You are the Man

Revised Common Lectionary entries for this week:

August 2, 2009 [Green]

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a

Psalm 51:1-12 (UMH 785)

Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35

Let's Roll:

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13 (The Message)

^26-27 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she grieved for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.

^27-3 But God was not at all pleased with what David had done, and sent Nathan to David. Nathan said to him, "There were two men in the same city—one rich, the other poor. The rich man had huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴ "One day a traveler dropped in on the rich man. He was too stingy to take an animal from his own herds or flocks to make a meal for his visitor, so he took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal to set before his guest."

^5-6 David exploded in anger. "As surely as God lives," he said to Nathan, "the man who did this ought to be lynched! He must repay for the lamb four times over for his crime and his stinginess!"

^7-12 "You're the man!" said Nathan.

How well do we see our own sins?

Sometimes too well. Certainly one struggle that people have with Christianity is daring to believe that God really loves them and is willing to forgive them.

But maybe even more often, our self-deception can be so complete that only drastic measures will break through and free us from ourselves.

King David had even managed to justify killing another man (by sending him into a hopeless battle) and then taking his wife.

God decided to break through. He sends the prophet Nathan to tell David the truth. The King was ready to condemn the evil man in Nathan's story. He had to learn that "you are the man."

What things do we stand ready to condemn with our own kind of kingly authority? Where might God say to us, "you are the one." How could God call each of us to deeper self-examination, and real repentance?

Grace & Peace,

Adam