Who Do You Want To Be?

Who Do You Want To Be?

29 January 2016

Lexington Theological Seminary Chapel

II Samuel 12: 1-13

We live in a difficult time.

In a world of facebook

and twitter

and 24/7 news coverage,  

we are more connected than we’ve ever been before.

But we’re also more anonymous than we’ve ever been before.

We hide behind the electronic personas we’ve created for ourselves. 

We share images and articles

and our particular flavor of political commentary

in formats where we don’t have to listen

when someone pushes back against it.

We sidle up to programs

and websites

and agencies

that reinforce what we already believe

and     We.       Cover.             Our.              Ears.

to the voices that disagree.

We are more connected than ever before

and yet we have separated ourselves               from the community.

Living in chosen anonymity is hard.

And it’s also dangerous.

When we choose to insulate ourselves

from the many voices

and hear only the one,

we begin to believe our voice

is the only voice that matters.

We call ourselves prophetic when we talk about “hot button” issues.

We believe we’re advocating for what’s best for our community –

Whether that be our position on guns in schools

or term limits for elected officials

or salary caps for professional athletes.

We believe that being prophetic

means being an irritant against the systems

we believe are wrong.

In a way, that’s true.

But how we go about being prophetic is critical.

The scripture this morning picks up in the middle of a larger narrative.

What we have not read this morning is the back story that most of us will know:

          A few months prior,

David has been lounging in his castle

when he sees Bathsheba across the way,

bathing on her roof.

          David longs for her and has her sent to him.

He lies with her and she becomes pregnant.

Bathsheba is married to Uriah – a prominent soldier in David’s army,

And he is LOYAL!

When David finds out that Bathsheba is pregnant,

he gives Uriah a bit of a vacation from the war

– encourages him to come home for a little “r and r.”

But Uriah refuses to enter into a “romantic interlude” with his wife

so David does what any self-righteous king would do.

He sends Uriah back to the war

with the instructions to put him

at the front of the combat.

He puts one of his trusted leaders

in the place he

– as King –

should have been

– at the greatest risk of death –

in leading the soldiers in the worst part of the combat.

In essence, David kills Uriah.

Now that Uriah is out of the way,

David takes Bathsheba into his home

as one of his wives.

This is where we pick up the story.

With Nathan.

Nathan comes to David and tells him a story.

A story of a poor man with one little lamb that he loves.

And a story of a rich man with a whole flock.

In his greed and his lust,

the rich man takes the one little lamb from the poor man

so he can serve it to his dinner guests.

David is outraged!

He declares condemnation on any man

who would do such a thing.

David cannot see what he is doing:

          he condemns himself.

Power and privilege do that to us.

They mask the reality of the world around us.

Not just political power, either.

The power of being in the majority.

The power of having resources.

The power of health insurance

and clean water

and education.

The power we have blinds us to the errors of our ways.

David’s story is a story about power.

It’s the story of the powerful abusing the weak. 

David’s position of power puts him in the driver’s seat.

Bathsheba has no authority to act in her own best interest.

Uriah doesn’t even KNOW he’s being manipulated like a pawn.

Only David knows the full scope of the story.

And he acts in whatever way will make HIS life easiest.

He refuses to hear the other voices in his community.

David never takes into consideration that Uriah is a loyal servant.

It never occurs to David to question if Bathsheba wants to be his wife.

He doesn’t even think about

what the death of Uriah

will do to his own political efforts

on the warfront.

David thinks only of his situation

and of getting himself out of trouble.

That’s the problem with having privilege –

the situation looks different to you

than it does to everyone else.

The people of God are called to be Nathan in this world.

We are called to speak the truth – to name the sin in our midst.

We are called to be the voice of God

in a hurting and broken world.

The prophet Micah teaches us to do justice,

to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with God.

Jesus tells us the poor will inherit the kingdom of God,

the hungry will be satisfied,

and the grieving will reap joy.

King Jesus takes the role

of the lowest servant

when he washes his disciples’ feet.

The Kingdom of God is the Upside Down kingdom

where the least become the greatest

and the King is the filthy servant,

kneeling on the dirt floor

to wash the manure from our feet.

If David had understood that, this would be a very different story!

It is our job to be faithful to the Kingdom,

to build the Kingdom,

to speak truth to power

and to work for justice.

We have to live like Nathan, unencumbered by fear.

But how?

How do we serve as that

irritant to power

without making the situation worse?

Our words are so often lost in the noise of the world around us.

It doesn’t do any good

to stand in this pulpit or any other

and proclaim that we must care for the poor!

It doesn’t change the systems

and the structures that keep them poor. 

It doesn’t change the access they have to a job. 

Is it enough to call our elected officials and scream about justice?

Do we march on our capitol cities to tell them we’ve had enough?

How do we live like Nathan in a world so different from his?

Maybe the real issue is not so much

that our world is different from Nathan’s

as it is that we are different from Nathan himself.

This is not the first time David and Nathan have met one another.

Nathan shows up as advisor to David

and to his predecessor, Saul,

in other places in I and II Samuel.

Nathan is a Jew.

He is part of the covenant community.

It would be feasible that Nathan

is actually a member of David’s royal court.

The two men have a relationship with one another prior to this encounter.

As a prophet, Nathan’s job

is to advise the King on matters

the King may not see fully from his position. 

Nathan’s position is unique because

he is compelled to speak the truth

to the powerful King,

but he has to do it in such a way

that the King is open to hearing him

rather than condemning him.

Nathan comes to David hoping to create

confession

and repentance,

not hostility

and violence.

Nathan does not come to a stranger and demand he change his ways.

