Reflections on “Looking at Bathsheba” 2 Samuel 11: 1-5; 14-27 and I Kings 1: 5-21

Another week of reflecting on women in the biblical text.  This week, we focused on Bathsheba, and the sermon ws a shared sermon with Lisa, the Associate pastor, and me.  I began the sermon, and Lisa interrupted me to join in the sermon.  It was fun to do, and we worked hard to try and share how we might approach the text in similar and different ways, particularly given her female and my male perspective.  The congregation seemed to enjoy hving both of us engaged in the sermon.

We had set up the sermon in the Time with Young Disciples.  I had taken the boys and gone up the balcony, as if looking down from a king's perch on Lisa and the girls (this was Lisa's idea).  It worked ok with the kids, and I think the visual worked even better for the adults, who would then heard the sermon.

1 Kings 1: 5-21 Now Adonijah son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king”; he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ⁶ His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom. ⁷ He conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with the priest Abiathar, and they supported Adonijah. ⁸ But the priest Zadok, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the prophet Nathan, and Shimei, and Rei, and David’s own warriors did not side with Adonijah.

⁹ Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fatted cattle by the stone Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, ¹⁰ but he did not invite the prophet Nathan or Benaiah or the warriors or his brother Solomon.

¹¹ Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king and our lord David does not know it? ¹² Now therefore come, let me give you advice, so that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. ¹³ Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying: Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then is Adonijah king?’ ¹⁴ Then while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”

¹⁵ So Bathsheba went to the king in his room. The king was very old; Abishag the Shunammite was attending the king. ¹⁶ Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance to the king, and the king said, “What do you wish?” ¹⁷ She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying: Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne. ¹⁸ But now suddenly Adonijah has become king, though you, my lord the king, do not know it. ¹⁹ He has sacrificed oxen, fatted cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the children of the king, the priest Abiathar, and Joab the commander of the army; but your servant Solomon he has not invited. ²⁰ But you, my lord the king—the eyes of all Israel are on you to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹ Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, that my son Solomon and I will be counted offenders.”

“Looking at Bathsheba”  February 17, 2019;  Women series; I Kings 1: 5-21; Richard B. Culp and Lisa Patterson

Richard:  We continue reflecting on various women mentioned in the biblical text.

This week, we meet Bathsheba, a woman in the Bible who is called by her name, and she is given voice in the stories, or at least the later stories…..

Lisa:  Richard, excuse me, Richard.

Richard:  What?

Lisa:  You have been carefully telling us about women without  names in the biblical stories, and how women often are not even given voice in the stories…

Richard:  So you have been listening!

Lisa: Of course. . . you’ve been talking about women!

Maybe this week in recognition of Bathsheba being given voice in the biblical text, you might give a woman voice in your sermon. 

Richard:  And who would that woman be?

Lisa:  Guess.

Richard:  since you interrupted my sermon, I’m guessing you are the woman!

Lisa:  Yep.  I am the woman.

Richard:  Okay, so I’ll include a woman’s voice in this sermon.  Do you think it will make a difference in how we look at the biblical text or what gets said in the sermon?

Lisa:     In some ways, maybe not.  We both approach the text seriously, looking at the story in its context and what it has to tell us today. We even borrow and sometimes steal each other’s study books when we’re interested in a text.

On the other hand, I do think that my perspective as a woman might cause me to see things in the story or interpret things differently than you might.

Richard:  You are probably right, although I have been brainwashed by my wife and three daughters over the last 25+ years!

Lisa – Wise women!

Richard:  Well, let’s take a look at the first major story in which we meet Bathsheba - the one where King David notices Bathsheba, whom the text describes as “a beauty” bathing on her rooftop.

I think it’s fair to say that historically people have focused on Bathsheba’s beauty and David’s immediate attraction to her when he spies her bathing.  Certainly artists through the years have painted the picture of the beautiful Bathsheba attracting David.

I also think people typically assume Bathsheba was sun-bathing, even though we know it was the custom to bath on the flat rooms of the homes in Jerusalem.

Sunbathing and beauty, sexy; bathing, not so much.

