When my daughter was about 8 years old, she had accompanied us to a store to do a little shopping. When we returned home we had found a necklace in her possession. It did not look like anything we had gotten for her as a gift, nor had anyone else for that matter. When we confronted her about it, she claimed that she had “found it on the floor” at the store and decided to keep it. After additional questioning it became clear that she had taken the item from the store. We then drove her back to the store to return the item and apologize to the store manager. It was a lesson she never forgot, though it was very difficult for her to go through at the time.
President Clinton, when faced with the reality of his affair in the White House responded with “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”. Where, instead, President Carter, in an interview with Playboy magazine during his campaign for the Presidency, admitted to having “lust in his heart” for many women during a long line of questioning about things that he had done that were not absolutely right. While some may argue the successes and failures of both Presidencies, it is rare to find someone who will question Jimmy Carter’s morality.
In today’s first reading we see King David caught in a similar situation. David was God’s favored son and had done great things for Israel in his reign as king. But we have seen in this week’s readings, David had committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba and then compounded this sin by having her husband, Uriah, killed in battle, thus leaving David free to marry Bathsheba. But Nathan the prophet was instructed by the Lord to confront David with his sins. So Nathan tells David the parable of a rich man, with large amounts of livestock, who sacrifices the lone ewe lamb of a poor neighbor to feed a guest rather than taking a sheep from his own flocks. David responds with anger crying for justice against the rich man. Nathan says to David that “he is that man!!” He has sinned against God by his behavior with Bathsheba and Uriah.
Now here is the turning point. David had the choice in how to respond to Nathan. He could have easily claimed his privilege as King to defend his actions to Nathan, possibly allowing his shame to turn him away from God. But, instead, David faced his sins and pleaded for God’s forgiveness. While God carried out His promise that David’s first son would die, He retracted His vow to have David publicly exposed to his people. He gave him a second son who would turn out to be Israel’s third king, Solomon. David’s repentance went on to his writing of many of the Psalms giving thanks to God for His mercy.
But what about David’s son, Solomon? We know of him being held up as “Solomon the Wise” and are familiar with his rebuilding the Temple and creating great cities within the lands he governed. How many flocked to Israel to meet him and admire the wealth he accumulated. He turned Israel into a well respected and powerful nation. But God had warned him not to marry foreign women because they would turn him towards pagan gods and away from Him. But Solomon was filled with his own greatness and did consort with many pagan women who turned Solomon to their gods:
And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. (1 Kings 11:3-4)
Solomon never repented, even until his death. During his lifetime he showed favoritism for the southern part of the kingdom, Judah, at the expense of the northern kingdom of Israel. When Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, took over the throne after Solomon’s death the northern kingdom pleaded with him to treat them more fairly. Instead he doubled down and persecuted them even more than his Father. As a consequence, the kingdom divided into northern and southern kingdoms, never again to be unified.
Where David, when confronted with his sin, repented, Solomon further turned from God and the people of Israel suffered.
So how do we respond to being confronted with our sins? Do we allow shame, fear and guilt take over thus opening the door to the evil sewn by the devil? When Adam and Eve were asked by God if they ate the fruit, they responded by blaming each other and the devil rather than facing the sin and asking for forgiveness. When Judas saw the effects of his betrayal, the evil turned inward and he took his life. But when Peter was reminded of his denial of Christ while cooking fish on the seashore after the resurrection (The so-called “Last Breakfast”), he three times reaffirmed his love for the Lord. The little lamb in Nathan’s story revealed to David the gravity of his sin, but his love for God allowed his to respond with honest and humble repentance to God. Can we do the same?
