Pastor Sherry’s message for August 4, 2024

Scriptures: 2 Sam 13:1-31; Ps 51:10-19; Eph 4:17-24; Jn 8:1-11

Joe DiMaggio was a baseball centerfielder for the New York Yankees from 1936-1951, interrupted by 3 years army service during WWII.  He is probably most famous for maintaining a streak of hits in 56 consecutive games; for helping the Yankees win 9 World Series in his 13 years as an active player; and for having been married briefly to the actress Marilyn Monroe.  Curiously, there is a line about him in Paul Simon’s iconic song from the 1960’s called “Mrs. Robinson”—What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson?  Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away…hey, hey, hey.”  Joe apparently wrote to Simon after the song came out and said, “What do you mean, where have I gone?  I haven’t gone anywhere!  I’m still around selling Mr. Coffee.”  (He advertised Mr. Coffee for a number of years on TV.)  Paul Simon mentioned his letter in a “60 Minutes” interview and told Mike Wallace, “Obviously Mr. DiMaggio is not accustomed to thinking of himself as a metaphor.”

(Anecdote borrowed from Scott Hoezee, www.sermons.com, July 30, 2024.)

I read this recently and thought, “Well, who does think of themselves as a metaphor?”  Jesus used metaphors to describe Himself:  I am the Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd, the Vine, the Living Water, the Gate, the way, the truth and the life, the Resurrection and the Life, etc., but He was and is God.  The rest of us tend to think of ourselves as ordinary, regular persons.  How would you describe yourself?  I would say I’m a mother and grandmother, a follower of Jesus Christ, a pastor, a friend, a neighbor, a psychologist, a daughter to deceased parents, an American, and so on. It might be fun to ask our families to come up with some poetic image they might use to capture in a word or phrase who we are to them.  Would they say we are “the Rock of Gibraltar? Or might they say we are “a pain in the neck”? 

Most of the time, in Scripture, the stories are of real people like us, facing real and sometimes tough situations, and are useful to us as examples, rather than metaphors.  Our Scripture lessons today contain several didactic examples and maybe a few creative metaphors.

A.  Let’s start with our Old Testament lesson from 2 Samuel 13:1-31.  If I’m not mistaken, this story never appears in our lectionary.

Perhaps it’s too violent, too upsetting, or too triggering.  But I appreciate that our God doesn’t try to “candy-coat” human behavior.  In certain stories, He shares with us how very depraved human beings can be if they are not following hard after Him. The story of Amnon, Tamar, and Absolom illustrates for us the initial outworking of Nathan’s prophesy to the guilty King David (2 Samuel 12:10)—Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.  In other words, David would reap a harvest of violent and reprehensible behavior among his own children.

It begins when Amnon, David’s eldest son and heir (by his 3rd wife Ahinoam), thinks he’s desperately in love with his half-sister, Tamar.  Tamar was reputed to be very beautiful.  Her full brother was Absalom, David’s favorite son.  Their mother was Maacah, David’s 4th wife.  She was a princess, daughter to Talmai, King of Geshur, so the marriage may have been a political one.

The true tale is accelerated by a wily cousin, Jonadab.  He recommends to Amnon that he lure Tamar into his bedroom.  (Beware of wily cousins.  I have to wonder how aiding Amnon to do wrong would profit Johadab.  Remember, last week I encouraged us to be somewhat skeptical of human reason.)  Amnon takes his advice, even asking his father to assist by directing Tamar to tend to Amnon.  David was a mighty general and a gifted leader, but he appears to have been pretty clueless or naive regarding his sons.

Amnon’s victim, Tamar, realizes his intentions are sinister when he grabs her, and she begs him to let her alone.  She first appeals to his morals, (v.12, NLT)—Don’t be foolish!  Don’t do this to me!  Such wicked things aren’t done in Israel.  She then asks him to consider what this would mean to her future, (v.13)—Where could I go in my shame?

Next, She reminds him of what this will do to his reputation (v.13)—And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel.  She even offers him an alternative (v.13)—Please, just speak to the king about it and he will let you marry me (probably not, but it may have bought her time or an opportunity to escape). 

