Second Sunday of Pentecost
2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15
Psalm 32
Galations 2:15-21
Luke 7:36-8:3
Jehovah also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
As a military family, we have moved quite a few times. We are now in our seventh house in sixteen years. Each move is unique, though at the end of every one I have wondered why we continue to carry all our stuff from place to place, some of which has not been used for years. This was most evident during our move from England to Arkansas. When we moved to England, we put a number of things in storage that would be unusable during that tour such as our waterbed and television.
When we moved into our new house in Arkansas, I was amazed at how much stuff we had. I kept murmuring to myself about how I should have had a yard sale before the move. I found myself taking items out of one box and putting them right into another box. Then, our storage boxes arrived. We had five boxes of old National Geographic magazines – a good three hundred pounds of unnecessary junk. I gave so much stuff away – stuff I hadn’t used in so long I forgot I even had it. It had been buried in boxes, hidden in drawers or lost in storage and useless.
Some of this stuff had been moved several times before, but I kept holding on to it “just in case.” You never know when you will need that book or that old pair of pants. We keep it because there is sentimental value. We keep it because there might be some value one day. Things were different during our last move. Even though we knew we were going to be living in a larger home, we purged our life. We got rid of several truck loads of things and gave them to people could use the stuff. Those things were just burdens, making our load much heavier than necessary.
Anyone who has moved can relate to this experience. It is when we have to box up our life and carry it to a new place that we realize the things we have been hoarding for no reason. Yet, there are some people who never move. They stay in the same home for decades, gathering things that they forget even exist because they are hidden in closets or the basement. One summer between college semesters, I worked for one of my professors who had decided to clean out her house. Every day for weeks I went to her house and boxed up old books. The foundation in her basement was crumbling from old age, but it was not visible until we moved boxes of papers out of the way. We threw so much away – old magazine, class notes, rotting books. There was so much, it was hazardous to her health.
It is easy to see when we have too much material possessions. Our closets overflow, our houses are messy with junk. There are encumbrances we carry that are not so easy to see. We carry our old hurts, our anger, our sins and our guilt. We do not really know what it means to forgive and be forgiven, so we put away our burdens by hiding them in the closets of our mind. We hold on to them for the same reason we hold on to our stuff. We think they might have some use some day. We hold grudges against our loved ones. We hide our sins, but keep them around “just in case.”
All too often we hold tightly on to these things because we do not know any other way. We don’t know what it is to live free of these burdens. We don’t think we are worthy of the forgiveness. We think that tomorrow we might have the strength or the courage to overcome the hurts, angers, sins and guilt, but we just can’t do it today.
Part of this comes from living in a world in which everything we have is earned. We earn a living. We are rewarded in school and at home for good behavior. We work hard at our relationships – giving gifts thinking we can buy the love we so need and desire. We demand satisfaction and expect the world to give us everything we deserve. We even think we are good people because we do good things. All too many in our society still think that heaven is a reward for charitable deeds. A great many also believe that suffering is punishment for sin.
This is certainly what we see in the Old Testament lesson, although this is a story that offends our sense of a loving, merciful God. We join the story of David and Bathsheba after Uriah is dead and Bathsheba has become David’s wife. When Bathsheba had given birth to the child conceived in their adultery, Nathan the prophet came to visit the king. He told David a story about a rich man who stole the only sheep of a poor man. David was infuriated. “That man deserves to die!”
Nathan answered David, “You are that man.” God had blessed David beyond measure, but David was not satisfied. God would have given David anything he asked, but he reached out and took what was not his – Bathsheba – and murdered a man in the process. He went against God’s word by his deeds and he showed a lack of trust in Him. David’s sin was not only against Uriah and Bathsheba, but against God Himself. At that moment, David realized that he deserved to die.
David was repentant. “And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said unto David, Jehovah also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.” God had mercy on David, He took put away the sin and kept him from death. Now, we all know what happens when we put something away, it gets forgotten for awhile, but it is still there. We pull it out when we remember, use it when it is found. Just like all that stuff that we keep around the house move after move. But God is different. When He puts something away, it is put away.
The psalm for today is from David, a song of thankfulness for God’s mercy. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no guile.” David recognized what it took to live in peace – to acknowledge sin and receive the forgiveness of God.
Yet, confession and forgiveness does not mean we will not suffer the consequences of or sin. David, when speaking to Nathan about the rich man and the poor man’s sheep, said the man deserved to die, but also said that the rich man should restore the sheep fourfold. There is no way for David to restore Bathsheba to her husband. He’s dead. She is his wife and has born to him a son. Nathan prophesied to David that the sword would never leave his house. This would be fulfilled in the most horrible way. David would lose four sons to death – three by the sword and one to illness.
