You're the Man!
8-2-15 (Proper 13 / Ordinary 18 B Semi-Continuous)
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a; John 6:24-35
Growing up as a child in the ‘90s, my friends and I frequently used to throw around different phrases. Some of them are still around - if we got excited about something, we yelled “Sweet!” Calling our friends “Dude,” and putting “Like” in the middle of all of our sentences were common occurrences. Our response to everything was typically “Whatever.” One that we used to use, however, that has more or less faded out, was “You da man!” Your friend scored tickets to a sold out concert and invited you - “Sweet! You da man!” It was a recognition of accomplishment, another way of saying “Good job,” even a title of honor given to a person who was simply outstanding.
I don’t think that’s what David heard, however, when Nathan told him “You are the man.” In those four words, there was no high five, no job well done, no admiration - there was only the crushing weight of realization that David sums up in his response to Nathan: “I have sinned against the Lord.” David has been caught - it’s like the scenes that happen in the crime dramas, whichever one your favorite may be. The detective has the suspect in the interrogation room and cleverly lays out the story so that the suspect incriminates himself by giving up a piece of information that wasn’t there before. David hears this story of the rich man with many flocks who robs the poor man with only one sheep and becomes enraged! He yells to Nathan - “As the Lord lives, this man deserves to die! He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity!” David is ready to take some names and kick some butt, but then Nathan drops the bombshell of truth on him - “You are the man.” And David deflates.
Now, let’s rewind this story a bit and put ourselves in Nathan’s shoes for a minute. Nathan was a prophet in David’s court. He had been a close adviser to David, relaying God’s words to the king regarding the construction of the temple. What must it have been like for Nathan to receive this word from God that he is to go to David and call him out for the Bathsheba scandal? Nathan is being told to go up to a man who could easily have him put to death, just so he can tell him “You’ve committed a terrible sin and you need to know it.” I have to wonder - did that thought occur to him? Did Nathan hesitate before the throne room door, ask God “Are you sure this is what I’m supposed to say?” Did he rehearse the story before he went in, trying to find the method that would cause the least damage? Did he pray for God to give the message to some other prophet, perhaps? The text doesn’t tell us any of this - only that the Lord sent Nathan to David. And Nathan went. Nathan probably knew the danger that he was putting himself in, knew that this might be the last message that he would give, but he also knew that it was his role as prophet and his message, given to him by God. It was his responsibility to fulfill his calling and to perform his duties, dangerous and unpleasant as they may have been.
Jesus put himself in less than favorable circumstances throughout his ministry, as well. As we may recall from last week’s readings, the moment after Jesus fed the five thousand, he then had to run from them and hide because they wanted to make him king by force! Jesus had a message and a role to fulfill that were not what the people were expecting; he was to be their bread from Heaven, giving them a source for life that they had never known before. This meant that he wasn’t just healing people from diseases, feeding the hungry, or performing other great acts of power: he was pointing to the very source from which all power comes. When the crowds pursue him to the other side of the lake, Jesus perceives their true motivation; they wanted more food! So Jesus takes it on himself to speak the hard truth, that it’s not what they work for in this life that matters, but that they work for their eternal food. Jesus has to explain the mysteries of heaven to a crowd from whom just minutes before he had run away due to their lack of understanding and their impulsive natures. He must have known that the crowd that shouted loud Hosannah’s one day would be the same that shouted “Crucify him” the next. He must have known that his message could only have helped to turn the crowd at any minute. Yet Jesus also knows that his message and his ministry are why he is here in the first place. To not preach his message, to not show his love to all people, Jesus would be denying everything that he was and denying all that God called him to be. So he points out the blinders that the people are wearing, just as Nathan pointed out David’s blindness to his own sin. Jesus points the crowd away from the miracles and back toward the source of life, the Bread of Heaven.
This week, especially as we reflect on the faithfulness of Nathan and of Jesus to their respective ministries, I wonder - what areas might God be calling us to speak to? What difficult messages might God be asking us to deliver? Furthermore, what areas of our lives may we need to hear that phrase - “You are the man” - said to us? Where are our blinders, and what wrongs in our lives might we be overlooking? We can look out around our community and see the ways in which we are “the ones,” so to speak. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, as America exploits the poor to maintain our way of life, as we manipulate other countries into wars and even go to war ourselves over oil, coffee, minerals, diamonds, chocolate, bananas, and more, we may easily forget the ways in which we benefit from injustice, all the while calling it “the cost of doing business.” And as the body of Christ, we as Christians are called not only to speak the difficult truths that need to be heart, but to live into those truths ourselves as faithfully and as joyfully as we can. We need to be bold in proclaiming the truth that in Jesus Christ, we find our source of sustenance, that in Jesus Christ our spiritual hungers are met, and that by participating in Christ’s mission in the world, God can use us to be agents of justice and righteousness in a world wearing blinders. Through Jesus Christ, our statements of “You are the man” to the injustices of the world can be precursors to the Heavenly “You da man!” of Christ: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” To God be the glory. Amen.