Lisa:  All of which it true, and you point out how quickly people sometimes move to focus on Bathsheba’s beauty and bathing habits.

But we should also note what the physical description of the buildings tells us.  King David can look down on Bathsheba because his roof was the highest roof in town.  He was king.  He had all the power.

Which reminds us of Bathsheba, in fact, most women’s plight in that time.

The man has power and control; the woman not so much.  Which is, of course, magnified by the fact he was king.  He could command or demand whatever he wanted from men or women.

Richard:   I did notice that the text tells us king David “took” Bathsheba.

Lisa:  Although I do not think it would have been thought of like this in David’s time, the idea that the king could “take” a woman, has the feel of “rape,” or at least a man doing whatever he wants and a woman having no choice in the matter.

Richard:  It does seem like David had choices and power, and Bathsheba had none.  Or is that demeaning to Bathsheba to suggest she had no power.

Lisa:  It seems to me that to suggest she had no power is more a reflection of the reality, not an unfair interpretation.

Richard:  In some ways, it seems to work in Bathsheba’s favor when it comes to who gets blamed for the adulterous affair she and King David had, and then King his plan to have her husband Uriah killed. 

The text does tell us that God was displeased with David, which suggests a couple of things:  one, the story still focuses on David and ignores Bathsheba; two, God does not like the way King David is treating people.

Lisa:  A reminder of God’s call to gracious action rather than abusive power, and a clear reminder that what Bathsheba thinks or does is of little importance to the story, or at least at this point in the story.

Richard:  Although I am not a woman, something similar jumps out at me from a later scene when Bathsheba and David’s first son dies.

We hear all about how David grieved and what David felt, but we hear nothing about Bathsheba, except David consoled her and they had another child, who would turn out to be Solomon.

As a parent, I cannot imagine only the father, or for that matter, the mother, being the only one who grieved.

Lisa:  Welcome to the world of those who are not given voice!

Bathsheba’s situation is not unique. Like women before her and after, she learned that silence was the norm, and she had to develop other ways to survive and thrive.

Richard:  Bathsheba seems to develop some skill at manipulating or using power.

Lisa:  She takes to the role of queen very well.   When the time is ripe, she puts those skills to work to make sure she and her son survive. Solomon becomes king and she becomes Queen Mother. The role of Queen Mother is powerful, but, again, her power is derived from the power of a man - this time, her son.

King David used his vast power to take Bathsheba, and in turn Bathsheba used her power as Queen to get her son made king.

Either way, there would have been a king after David, one of David’s sons, but God was working through these human actions of power and manipulation to get Solomon on the throne. At the end of the day, the covenant stands and the sovereign God will not be deterred or thwarted.

Richard:  Bathsheba seems to have the power.  When she hears that King David’s son Adonijah is going to become king, she goes to work. 

She visits an old and weak King David and tells him that he had promised her their son Solomon would be the next king.

Lisa: Do not miss that we have no record of David making that promise to Bathsheba.  It seems clear that she has learned how to manipulate King David, just like the prophet Nathan encouraged her to do. 

(***Terence Freitham confirms this is true - it had not been mentioned prior to this point in the text.)

Richard:  if we are going to talk about stereotypes, this part of the story does feel like a stereotypical story of a younger woman taking advantage of an older man.

Lisa:  But the text makes sure we know it is not a sexual thing because we had already been told that King David no longer had interest in that.

And it should be noted that Bathsheba’s manipulation makes Solomon king, which seems to be God’s will for Israel.

Richard: So what is our take away from Bathsheba’s story?

I know it is important to the story of God’s people because much is made of Jesus’ lineage connecting back to David, and, of course, David’s line continues right through Solomon, the son of Bathsheba. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus explicitly notes that Solomon is her son.

So we know we need to pay attention to Bathsheba’s life.

Lisa: God pays attention to Bathsheba’s life and worked through both her role of being manipulated and her role as the manipulator to work out God’s purposes.

Unnamed women or named women, like Bathsheba, demonstrate that as the story unfolds God is working through our flawed human desires, like Bathsheba’s need to see her son made the king, in ways that bring God’s purposes to life.

