Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download the audio.
+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The last three weeks, our Midweek Lenten Vespers services have considered, respectively, the “Golden Calf”, “Aaron and Miriam”, and “Achan’s Sin” as “More Snapshots of Repentance”, examples of both repentance and forgiveness of sins that are not only instructive but also comforting for us. That tonight’s fourth “Snapshot of Repentance” involves King David may not be all that surprising to those who know about David’s life, but what may surprise you is our focus on the part of David’s life involving the death of “David’s Son”.
You may recall that David wrongly saw, took, and conceived a child with a beautiful woman named Bathsheba; David tried to cover up the affair by making it appear that her husband who was away at war fathered the child, but, when that did not work, David murdered her husband, and she became David’s wife and bore him a son, but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord (2 Samuel 11:1-27). So, the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to confront David, and David confessed his sin against the Lord to Nathan, and Nathan spoke the Lord’s individual absolution to David, but Nathan also announced consequences of David’s sin, including the death of the newborn boy (2 Sam 12:1-15a; confer Apology of the Augsburg Confession, XII:56). And, as we heard, when the child became sick, David—with outward signs of repentance such as fasting, laying on the ground, and tears (Gehrke, ad loc 2 Samuel 12:15b-23, p.298; Kretzmann, ad loc 2 Samuel 12:16, p.529)—intensely sought God on behalf of the child, perhaps for days, but, on the seventh day, the child died, and David went into the house of the Lord and worshiped.
Since Nathan had announced the death of David’s son as a consequence of David and Bathsheba’s sin, we might question David’s seeking God on behalf of the child at all. Did David not believe that the Lord would fulfill His word in that regard? Did David think that his own repentance or prayer could somehow merit the life of his child? Arguably pre-empting such questions, the Divinely-inspired author of 2 Samuel records David’s telling his servants that he did not know whether or not the Lord might be gracious to him and let the child live, and we can certainly think of examples of the Lord’s, after intercession or mediation, appearing to change His mind about previously announced judgment, examples that might have given David reason to wonder in his case. Regardless, the child’s death after such earnest penitential prayers did not keep David from worshiping the Lord.
How do you and I react when our prayers to the Lord seem to go unanswered or are answered in a way other than the way that we wanted? When they do not get their way, some people might get angry at God and refuse to worship Him; do we? Some people might think David and Bathsheba’s son innocent of anything deserving death and judge God for God’s even allowing, if not actively causing, the child to die; do we? Some people might try to understand things that God does not reveal to us and in the process contradict things that He does reveal to us, such as whether or not the child was punished for David and Bathsheba’s sin (Kretzmann, ad loc 2 Samuel 12:15, p.529); do we? Some people might go beyond Holy Scripture and say either that the child for sure went to hell or that the child for sure went to heaven; do we? If we do not sin in these ways, then we sin in other ways, for we are sinful by nature. As with David and Bathsheba’s son, the original sin that we inherit from our first parents in the Garden alone—not to mention the countless, sometimes unspeakable, actual sins that our original sin leads us to commit—warrants both our temporal and eternal death, unless, enabled by God we repent of our sin and trust God to forgive our sin for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Some commentators think that David and Bathsheba’s son died so that David did not have to die (Gehrke, ad loc 2 Samuel 12:15b-23, pp.298, 299; confer Keil-Delitzsch, ad loc 2 Samuel 12:1-14, p.932), but the Divinely-inspired author of 2 Samuel does not seem to say that, and the Lutheran Confessions seem to rule out understanding that the punishment added somehow merits David’s forgiveness, but instead the Lutheran Confessions point to David’s contrition—that is, his “sorrow”—and his faith (Apology of the Augsburg Confession XII:56‑57). Indeed, David was forgiven as all Old Testament figures were forgiven, by grace through faith in the Savior Who was coming, just as we are forgiven as all New Testament figures are forgiven, by grace through faith in the Savior Who has come. There was, in fact, a substitute for David, but it arguably was not that child of his but a much-more-distant descendent of his, also the Son of God Who took on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Out of God’s great love and mercy, Jesus the Christ took on our sin and the sins of the whole world, and, on the cross, He died in our place, the death that we deserved, before rising from the dead parts of three days later. When we turn in sorrow from our sin and trust God to forgive us for Jesus’s sake, then God does just that: God forgives our sin, all our sin, whatever our sin might be. God forgives our sins through His Word and Sacraments.
In the verses following tonight’s Reading, the Divinely‑inspired author of 2 Samuel tells of David and Bathsheba’s conceiving Solomon, whom the Lord loved and so was also called “Jedidiah”, a name that shares a root with David’s name and so is said to have given father and son assurance of the Lord’s favor (2 Samuel 12:24-25), if not also pointing forward to the Christ’s coming in human flesh (Kretzmann, ad loc 2 Samuel 12:25, p.530), seemingly of Solomon’s line (Matthew 1:6-7, but compare Luke 3:31), though certainly as One greater than Solomon (Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31). Our objective signs of God’s favor towards us are His Word and Sacraments, especially the Sacraments, as they apply the Gospel to us individually (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, XI:37). God makes us His children through the water and Word of Holy Baptism. When we privately confess our sins to our pastors, God Himself forgives us through their individual absolution. And, then, in the Sacrament of the Altar, we eat bread that is the Body of Christ given for us and drink wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for us, and so we receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. As David’s confession and absolution put him back into the covenant of grace that he entered when he was circumcised and in which he also would have partaken of the annual Passover meal, so our confession and absolution relate to our baptismal grace and our participation in the Sacrament of the Altar.
David went into the house of the Lord and worshiped, and then he went to his own house, “justified”, one commentator adds (Gehrke, ad loc 2 Samuel 12:15b-23, p.299, apparently with an intentional allusion to Luke 18:9-14, especially v.14). The temporal consequences of David’s sin and the Lord’s discipline did not stop David from seeking and receiving the Lord’s forgiveness and from glorifying and praising the Lord as a result of that forgiveness. David was right not to pray any longer for the dead. If the child who died truly was not circumcised and, more importantly, if he lacked repentance and faith, then David would only “go to him” in the grave, not also in eternal life. But, regardless, David seems to have acknowledged and humbly accepted the Lord’s will. Though we lack specific statements from the Lord in our regard, we do well to likewise acknowledge and humbly accept the Lord’s will, to not let temporal consequences of our sin and the Lord’s discipline stop us from seeking and receiving the Lord’s forgiveness and from glorifying and praising the Lord as a result of that forgiveness. We who repent and believe and receive God’s forgiveness through His Word and Sacraments may go to the grave, if the Lord does not return first, but we will also go to eternal life.
Surprising or not, “David’s Son” is one “More Snapshot of Repentance”, that, like the other “Snapshots of Repentance”, is both instructive and comforting for us. For, we have seen sin, repentance, forgiveness, temporal consequences for that sin, but nevertheless still glory and praise to God. Next week, we will consider “Jeremiah’s Lament”. Until then, may God bless our repentant walk in this season of Lent to the glory of His Holy Name.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +