2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:18a, 24
I realize I’m dating myself here, but back before he hosted “The Price is Right,” Bob Barker hosted the TV game show, “Truth or Consequences,” from 1956 to 1975. It was a game show that had its beginnings as a radio show hosted by Ralph Edwards from 1940 to 1957. The way the game was played was that the contestants got about two seconds to answer a trivia question, usually some really off-the-wall question that no one would ever be able to come up with a correct answer for, before “Beulah the Buzzer” sounded. If they failed to answer the “truth” portion, then the contestants had to face the “consequences,” which meant performing some crazy and embarrassing stunt. Almost from the beginning, it seemed like most of the contestants preferred to answer the question wrong so that they would have to perform the stunt!
On an interesting sidenote, on May 22, 1948 the show broadcast live from the newly founded Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The host, Ralph Edwards, surprised a 12-year-old cancer patient named Einar Gustafson by bringing in players from the Boston Braves to visit him in his room. Edwards referred to Gustafson as “Jimmy” to protect his identity. This broadcast launched “The Jimmy Fund” and the long-standing relationship between the cancer institute and the Boston Red Sox as their official charity beginning in 1953.
While the game show consequences were embarrassing stunts that the contestants seemed to actually enjoy performing, the consequences that fell on David for his sin against God were not so pleasant. You might remember from last week that David had broken two of the Ten Commandments: he had committed adultery with Bathsheba, and he had conspired to murder her husband, Uriah. His actions greatly displeased God, and God would hold David accountable for what he had done. And so God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David about his sins.
Nathan did not directly state David’s sins to him; instead, he used a technique that Jesus would take up some 2,000 years later. He used a parable. Nathan told David a story about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man had many flocks and herds, but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb which was a family pet and greatly loved. A traveler came to the home of the rich man, but the rich man did not want to kill one of his own animals in order to feed the traveler. Instead, he took the ewe lamb from the poor man and slaughtered it in order to prepare a meal for the traveler. When David heard the story, he was furious! He told Nathan that the rich man deserved to die for what he had done, and should pay the poor man back with four lambs. Nathan pointed to David and shouted, “You are the man!”
I wonder how long it took for Nathan’s words to sink in. David must have stood there with his mouth hanging open for a moment or two. And then he realized that he was, indeed, the man. He who had so much had taken Uriah’s wife for himself. And he had not only taken what was Uriah’s, he had made sure that Uriah was killed. God had given David the position of king and protected him from Saul during the wars; God had given him the palace; God had given David wives; God would have given him even more. But David, in response to God’s goodness, had done what was evil in the sight of God. He had broken God’s law. He had been responsible for the death of Uriah and he had taken Uriah’s wife for himself.
The consequences for David’s actions would be harsh and tragic. Nathan told David that the sword would never depart from his house. God would raise up trouble against David even from within his own house. And, indeed, David dealt with violence and war for most of the rest of his life, even from within his own family. And finally, Nathan told David, the child that was the result of David’s adultery with Bathsheba would die. And the child did become ill and die.
It is hard for us to understand a God who punishes, perhaps. But I want you to think about God as a parent. Every parent understands the need to punish his or her child at one time or another. There are rules that are set out for the child. And children being children, rules get broken. Some rules are there for the child’s safety, like not running out into the road. And when rules get broken, punishment must take place or the child doesn’t learn to not break the rules. The form the punishment takes will vary depending on the parent and depending on the rule that was broken. But the punishment is given out of love, not out of anger or spite or abusiveness. If a parent does not teach a child right from wrong, the parent has not done the child any favors in life. And if a child is allowed to break rules without consequences, they will not function well in society, where breaking rules or laws will result in consequences, such as lost jobs or imprisonment.
God punishes out of love, as well, not out of spite or meanness or abusiveness. Some of the sins we commit carry their own kind of punishment. When we abuse our bodies, for instance, through abusing drugs or alcohol or cigarettes, we should not be surprised when there are health consequences. Or when we pursue numerous sexual relationships, we may also end up with less than pleasant health consequences. Other times situations lead to consequences of broken relationships or lost jobs, such as in cases of embezzlement that is found out. But wrong living will almost always result in some kind of punishment.
Actions have consequences. And the prophet Nathan made clear to David the link between what he had done and what was going to happen to him. But the harsh consequences were not the end of David’s story. Not by a long shot. After their baby died, David consoled Bathsheba. And later on, they had another baby, a baby boy named Solomon. And Solomon would one day become king after David. Solomon was loved by God and would be the king who would build the Temple in Jerusalem.
Where there is judgment and punishment for sin, there follows grace and forgiveness and hope. That is also the message of Holy Communion. We remember that the judgment and the punishment for our sin was taken on by Jesus when he went to the cross. And we have grace through Jesus, that we may be forgiven for all our sins. We have hope for the future because we know that God doesn’t hold our sins against us, but instead wipes the slate clean. Our sins are erased from the books as if they had never been there at all. Jesus became the perfect sacrificial Lamb, according to John’s Gospel, the Lamb who would take away the sins of the world.
Sin does have consequences. But the consequences for those who follow Christ do not include death. We have life and we have hope because we have forgiveness by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Our truth may include sin, but it also includes forgiveness of sin. And that is the best consequence we could ever hope for.