Richard:  Not just God working through flawed humans like Bathsheba and us.  But God’s saving grace which saves flawed humans like us.

Lisa:  And also uses flawed humans like us to save others

Richard:  We also see the varied ways we approach the biblical text depending on our unique perspective, and how God speaks differently to each of us.

Lisa: But those differences do not limit God’s saving grace but reveal how expansive God’s grace is. . .

Richard: So God speaks to each of us through the unique story of Bathsheba, and the woman gets the last word.

Lisa: Yes! Absolutely, she does. Amen!

Reflections on “Passing It On” 2 Timothy 1: 3-7of

“Passing It On”  2 Timothy 1: 3-7; February 10, 2019;  Women series;  Richard B. Culp

 I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Introduction: We continue to reflect on various women in the biblical texts.  

Today we read about Lois and Eunice, two women mentioned specifically by name, which as you know, is not always the case.

We are given their names, but not much else about them (in Acts, we are told that Timothy’s mother was a devout Jew).  Perhaps that is an invitation to imagine the role grandmother Lois and mother Eunice play in the life of Timothy, who will go on to work with Paul and Silas spreading Christianity throughout their region of the world.

Some scholars suggest this letter references ancestors and then lists Eunice and Lois to give credence to the Christian faith in the Greco-roman world that greatly valued religions and gods who had been passed down from the ancestors.

Move 1: To me, the references to Eunice and Lois begs the questions:  Can my mother, or grandmother, make me do it?  that is, make me be a faithful Christian?

a.  As I read these comments about the faith that is lived on in Timothy, I was reminded of my Southern Baptist friends growing up who used to say that there are only first-generation Christians.

1.  I always thought that was an odd comment, particularly since so many of us are brought to church for the first time by a parent or grandparent.

2.  On the other hand, I recognize their point - we cannot inherit our confession of faith in Jesus  Christ.

3. Each of us has to make that profession on our own.

c.  The biblical text, however, is full of connectedness through the generations.

1.  the faith life of Timothy traces back to those who professed Christ as their Lord and Savior and shared that faith with others.

2.  Before Christ, God’s people would trace their faith back to the great leaders of Israel. 

3.  No one comes to faith in a vacuum.  There always seems to be someone inviting, or someone looking.

4. But, at the moment we profess our faith, it is each of our moment that no one else can do for us. 

d. Confirmation

1. We begin the year by pointing toward the question - “Do you trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?”

2. It is the question for each of them - they may go through the process together, but each confirmand will have to answer the question for himself or herself alone.

3. Parents can make them come to confirmation (maybe) but parents cannot make them profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

4.  Many of the confirmands were baptized as infants, so when they profess their faith they are confirming the profession of faith their parent made at their baptism.

5. but, only the confirmand can confirm the faith and claim it as his or her own?

 Can my mother/grandmother make me a Christian?  at this point in the sermon, I would answer a tentative “no,” with the strong reminder that each of us must lay claim to our faith in Jesus Christ.

Move 2:  But, We do recognize the Influence of others - or we might say, “yes, my mother/grandmother can make me do it.”

a.  Again the confirmation process tells us something important about the role others play in our lives of faith.

1.  Each confirmand has a mentor assigned because we understand the importance of others modeling a life of discipleship for us and nurturing us as we grow in the faith.

2.  An image you might remember from the worship service when our confirmands profess their faith is their mentor standing behind them.

3.  Not forcing the profession by twisting the confirmand’s arm with only the choir seeing, but the mentor standing with, supporting and encouraging the confirmands as they proclaim their faith.

b.  Perhaps you have heard of Tony Campolo, an evangelical Christian preacher and writer.  He says that whenever anybody asks him, “How were you called into ministry?” he tells them his story of growing up with a mother who would repeatedly say to him: “You were brought into this world to love other people in the name of Jesus Christ, to serve other people, especially the poor and the oppressed. Do you understand that, Tony?” 

After telling about his mother, he then goes on to say that we was never “called” into ministry - his mother told him he was going into ministry.

