The Scripture Reading this week is 2 Samuel 11:2-15
The Sermon title is Integrity vs. Self-Interest
Early Thoughts: There are three main characters in this story. One is silent,the story happens to her and we do not hear anything about her perspective. The other two are more active, and are a contrast in character.
On one hand we have the King. In this story David openly abuses his power and authority. He takes (by force) Bathsheba to his bed without any pretense at wooing or seducing her first. Then he decides to cover up his crime by getting Uriah to come home and sleep with his own wife so that the resulting child will be seen as Uriah's, not the result of David's act of rape. In fact David tries repeatedly, even to the point of getting Uriah drunk, to have this happen -- not, it appears, out of any concern for Uriah or Bathsheba but solely to cover his own backside. When this is eventually unsuccessful David arranges to have the man killed.
Then we have Uriah. One could read the story and see Uriah solely as an unwitting dupe. He has no idea what is really going on. But as I read the story this month it struck me that Uriah shows himself to be a man of great integrity. He refuses to claim or accept more privilege than his men have. While they are living rough at the front he will continue to live rough himself -- no matter what enticements the king might offer.
This is a hard story to read. It is a hard story to preach on.It is a story that makes you wonder how it got included in the final edit. David, the great King, is shown to be a rapist, an abuser of power, a wholly unsavory character. NOw what do we do with the story?
I think we start by naming the reality of what it is. It is, to borrow a phrase from a feminist theologian for the 20th Century, a "text of terror". We do no favors to the text,or to ourselves as readers by trying to obscure that fact. Many have tried to limit David's sinfulness (which is odd because the text of 2 Samuel never tries to hide David's sinfulness), usually with the result of casting blame on Bathsheba. "Slut-shaming" has a long history, one which continues to this day, when people talk about sexual violence.
Along with naming the reality of the story is to name the reality of what it shows us about David. Everything David does in this story is motivated by self-interest. He wants sex-he gets it. He wants to get around blame for the resulting pregnancy and tries everything he can to get that too. In then end he has Uriah killed so he can simply take Bathsheba into his household and try to avoid accusations of adultery (later the prophet Nathan will force David to face his sin -- to a degree, still treating Bathsheba as stolen property rather than as a rape victim).
In our lives we will miss the mark, we will get things wrong. Hopefully none of us will fail so egregiously as David does here but at some point we, as individuals and/or as a community, will do damage to another. When that happens will our self-interest lead us to try to minimize what happened and escape consequences? Or will we have the integrity to name what happened?
At the same time, some time in life we may be given the choice of Uriah. We may be promised rewards or a way to an easier time while our neighbors continue to live rough. Which will we do?
This week during our Tame for the Young at Heart we will be talking about Orange Shirt Day. As we remember and reflect on the truths of what the Indian Residential School system was and did how will we respond? As a settler community we did damage to our Indigenous neighbors, damage which continues to resonate and shape lives to this day. As a society the impulse to rush toward reconciliation and 'put it all behind us' is strong. But is that acting out of self-interest or with true integrity? Are we wanting to hide hard truths even if it means sacrificing the Uriahs who get in the way?
This is a hard story to read. It is one that should probably carry a trigger warning. What does it teach us about human nature in the face of sinful acts? What might it have to teach us about ourselves?
-Gord
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