What Nathan does

 is to come alongside a member of his community

and call him out for his sin.

That’s hard.

If we’re honest with ourselves,

we know it’s easier to call a stranger’s office

 and tell him we disapprove of his policy making

than it is to come alongside our next door neighbor

and talk to her about the violence

she’s living with

in her home.

It’s much easier to post a meme on facebook

lambasting the choices of our elected officials

than it is to engage in a conversation

with a friend

who supports those choices.

We can rant and rave

about a lack of legislation

to get the guns off the streets.

Or we can befriend an advocate we know

and begin to understand the problem

differently.

We can call out the Church Elder Board

for not doing enough

to care for the hungry children

at the local elementary school.

Or we can find out the name

of 1 family who needs

groceries this week.

Nathan risked a lot.

He risked his job, more than likely.

He risked his relationship with David.

He risked his very life.

Nathan had to be open to the fact

that the King of Israel could have said,

“HOW DARE YOU!?!  Put him to death!”

But because Nathan is in a relationship with David

that is not what happens.

Rather, David sees the truth in Nathan’s words.

He says, “I have sinned against the Lord!”

You see,

when we live in covenant community with one another,

 we are more able to take the risk of vulnerability.

Being vulnerable means more than “putting yourself out there.” 

It means you have to be open

to the change that may happen

To.    You. 

For Nathan, that change could possibly be the loss of his life. 

For us, it may be something entirely different.

But we cannot go into a situation

certain we know the exact right answer

and shout and scream

until we get our way.

Being prophetic is not about being right.

Being prophetic is about keeping

the covenant community

in relationship

with God.

We have to start by putting aside our need to be right.

I have very strong feelings

about some of the political issues

our country is currently facing.

Some of us probably disagree wholeheartedly on those issues.

If I choose to engage you in a conversation about these things,

          I have to be vulnerable. 

          I have to share my deep passions,

                              my worst fears,

          and I have to be open to what

                              you have to say,

                                        as well. 

If I can’t honor the fact

          that your convictions are just as strong

                                        and just as valid as mine,

                    I can’t live in community with you.

I have to come to a conversation

          realizing that I may walk away

                    with a different position than I had. 

It is entirely possible

          that you may convict me

                    of the error of my ways.

I have to be willing to be changed by you.

If I’m not, we are not living in community.

Will we choose to live that way?

Who will you be?

Will you choose to be David,

          manipulating those around you

                    to keep your own life as tidy as possible?

Or will you choose to be Nathan,

          risking everything for the health and well-being

                    of the community you love?

If we can choose to live like Nathan,

          we have immense power.

When the needs and well-being of the community come first,

          lives are changed.

So maybe we have to put aside our own desire

          for an extra cup of Starbucks coffee

                    and buy a healthy meal

                              for someone in need and just talk.

Maybe we need to create a back-to-work program

          to help people find employment

                    that gives them

                              not only a salary, but a sense of purpose.

Or maybe we just need to know the story

          of one family in town

                    and find a way to help.

I don’t know.

I don’t have all of the answers.

Because that would mean I was living like David.

I would be decreeing to you what needs to happen in your communities and how.

That’s not community.

Community is when we come together to talk.

To dream.

To fight.

To risk.

And then we act in the best interest of the community.

Like David’s life,

          it may be that acting in the best interest of the community

                    makes our own life a little tougher.

But that’s what makes it prophetic!

We put aside our selfish desires

                    to make our little world

                              a better place!

Being prophetic is not about being right.

About anything.

          It’s not about making sure everyone else agrees with your beliefs.

          It’s not about making sure the community solves a problem

                    the way you want to solve it.

It’s not about throwing a justified fit

          because you don’t like the way

                    something is happening in your world.

Being prophetic is about doing what is best for the community.

          It’s about sacrifice.

          It’s about a willingness to listen.

          It’s about truly hearing others when they talk.

          It’s about placing the

                    sacredness of our life together

                               in a place of more importance

                                        than our own agendas.

I want to live like that.

I want our churches to be places

          where we can say to one another,

                    “Help me understand why you believe this.”

I want the Church to be a place

          where the hurts

                    and sins of our neighborhood

                              are met

                                    and forgiven.

I want our churches to be places

          where people of every stripe

                    and sin

                    and heart-felt desire are welcomed.

Not just greeted and handed a bulletin – genuinely welcomed.

We don’t have to change the world today.

We just need to change one life.

We start there.

Nathan changed David’s life.

He came alongside him,

          confronted him in love,

          brought about repentance,

                    and brought David to a new place.

Nathan didn’t change all of Israel.

But David’s story changed Israel’s history.

David becomes known as the Greatest King Israel ever had.

He is the "Man after God's Own Heart."

David ushers in a reign of peace and prosperity

          that his son Solomon continues to build.

And speaking of Solomon …

Solomon would never have been born

          if David’s plan had worked.

Solomon is

the second son

of David and Bathsheba.

If David had succeeded in convincing Uriah to lie with Bathsheba,

          and thus,

          covering his tracks,

                    Bathsheba would never have come to live in David’s house. 

She would never have borne Solomon.

We never know

          who may be hiding

                    under the layers of anonymity

                              we create in our world.

We never know

          if the next great President

          or philanthropist

          or social leader

                    is in our midst.

But even if they’re not

           – in changing a life or two

                    we have changed the future

                              of our community.

Because we will have changed ourselves.

God has made it clear who we are called to be.

But the choice is yours to make.

Who do you want to be?

Do you want to be David,

          trapped in your own self-righteous palace?

Or do you want to be Nathan,

          risking everything for the sake of your community?