Sermon for Lent 5B
Judy
Dear Friends,
This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Sin Hurts the Innocent as well as the Guilty” or “The Wages of Sin: Death” and deals with Psalm 51. Here it is:
So far this Lent, we’ve looked at what the Bible says to us about temptation- how vulnerable we are to wanting anything we’re not supposed to have or to doing anything we’re not supposed to do. In fact one of our Communion hymns for this Lent is “Yield Not to Temptation for Yielding is Sin.” We’ve considered one of our chief temptations- to avoid the cross that Jesus expects us to carry. Remember, he said, “Take up your cross and follow me”- and he wasn’t talking about jewelry on a gold chain; he was talking about a chosen sacrifice for him. Next we examined where yielding to temptation leads us- SIN, and we saw that the middle letter of sin is “I”! Last week we thought through one of the dangerous symptoms of sin- a poisoned spirit. Today, I’d like us to consider the results of sin and how the pain spreads like an ever-widening series of circles in a pond after the peace of the water is disturbed by a rock.
The Psalm appointed for today (Psalm 51) has traditionally been ascribed to David- written and prayed by him after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then been confronted by God’s courageous prophet, Nathan. As you recall, Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite. King David was walking around on the flat roof of his palace when he looked below and saw Bathsheba taking a bath in her courtyard. He sent for her and had sex with her. Some time later, Bathsheba discovered to her dismay that she was pregnant, so she sent King David a note informing him of the news. They were caught in adultery, and there was no way anyone would think that Bathsheba’s husband was the father of this child. He was away in the military. David cooked up a scheme to pass this baby off as Uriah’s child. He sent for Uriah, inquired about the war, and then sent him home- assuming that he would make love to his wife. After all, he’d been gone a long time at war. Uriah didn’t, because he didn’t want to diffuse his energy- wanted to stay loyal to King David and his fellow soldiers. David tried again. This time, he invited Uriah to the palace for a meal, and served lots of alcohol so he would get drunk. When King David observed that Uriah was sufficiently intoxicated, he sent him home again. Uriah did the same thing- slept outside away from Bathsheba, his wife. King David’s scheme of passing off this child as Uriah’s baby was not going to work. Monica Lewinsky is in the news again. Do you remember who she is? Remember how President Clinton lied and did everything he could to avoid being caught in his sexual sin with her? That’s how King David felt. He decided he would do whatever it took to avoid being caught as having committed adultery with Bathsheba. He wrote a note to Joab, his general at the war front, ordering him to place Uriah in a dangerous spot in a battle, then withdraw support so he would be killed. Joab did exactly as King David had ordered. Bathsheba mourned for her husband an appropriate length of time and then moved in with King David at his palace as one of his wives. It looked like all was well and no one would find out what had happened; like they had gotten away with adultery and King David had gotten away with murder. You know how scripture says, “Be sure your sin will find you out!” (Numbers 32: 23). Well, the next thing David knew, he had a visitor- the prophet Nathan. Nathan told David about a poor man and his family who had a pet lamb. The lamb ate at his table and was the pet of his wife and children. One day the rich man down the road had a guest. He was too stingy to butcher one of his own lambs to feed his visitor, so he took the beloved lamb belonging to the poor family and butchered it to serve his company. King David was outraged, started listing all the terrible punishments that should happen to the rich man, and then asked his identity. The prophet Nathan simply said, “David, you are the man.” Nathan reminded the king of all the wives and riches he had, yet he took the one wife of Uriah, his faithful soldier, and then had him killed as a cover-up. Nathan told David that his punishment was that the child in Bathsheba’s womb would die. David wept and prayed, perhaps using the words of Psalm 51.
There- that’s what happened. I’d like us to notice two things. First- mighty King David was not immune to sin. Believe me, if that godly man could fall to the sinful depths that he did, we can sin terribly also. Brothers and sisters, spend time in your Bible, on your knees, at church listening to the Word and receiving Holy Communion for power. Be careful!
The second insight I’d like us to notice is how the pain of David’s sin was not simply confined to him. His pain spread to many around him, almost like (as we mentioned earlier) an ever-widening set of circles. You can decide if you’re going to throw the stone into the pond, but once it’s hit the water- you have no control over the ripples and circles and disturbances that emanate from that stone. Bathsheba, who perhaps was a victim of rape (remember the immense power of those ancient kings), lost her husband and infant son. Uriah- one of David’s most loyal soldiers, was murdered by the king he so faithfully served. Joab, the general, engineered the death of Uriah. The baby suffered and died. The prophet Nathan had to confront King David, which could have cost him his life- and he knew it. Not only did David himself suffer, but he probably was never quite the same person after this incident. Sin causes pain, not just for the guilty- but for the innocent. Check it out. Let’s look at the Ten Commandments. (Read them from the prayer book.) Which of these can you break without hurting someone? Remember, you can’t pray yourself out of consequences you behaved yourself into, and many times those consequences hurt a whole lot of people. May God bless us all as we examine our choices and our lives.
For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org .
Blessed preaching,
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan