The Ninth Sunday after
Pentecost, August 2, 2009 (Proper 13B)
The Bread of
Heaven—Forgiveness of Sin
The Rev. Robert B. Wood,
St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Alpharetta, GA
You will likely remember Paul Harvey on
the radio saying, “Now you know the rest of the story.” If Mr. Harvey
were here today he would have called Nathan’s confronting King David
as “the rest of the story” as well…though the story will go on from
here.
Last week, we had the first half of the
story. David is at home while his troops are off at war. (The
suggesting being that he should have been on the battlefield too, and
this incident with Bathsheba would never have happened.) David see
her bathing on the roof top. He sends for her, lies with her, she
conceives. David tries to cover his tracks by calling Uriah home
from battle to lie with her. Uriah does not, so he’s sent back to
battle, to the front lies to die. After he dies, David brings
Bathsheba into his home as wife (not his first and only wife, mind
you.) Basically, he used his power to cover his tracks, and to this
point, no one else knows of his maneuvers; all will be well…well??
God calls on the prophet Nathan to speak
to justice. Nathan approaches David, and first plays to David’s sense
of judgment by telling the parable of the stolen sheep—how the wealthy
shepherd visits a poor farmer with only one sheep, and instead of
taking one of his huge flock to feed the farmer, he takes the one,
lone lamb of the farmers.
David becomes outraged at the injustice,
and just as his wrath hits its highest peek, Nathan spins around and
says, “YOU ARE THE MAN” and levels God’s punishment on David for his
injustice—warfare in his house and the loss of his wives. Even more
to ‘the rest of the story.’
There sits David, facing his sin. A huge
weight. In some way or another, we all know what he feels like…the
pain of a huge mistake, a great offense. It’s an offense against God
who had put him on the throne—only to see the power misused. It’s an
offense against the noble-soldier-neighbor and his wife and the people
of Israel. The tabloid surely had a hay-day with this one.
And we, in hearing this story, face the
sin of one of our greatest Biblical heroes, which more importantly
allows us to face our own impulses: to realize how impossible it is to
sneak one by God…how much we cannot cover the tracks of our own
sins…how we may have exploited someone less powerful than we are…how
we may have spoiled something God gave us by abusing it.
The pain and heaviness of sin is brought
in even more this morning for us with Psalm 51, which we usually read
on Ash Wednesday as Lent begins. But truly it is just right for today
because it’s always been linked to David’s sin. Most headings in
Bibles above Ps. 51 say it was written by David after his sin, and
some OT versions of Samuel have a space for readers to pause, say PS.
51, and then continue:
1 Have mercy on me, O
God, according to your loving-kindness; *
in your great compassion blot
out my offenses.
2 Wash me through and
through from my wickedness * and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my
transgressions, * and my sin is ever before me.
8 Purge me from my sin,
and I shall be pure; *wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
10 Hide your face from my sins * and
blot out all my iniquities.
11 Create in me a clean heart, O
God, *and renew a right spirit within me.
12 Cast me not away from your
presence * and take not your holy Spirit from me.
13 Give me the joy of your saving
help again * and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
“Cast me not away from your presence.”
That is a proper plea for anyone worried by a sin such as this, and
surely it was on David’s mind. He would have known how the sinful
were cast away while Noah and his family were saved. He would have a
picture in his mind of Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden upon
their sin.
I have that picture in my mind too, thanks
to a painting I saw once. Adam and Eve walking away from the garden,
faces frowning, tears on their cheeks. Their backs are hunched over
in agony. Fig leaves cover their body parts. Behind them, at the
gate to Eden, stands the angel of the Lord—arm extended out, voice
beaming at them to leave. They have been cast out.
There is no turning around for them, or
symbolically, for humanity for that matter. Only the hunger, the plea
like Ps. 51 gives. No turning around for humanity—until Jesus,
who by dying for our sins, our betrayals, and misuse of power, allows
us to turn and be right with God again. Jesus’ death covers our
tracks, so to speak. The gift of forgiveness.
You’ll hear that gift of turning to God,
to Christ, in the questions asked of parents and godparents today: “Do
you turn to Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord?” That
turning comes after renouncing sin and sinful desires. It’s a
renouncing. not at all a covering tracks or an attempt to sneak one by
God. A Renouncing that says “create in me a clean heart, O God, and
sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.”
And here is where I hope the heaviness of
David’s sin and the weight of Psalm 51 turn for you. That they from
despair to hope…turn on this day of baptism…turn on this day of
hearing Jesus say, “I am bread of life, be in communion with me.”
As you turn, I hope you see that guilt is
not the goal of this story and psalm. Guilt, which is “static and
backward looking…looking at things which cannot be undone.” The goal
is repentance. The power of this story about David and Nathan is
repentance because this story does not call us to be Nathans—going
around uncovering secrets and passing judgment. It calls us to be
Davids—to be acknowledgers and confessors of our sin.
The goal is to turn back to God…as David
did in confessing his sin, as we do as we confess and renounce at
baptism and the renewal of baptismal vows. The goal is reunion with,
reconnection with God…as only God can provide. That is the rest—the
best—of the story.
It’s a provision laid out in John chapter
6, this morning’s gospel that deals with hunger…a holy hunger. Jesus
proclaims that he is the bread of life that has come down from
heaven. That bread is our holy food, week after week. Our wine, his
blood, the new covenant in his blood, given for us for the forgiveness
of sins. There is the thread…from Adam and Eve, to Psalm 51, to
David, to forgiveness, to baptism, to the grace of God.
Week after week, we who hunger for
forgiveness, who hunger to turn back to God to have our hearts made
clean, to be not cast away, can partake of the bread of life the cup
of salvation. This communion is being connected, not estranged. This
is grace. This is the gift of God for the people of God.
©
Fr. Robert B. Wood. All Rights
reserved.