When people invariably push back that a parent cannot decide things for their children, Campolo asks, “Why not? Why shouldn’t my mother tell me what to do?”  Everybody else is telling their children what to do with their lives: the media, their peer group, the counselor at school. What is wrong with a parent standing up and saying, ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ My calling to serve Jesus Christ came from my mother and that’s a good place for it to come from. I advise all mothers and fathers to do that for their children.”) (1) Tony Campolo, “Becoming What God Intended You to Be,” sermon and interview broadcast, Chicago Sunday Evening Club 30 Good Minutes, January 25, 2004. www.csec.org.

b. maybe that’s what Lois and Eunice did for Timothy.

1. We do not know, but I can imagine the way they might have nurtured Timothy.

2.  Lois, Timothy’s grandmother (only time the word grandmother is used in the Bible), perhaps telling him stories about Jesus, or King David, or Abraham.  Maybe chuckling as she told him how Esther saved God’s people by outsmarting Haman.  

4. Timothy, hearing these stories that make him yearn to claim faith in Jesus Christ and 

3.  Perhaps Timothy’s mother did not tell stories as much as she lived out her faith, witnessing for him what it meant to follow Jesus’ command to love neighbor and care for the widows and orphans.

4.   Timothy, witnessing her life of faith and learning how to live the faith in his own life.

c. Not bound by our history.

1. Frank and Ernest cartoon:  the two are sitting on a park bench.  One says, “I asked my mother what she’d say if I told her I’d been born again.”  she said, “good, we did it all wrong the first time.”

2.  One of my grandmothers was a Southern Baptist, living our her faith in Virginia in the complicated and challenging times of segregation and integration, race relations, and other social issues.

3.  when we spent time in the summer we would go to her local Baptist church.  Well, in trut, we only wen there half the Sunday because her brother-in-law was a Presbyterian elder, so we went to church with him every other Sunday.

4.  As I remember time spent in her church, there were differences in how they did things and thought theologically than I would do and think now.

5. We do not learn the faith by rote memory, whereby we just repeat exactly what we have seen and heard.

6. Her witness of faithfulness lives on, but takes on some different understanding and approaches in the faith I claim.

6. we are called to be faithful in our own context that may demand changes to how those who have come before us have lived out their faith.

Can my mother/grandmother make me do it?  At this point in the sermon, the answer is a tentative, “yes,” with the reminder that our faith is ever evolving and must speak to the time and issues in which we live.

Move 3:  We are not our own

a.  Timothy, child of Lois, child of Eunice, is not his own. Like Israel, he is united in his parents, scatter in the bribe and gathered under the covenant (Lamir Sanneh, Christian Century, October 4, 1989, 975)

1.  “the biblical meaning of our faith cannot be reduced to individualistic voluntarism (John Rollefson, Christian Century, September 21, 2004, 21).

2.  While we may profess our faith on our own, we are connected by that profession to those who came before us and those who will follow us.

b. the Apostle Paul often uses the image of imitating as a way of growing in the faith.

1.  he urges new Christians to imitate Christ or even imitate Paul himself at times.

2. I like the image of Timothy learning to be faithful by imitating Eunice his mother and Lois his grandmother.

But it also sets the stage for those who will imitate timothy.

Or move it forward to today, it sets the stage for those who will imitate you?   A huge responsibility.

Conclusion: Robert Fulghum, What on Earth Have I done, Fulghum tells the story about being at a Ritz hotel with concierges in suits to help the guests.  He imagines that the concierges can get him tickets to opera, a jet to Dubai, but what he needs is a leather wristband for an old watch and one brown shoelace.  They are befuddled by his request.  Finally, they go to the young woman who is at the front desk, who then calls someone, and then has two addresses for the places he can get the items.  Later in the stay, he asks the young woman whom she called for the info.  She tells him, “when all other information resources of the concierge desk of the Ritz Hotel fail, we call my mom”  (261-264)

Eunice and Lois - answering the questions of faith for Timothy?

Who have you imitated in your life of faith?

Who is imitating you?