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a; John 6:24-35
You're the Man!
Growing up as a child in the ‘90s, my friends and I frequently used to throw around different phrases. Some of them are still around - if we got excited about something, we yelled “Sweet!” Calling our friends “Dude,” and putting “Like” in the middle of all of our sentences were common occurrences. Our response to everything was typically “Whatever.” One that we used to use, however, that has more or less faded out, was “You da man!” Your friend scored tickets to a sold out concert and invited you - “Sweet! You da man!” It was a recognition of accomplishment, another way of saying “Good job,” even a title of honor given to a person who was simply outstanding.
I don’t think that’s what David heard, however, when Nathan told him “You are the man.” In those four words, there was no high five, no job well done, no admiration - there was only the crushing weight of realization that David sums up in his response to Nathan: “I have sinned against the Lord.” David has been caught - it’s like the scenes that happen in the crime dramas, whichever one your favorite may be. The detective has the suspect in the interrogation room and cleverly lays out the story so that the suspect incriminates himself by giving up a piece of information that wasn’t there before. David hears this story of the rich man with many flocks who robs the poor man with only one sheep and becomes enraged! He yells to Nathan - “As the Lord lives, this man deserves to die! He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity!” David is ready to take some names and kick some butt, but then Nathan drops the bombshell of truth on him - “You are the man.” And David deflates.
Now, let’s rewind this story a bit and put ourselves in Nathan’s shoes for a minute. Nathan was a prophet in David’s court. He had been a close adviser to David, relaying God’s words to the king regarding the construction of the temple. What must it have been like for Nathan to receive this word from God that he is to go to David and call him out for the Bathsheba scandal? Nathan is being told to go up to a man who could easily have him put to death, just so he can tell him “You’ve committed a terrible sin and you need to know it.” I have to wonder - did that thought occur to him? Did Nathan hesitate before the throne room door, ask God “Are you sure this is what I’m supposed to say?” Did he rehearse the story before he went in, trying to find the method that would cause the least damage? Did he pray for God to give the message to some other prophet, perhaps? The text doesn’t tell us any of this - only that the Lord sent Nathan to David. And Nathan went. Nathan probably knew the danger that he was putting himself in, knew that this might be the last message that he would give, but he also knew that it was his role as prophet and his message, given to him by God. It was his responsibility to fulfill his calling and to perform his duties, dangerous and unpleasant as they may have been.
Jesus put himself in less than favorable circumstances throughout his ministry, as well. As we may recall from last week’s readings, the moment after Jesus fed the five thousand, he then had to run from them and hide because they wanted to make him king by force! Jesus had a message and a role to fulfill that were not what the people were expecting; he was to be their bread from Heaven, giving them a source for life that they had never known before. This meant that he wasn’t just healing people from diseases, feeding the hungry, or performing other great acts of power: he was pointing to the very source from which all power comes. When the crowds pursue him to the other side of the lake, Jesus perceives their true motivation; they wanted more food! So Jesus takes it on himself to speak the hard truth, that it’s not what they work for in this life that matters, but that they work for their eternal food. Jesus has to explain the mysteries of heaven to a crowd from whom just minutes before he had run away due to their lack of understanding and their impulsive natures. He must have known that the crowd that shouted loud Hosannah’s one day would be the same that shouted “Crucify him” the next. He must have known that his message could only have helped to turn the crowd at any minute. Yet Jesus also knows that his message and his ministry are why he is here in the first place. To not preach his message, to not show his love to all people, Jesus would be denying everything that he was and denying all that God called him to be. So he points out the blinders that the people are wearing, just as Nathan pointed out David’s blindness to his own sin. Jesus points the crowd away from the miracles and back toward the source of life, the Bread of Heaven.
This week, especially as we reflect on the faithfulness of Nathan and of Jesus to their respective ministries, I wonder - what areas might God be calling us to speak to? What difficult messages might God be asking us to deliver? Furthermore, what areas of our lives may we need to hear that phrase - “You are the man” - said to us? Where are our blinders, and what wrongs in our lives might we be overlooking? We can look out around our community and see the ways in which we are “the ones,” so to speak. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, as America exploits the poor to maintain our way of life, as we manipulate other countries into wars and even go to war ourselves over oil, coffee, minerals, diamonds, chocolate, bananas, and more, we may easily forget the ways in which we benefit from injustice, all the while calling it “the cost of doing business.” And as the body of Christ, we as Christians are called not only to speak the difficult truths that need to be heart, but to live into those truths ourselves as faithfully and as joyfully as we can. We need to be bold in proclaiming the truth that in Jesus Christ, we find our source of sustenance, that in Jesus Christ our spiritual hungers are met, and that by participating in Christ’s mission in the world, God can use us to be agents of justice and righteousness in a world wearing blinders. Through Jesus Christ, our statements of “You are the man” to the injustices of the world can be precursors to the Heavenly “You da man!” of Christ: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” To God be the glory. Amen.
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