Nathan said to David, “Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.” We consider this a particularly inappropriate response to the sin of David. It isn’t the child’s fault that Uriah is dead. If anyone should die, it should be David, but we have already seen the mercy of God save him from that fate.
The scripture tells us that God struck the child and he became ill. He died within a week. Three more of David’s sons died in the ensuing years. Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah suffered violent deaths, all in pursuit of the throne of David. What would have happened to that child born of Bathsheba? Would he have lived to see old age? No, it is likely that child would have also been killed. He certainly would have been despised for his unseemly start in life. A sudden death in which most likely did not suffer is probably the most merciful thing God could have done for the child. David fasted and prayed while the child was sick, so overwhelmed with guilt. When the child died, the servants were afraid to tell David, but when it was over, it was over. David said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who knoweth whether Jehovah will not be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” David knew his son was in God’s hands and one day he would go to be with him again. Life goes on.
We have to remember that things were different in that day. Children were little more than property. Even Paul tells us that when the heir is a child, he is the same as a slave. In their experience, death and illness was sent by God, often as a punishment for sin. They were not offended, as are we, by the death of the child. From their worldview, David was the one to suffer in that instance because he would have to live in the guilt of his sin. Imagine the guilt he would have felt if the child lived as a constant reminder.
However, we see God’s grace in this situation because David did not live with the guilt. He knew he was forgiven and he lived in that forgiveness. He continued to suffer the punishment. One by one his sons were taken from this world; he paid fourfold for the one death he caused.
I am sure there are other ways to look at this story of David’s son, other ways to overcome our offense to this unseemly death. Yet, explaining what God has done is not always the purpose for the stories. Sometimes we are to look at how Jesus changed the way we look at God’s mercy. In the Old Testament times, sickness and death were punishment for sin and children suffer generational curses. Unfortunately, there are many today who still consider these ideas to be true.
We learn, however, in today’s Gospel story, that God’s grace is bigger than our sin and it does not come by any act of our own. The woman, a sinner according to Luke, heard that Jesus was at the Pharisee’s house having dinner. She came with an alabaster jar of ointment and poured it on his feet, weeping and wiping his feet with her hair. This was an intimate moment between Savior and forgiven sinner. She anointed him with her tears in thanksgiving and praise.
The Pharisee thought to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a sinner.” Jesus knew, but He also knew she was forgiven. Her anointing was not an action by which she was seeking forgiveness. It was a response to the grace that had already been given. Jesus answered the Pharisee’s thought with a story. “A certain lender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred shillings, and the other fifty. When they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?” The Pharisee answered correctly, the one with the greater debt forgiven responded with a greater love.
The Pharisee barely even welcomed Jesus with normal hospitality. He did not offer water for His feet, but the woman cleaned His feet with her tears and her hair. He did not anoint Jesus, but she did. When Jesus confirmed in words what she knew in heart, “Your sins are forgiven” the others at the dinner wondered about Jesus. “Who is this that even forgiveth sins?” Then He said, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” By God’s grace we are forgiven, by faith we experience that forgiveness in a way that brings us peace. Just like David knew God’s mercy and lived in thankfulness, so too the woman responded with love.
We live in a world that lives by a series of rewards and punishment. We do not understand the concept of unconditional love. There’s always a catch. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. This whole idea of God forgiving without any work on our part is beyond our comprehension. We don’t think we are worthy, so we try to earn His love. We think we deserve death so we live in guilt and mourning for our circumstances. We put things away and forget them for a time, but they aren’t gone from our mind or our heart. We can’t understand how God could forgive and forget because such love is not in our experience in this world.
Yet, we can see in the story of the woman in the Gospel that God does forgive and forget, we see that such love does exist. Paul adds to our understanding in today’s epistle lesson. He addresses the people who thought they were saved, blessed by God, because they were Jews and adherents to the Law. Paul tells them that even they are not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. It is faith that saves and in faith our lives are no longer our own. We are Christ’s and He lives within us and everything we do, we do in faith. Even when we fail – David most certainly sinned again – God’s grace holds firm and forgiveness remained. We can’t earn God’s love or keep it ours by our works. God’s grace is ours through faith, not works. He says to us, "I have put away your sin; you shall not die." Let us know this to be true and respond with the great love of a sinner who has been saved by faith in Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God.
A WORD FOR TODAY
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