“Nathan: Truth Telling” August 21, 2016; FPC, Troy; 2 Samuel 12: 1-14; Psalm 51
(2 Samuel 12:1-14) and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him." Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun." David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan said to David, "Now the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die." (NRSV)
Introduction: Nathan tells King David a story about a man in power taking advantage of a poor man who had no power.
The rich man exhibits total disdain for the poor man.
No reason to take advantage of the poor man. He surely had plenty of lambs to kill to feed his visitor.
But he does not want to waste one of his lambs on this unexpected, unimportant guest.
So he takes the lamb from the poor man. The lamb the poor man had treated like a daughter (I'll have to tell my daughters about this father!).
As ridiculous as it was for the poor man to treat a lamb like a daughter, it is even more ridiculous that the rich man would take his lamb for slaughter.
Mostly, the rich man does it because he can.
I preach this sermon with the Congressional Budget Office recently released report as a backdrop, a report noting that the wealthiest 10% in the United States have 76% of the wealth, this clear abuse of the poor man by the rich man sits as a backdrop for this morning's sermon.
Another element in the backdrop is the reality that most of us are people who are positions of power. And most of us are rich, maybe we do not see ourselves as rich, but to many in the world we are considered to be rich.
In keeping with our sermon series on minor characters in the Bible, however, I want to focus this morning on the role Nathan plays.
He may be a minor character, but he is the advisor/prophet to a major character, King David.
Nathan literally means "gift of God."
I doubt King David thinks of Nathan as a gift of God when Nathan turns the table.
David hears the story and demands that the rich man be punished.
Nathan tells him that he is the rich man because of the way he has dealt with Uriah.
Remember Uriah. The husband of Bathsheba. Bathsheba, the beautiful woman King David has seen out bathing and decided to have an affair.
When Bathsheba becomes pregnant, David sends for Uriah so that he can be with his wife and have it appear that he is the father of the child in her womb.
When that plan does not work, David, because David is king and because he can do whatever he wants, he not only sends Uriah off to the front lines of the battle, but he sends orders to have the army withdraw and leave Uriah exposed. No surprise -- Uriah is killed.
Now Bathsheba can be David's wife, and bears his son, and everything appears legitimate.
a. Not just Nathan bringing advice, but the text tells us that Nathan is “sent” by God to confront King David.
- Notice the clear theological statement being made – God can hold the king of Israel accountable.
- the Israelites are different than all the other people and countries around them - -- their king is subservient to God.
- The Israelites already show their difference by worshiping one God instead of being polytheistic, but now the point it made that their one God can make demands on their king.
- Moreover, the verb “to take” is the language that is used in 1 Samuel 8:11-19 by the prophet Samuel when he warns the people about the dangers of the royal office. Kings take whatever they want (http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2861; Juliana Claassens, Professor of Old Testament, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa
5. But in Israel, a king who takes whatever he wants will be accountable to God.
b. King David's reaction confirms this theological point.
1. for starters, David does not have Nathan killed.
1. In many of countries and kingdoms in that time, maybe in our time as well, the person who confronts the king or the person in power with an uncomfortable truth gets killed.
- Even in Israel, as we read the history of the kings, prophets who give kings bad news are often threatened and harassed.
3. That, of course, is where the saying “don't kill the messenger comes.
2. Not just kings. How often do we become upset with the person who tells us a truth we would rather not hear?
- Cartoon: first block – student sitting in class looking bored; second panel, even more bored; third panel, he shouts “Boring,” fourth panel, he is on the way to the principal's office saying, “yeah, Yeah. Kill the messenger.”
4.w e do not like to be confronted with the truth, particularly when it puts us in a bad light.
- King David also confesses his sins and seeks to repent.
- Psalm 51 – a classic prayer of confession was reportedly written by King David after being confronted by Nathan.
- Again, notice how different Israel is – the king will acknowledge that his has done something wrong, acknowledge that there is a higher power, and seek God's forgiveness.
- we read this story and are reminded of our own temptation to put our desires ahead of what God desires.
- It is easier to be like David and point out the flaws we see in others.
- harder to be like David and see the sins we commit and repent.
a. David is a mixed bag – hero; adulterer; singer of psalms; predatory king.
- Difficult to live out his calling as one of 'God's faithful.
- Sometimes he gets it gloriously right; other times he missed the mark mightily, especially when he uses his power for his own personal gain.
- He needs someone to keep him on the right path or call him back.
- We may not be kings, but I suspect most of us need people in our lives who will tell us the truth.
- We may want black and white, but we get gray.
- Temptation to start with what we believe, what we want to be true, and then find the truth that will support our position.
- can't you hear David – “Uriah one of the really good warriors. I need him to go do battle with the Ammonites.” then, when he hears that Uriah is dead, “Uriah's poor wife Bathsheba is now widowed. Someone should take care of her. Who better to do that than the king?” Amazing how David was doing the right thing all along!
4. As we are tempted to deceive ourselves, we need people to confront us with the truth.
- Karel Barth, the Reformed theologian, noted that "The gospel is not a truth among other truths. Rather, it sets a question mark against all truths" http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/theologians/karl-barth.html
Move 3: it's a God thing.
a. Israel defines itself by its relationship with God.
b. When King David confesses his sins, he calls it a sin against God.
- David needs Nathan to tell him the truth because he needs to be right with God.
d. We need someone to tell us the truth because we need to be right with God.
d. How we live our lives is a God-thing.
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