The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Truth Hearers
2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:13a

David and Bathsheba. It’s a well-known story. We heard the first part last week, and this week’s passage doesn’t really make sense unless you know the beginning of the story.

David sees Bathsheba and desires her. But she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Nonetheless, David demands that she be brought to him. The outcome being that she becomes “with child.” David tries to bring Bathsheba and Uriah together so that it would be at least plausible for people to believe that the child is Uriah’s. But these machinations fail because Uriah is true to the moral code of the time which prohibited consecrated soldiers from engaging in any sexual activity.

So David has to resort to plan B, which involves having Uriah sent into the heat of battle and then abandoned by the other soldiers so that he is killed by the enemy.

Then we come to today’s reading, what we might call the gotcha part of the story. Nathan, the prophet, shines a light on all that David has done and brings David to a recognition of his own sin.

This story is a bit of a hot button one for me, and probably for many who work in the church. At first reading it highlights the value of Nathan, the truth teller. Nathan is the hero, the courageous prophet who exposes the sin of the king. Nathan is celebrated as the admirable character in the story.

Yes, but.

I’ve seen a lot of damage done by people who thought they were called to be Nathans. Damage within parishes, within families, within other groups. Damage done by people who felt they had a truth that God called them to share or impose on others. Sometimes, drawing upon the words in today’s reading from Ephesians, they think of themselves as “speaking the truth in love.” But the result does not “build up the body.” Rather it is divisive or hurtful. Maybe the truth they claim is not really God’s truth. Maybe their motives are not God’s motives. It’s a very tricky business being Nathan. To anyone who feels drawn to emulate Nathan, the truth teller, I offer caution, not encouragement.

Don’t get me wrong. The church and the world need truth tellers. We need courageous prophets to help us see things we cannot see on our own. And I believe God sends us those prophetic truth tellers. But if you really think it’s your job to be Nathan, please think twice.

The thing is, although Nathan may at first glance appear to be the hero of this story, the story is really about David. And in David there is a role model for all of us. Maybe not the lusting after Bathsheba part. Although, as the Bible tells this story it is not really about sexual sin. Beware of trying to draw instruction on sexual ethics from this story. (Remember, part of the Lord’s judgment against David is to take David’s wives, plural, and give them to David’s neighbors.) David’s sin is an abuse of power. He says, “I have a right to what I want. I have a right to claim what I desire.”

That’s a pretty common sin. Just as common now among the powerful as it might have been then.

But David is a figure to be admired and emulated. David, the truth hearer, is an inspiration to us. David, the truth hearer, can be a role model for us.

 David had a general openness to the idea that God’s story involved him. He was open to the understanding that he, as an individual, as a particular person named David, was of concern to God. Nathan said to him, “You are the man.” But David said, yes, I am the man. Yes, I have sinned before God. But God cares enough about me to send Nathan to me. Nathan doesn’t just go up on some mountain top and rage against the general sins of power, he comes to David, and tells a story that speaks directly to David’s life. And David hears God’s voice speaking directly to him.

The word of God’s truth spoken directly to David. And David hears God’s truth as his own. Like David we should work on being truth hearers. We need to listen to lots of voices around us. And listen with the posture that God may actually be speaking directly to us, to any one of us, as a particular individual. You, individually, are of concern to God and have a specific part in God’s story. Listen for your own word of truth from God.

 This is not just a reminder just for the powerful. It is also for the timid. God speaks to you. For the tired. Pay attention, God speaks to you. For the skeptical. Yes, God speaks directly to you.

God’s word of truth may not always be a word of judgment. It is often a word of encouragement or hope. Spoken directly to you in a time of darkness or need. Or maybe it is a word of judgment, a call to repentance, for some specific sin that burdens your life. Or maybe it is a call to action. Whatever your particular situation it’s your word, your truth. Given by God to you. It could be almost anyone, anywhere who speaks it. The important thing is to be open, receptive to the possibility that God has a particular word, a particular truth for you.

This is a story about one particular individual named David. This story is about one of the days that God talked directly to David. And David listened and heard God’s truth for him.

 Like David, let us be people who listen and hear God’s truth spoken in our own lives.