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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org><br>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org><br>
Sent: Sat, Mar 24, 2012 8:20 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Lent 5B<br>
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<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><tt>Dear Friends,
Tomorrow’s sermon is entitled “Sin Hurts the Innocent as well as the
Guilty” or “The Wages of Sin: Death” and deals with the Psalm (Psalm
51). Here it is:
So far this Lent, we’ve looked at what the Bible says to us about
temptation- how vulnerable we are to wanting anything we’re not
supposed to have or to doing anything we’re not supposed to do. In
fact one of our Communion hymns for this Lent is “Yield Not to
Temptation for Yielding is Sin.” We’ve considered one of our chief
temptations- to avoid the cross that Jesus expects us to carry.
Remember, he said, “Take up your cross and follow me”- and he wasn’t
talking about jewelry on a gold chain; he was talking about a chosen
sacrifice for him. Next we examined where yielding to temptation
leads us- SIN, and we saw that the middle letter of sin is “I”! Last
week we thought through one of the dangerous symptoms of sin- a
poisoned spirit. Today, I’d like us to consider the results of sin
and how the pain spreads like an ever-widening series of circles in a
pond after the peace of the water is disturbed by a rock.
The Psalm appointed for today (Psalm 51) has traditionally been
ascribed to David- written and prayed by him after he had committed
adultery with Bathsheba and then been confronted by God’s courageous
prophet, Nathan. As you recall, Bathsheba was married to Uriah the
Hittite. King David was walking around on the flat roof of his palace
when he looked below and saw Bathsheba taking a bath in her
courtyard. He sent for her and had sex with her. Some time later,
Bathsheba discovered to her dismay that she was pregnant, so she sent
King David a note informing him of the news. They were caught in
adultery, and there was no way anyone would think that Bathsheba’s
husband was the father of this child. He was away in the military.
David cooked up a scheme to pass this baby off as Uriah’s child. He
sent for Uriah, inquired about the war, and then sent him home-
assuming that he would make love to his wife. After all, he’d been
gone a long time at war. Uriah didn’t, because he didn’t want to
diffuse his energy- wanted to stay loyal to King David and his fellow
soldiers. David tried again. This time, he invited Uriah to the
palace for a meal, and served lots of alcohol so he would get drunk.
When King David observed that Uriah was sufficiently intoxicated, he
sent him home again. Uriah did the same thing- slept outside away
from Bathsheba, his wife. King David’s scheme of passing off this
child as Uriah’s baby was not going to work. Do you remember some
years ago how President Clinton lied and did everything he could to
avoid being caught in his sexual sin? That’s how King David felt. He
decided he would do whatever it took to avoid being caught as having
committed adultery with Bathsheba. He wrote a note to Joab, his
general at the war front, ordering him to place Uriah in a dangerous
spot in a battle, then withdraw support so he would be killed. Joab
did exactly as King David had ordered. Bathsheba mourned for her
husband an appropriate length of time and then moved in with King
David in his palace as one of his wives. It looked like all was well
and no one would find out what had happened; like they had gotten away
with adultery and King David had gotten away with murder. You know
how scripture says, “Be sure your sin will find you out!” (Numbers 32:
23). Well, the next thing David knew, he had a visitor- the prophet
Nathan. Nathan told David about a poor man and his family who had a
pet lamb. The lamb ate at his table and was the pet of his wife and
children. One day the rich man down the road had a guest. He was too
stingy to butcher one of his own lambs to feed his visitor, so he took
the beloved lamb belonging to the poor family and butchered it to
serve his company. King David was outraged, started listing all the
terrible punishments that should happen to the rich man, and then
asked his identity. The prophet Nathan simply said, “David, you are
the man.” Nathan reminded the king of all the wives and riches he
had, yet he took the one wife of Uriah, his faithful soldier, and then
had him killed as a cover-up. Nathan told David that his punishment
was that the child in Bathsheba’s womb would die. David wept and
prayed, perhaps using the words of Psalm 51.
There- that’s what happened. I’d like us to notice two things.
First- mighty King David was not immune to sin. Believe me, if that
godly man could fall to the sinful depths that he did, we can sin
terribly also. Brothers and sisters, spend time in your Bible, on
your knees, at church listening to the Word and receiving Holy
Communion for power. Be careful!
The second insight I’d like us to notice is how the pain of David’s
sin was not simply confined to him. His pain spread to many around
him, almost like (as we mentioned earlier) an ever-widening set of
circles. You can decide if you’re going to throw the stone into the
pond, but once it’s hit the water- you have no control over the
ripples and circles and disturbances that emanate from that stone.
Bathsheba, who perhaps was a victim of rape (remember the immense
power of those ancient kings), lost her husband and infant son.
Uriah- one of David’s most loyal soldiers, was murdered by the king he
so faithfully served. Joab, the general, engineered the death of
Uriah. The baby suffered and died. The prophet Nathan had to
confront King David, which could have cost him his life- and he knew
it. Not only did David himself suffer, but he probably was never
quite the same person after this incident. Sin causes pain, not just
for the guilty- but for the innocent. Check it out. Let’s look at
the Ten Commandments. (Read them from the prayer book.) Which of
these can you break without hurting someone? Remember, you can’t pray
yourself out of consequences you behaved yourself into, and many times
those consequences hurt a whole lot of people. May God bless us all
as we examine our choices and our lives.
For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American
wisdom statements are posted on our parish web site. The address is:
<a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.com" target="_blank">http://www.stpaulsepisag.com</a> .
Blessed preaching,
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan
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