is based on divine right, if the king chosen by God acts in such a way to deserve God’s judgment? It makes sense to hide it away, to pretend it doesn’t exist, and to deny that it ever happened. That is the technique that David employees at any rate. What happened “late one afternoon” had to be swept under the rug in the morning. It’s in the morning that the reality of the night before sinks in. It’s in the morning that you look yourself in the mirror and wonder who you are and how it is that you could have done such a thing. It’s in the morning that you have to decide – can I live with what I’ve done? Can it stand the light of day? For David the answer was clear – there would be no recovering from a mistake this big and it had to be erased as much as possible. That desire is certainly at work in our society as well. If you’ve ever had the chance to make it disappear, to cover it up, to make it look like it never happened, maybe you can understand. If it’s gone you can pick up where you were the day before – wherever that was – ignoring, as much as possible, the sin that stands there waiting to take away everything that you hold dear. You can’t see a path to redemption, for something like this there can be no forgiveness, and the only option will be to make it as though it never happened. That’s what this story is really about. There is who David is supposed to be and who he truly is, and to make it as though he is who he is supposed to be David takes what is bad enough and makes it worse. Denial may be the right word here, or maybe deception. Regardless, the mistake that David tries to make disappear takes on a life of its own “In the morning”, when “David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.” If the husband is gone, only his wife will be left to point her finger, and in the ancient world that was something David could live with. Here is the reality of sin’s power – one sin can hurt one person deeply, profoundly, maybe even permanently, but if that one sin doesn’t see the light of day it will grow and grow until it does. Likewise, Jerry Sandusky is one man, who by his own hand did untold damage to children he treated as objects, but he is one man who could have been stopped. Instead, this week came the sure sign that when a sin never sees the light of day it grows and grows until an entire university must be punished. In King David comes the harsh truth that even God’s elect can fall short, but what’s worse is that even God’s elect will do more and more harm in attempting to cover up and deny what has been done. How much wiser to look sin in the face rather than try to brush it under the rug. How much less damage would be done if all sins were brought out into the light of day. How much better it is to look yourself in the face, willing to see who you are instead of who you are supposed to be. But if David couldn’t do it, what hope do you have? Only the promise that where forgiveness seems like a dream, mercy like an impossibility, and even the hope of redemption a fairy tale, stands the hidden God of love. Loving you – not who you are supposed to be – but who you truly are. Standing beside you – not when everything is going right, but when everything is going wrong. Shepherding you – not simply from one success to another, but away from the danger of letting sin corrupt and infect all of who you are, leading you into the light of day where faith, hope, and love abide. Let God prove to you that wrong should indeed see the light of day. Amen.