Word to the Wise
Saturday, January 30, 2010 - Saturday in the Third Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Samuel 12:1-7A, 10-17 and Mark 4:35-41]Now, the rich man received a visitor, but he would not take from his own flocks and herds to prepare a meal for the wayfarer who had come to him. Instead he took the poor man's eye lamb and made a meal of it for his visitor." David grew very angry with that man and said to him [Nathan the prophet]: "As the Lord lives,, the man who has done this merits death! He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this and has had no pity." Then Nathan said to David: "You are the man!"
The story is a familiar one and was even made into a movie, DAVID AND BATHSHEBA! King David spots the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of his soldiers, and lusts for her. She becomes pregnant as a result of this. David arranges for Uriah to be put in special danger in a battle so as to be killed. David takes Bathsheba as his wife (among many others he was already married to). Nathan confronts him and tells him that the child will not live. This is no mere biblical soap opera. In our own day, we have seen considerable instances of adultery in some of our highest elected officials and among some of the most prominent televangelists! Large corporations arrange to have the property of the poor condemned so that it may be seized for "development." Power and prestige can lead a person or corporation to think that they are invulnerable to accountability. David was not alone. The story of Ahab and Jezebel going after Naboth's vineyard (1 Kings 21) is another instance of the powerful simply taking what they want, even if it is the sole possession of the poor person. The story of David and Bathsheba takes an interesting turn because the second child of their union would be Solomon, and the Gospel of Matthew traces Jesus' ancestry from David through Solomon and David's union with Bathsheba (Mt. 1:6). Morally we cannot go back and approve David's conduct. There was repentance and punishment. But the old statement about God writing straight with crooked lines certainly applies in this instance. The problem with some powerful people is that they think they are one of those crooked lines that will come out straight in the end. They'd better hope instead that there will be a Nathan the Prophet to confront them and that repentance will be possible! AMEN
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