Despite her pleas, Amnon won’t be persuaded and he assaults her.  Would real love lead a person to rape the one they claim to love?  No, he misperceived his lust for love.  After getting what he wanted, he then despises her and rejects her.  He doesn’t take responsibility for his sin, but instead blames his victim.  She is physically hurt, violated, humiliated, and grieved.  But notice she does not go to their father for help.  She knows that Amnon is his heir; no doubt she thinks, “Who am I compared to him?”She then runs to her brother, Absolom, for refuge.

King David hears about it afterward, gets angry, but does nothing.  Absolom despises Amnon and patiently plots revenge.  It takes 2 years, but he commands his servants to kill Amnon at a harvest celebration he hosts.

The rumor runs ahead that all the king’s sons are assassinated.  Wily cousin Jonadab tells the king that Absolom killed just Amnon—not the other sons—due to Amnon’s rape of his sister.  (Again, what was Jonadab after?)

David mourns Amnon’s death, but he again does nothing to his favorite son—now his heir–Absolom.  Absolom “gets out of Dodge” by taking refuge with his maternal grandfather, the King of Jeshur, for 3 years.

The grave, violent sins of two of his sons further grieves King David.

One kills the other.  The murderer, Absolom, no doubt develops contempt his father, David.  David has let his grief and favoritism get in the way of doing the right thing.  And to add insult to injury, he abandons his daughter—Scripture does not tell us how her life turned out.  (I want to ask about this when I get to heaven.)  These two sons are examples of entitled kids who go wrong. They are both godless and immoral.  They may even be metaphors for what happens when parental figures do not confront grave sin in their children.

B.  Paul seems to have had the Amnon-Absolom saga in mind as he penned Ephesians 4:17-24.  He clearly could have been referencing those two selfish and indulged princes when he wrote (vv.17-19)—Live no longer as the Gentiles [non-Jews but also nonbelievers] do, for they are hopelessly confused.  Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him.  They have no sense of shame.  They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.  He exhorts us all to remember that if we believe in Jesus, we will not behave in sinful or depraved ways.  Instead, we should (vv.23-24)—…throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  Instead, let the Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes.  Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.  In other words, don’t behave like Amnon or like Absolom.

C. Finally, Jesus sees the larger picture in the case of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11).  Unlike the seemingly naïve King David, Jesus immediately perceives the motives of the religious leaders who drag in the female adulterer: 1st, they rudely interrupt His teaching at the Temple.  Rather than taking Him aside privately, they thrust the poor woman onto the ground before Jesus and the crowd, and make their demands. This is staged-outrage, designed to discredit our Lord.  2nd, they are not really concerned about justice or correct theology.  It’s another trap, like paying taxes or healing on the Sabbath.  3rd, the woman has been caught in the act (they probably dragged her in from bed); there’s no question that she’s guilty.  The true question is, “Where’s the guy?”  This is not a sin that is committed without a partner.

The trap is this:  If He says, “You are right, stone her,” they can rat Him out to the Romans (only the Romans could authorize the death penalty).  If He urges mercy for her, they can claim He violates Jewish Law.

What’s interesting is that in trying to trap Jesus, they have themselves violated the spirit of the Law:  Leviticus 20:10—If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—the wife of a neighbor—the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.  Deuteronomy 22:22–If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.  Notice, the means of death is not cited, and the Law is primarily aimed at the male.

The scribes and Pharisees very publically demand to know what Jesus would do.  Notice Jesus doesn’t say a word.  Instead, He begins to write in the dirt with His finger.  What could He have been writing? Perhaps He looked at them one-by-one and wrote their name next to a big, secret sin.

This makes sense because, after having apparently listing their hidden sins, He then states, (v.7)—IF any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.  The only sinless person there is Jesus.  One-by-one, they leave, in age order (maybe the eldest had accumulated more sins?)  So then Jesus turns His attention to the woman:  Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you?  She respectfully replies, No one, Sir.  And Jesus responds, Then neither do I condemn you.  Go now and leave your life of sin (sin no more).  The only one who could have legitimately judged her did not.  He called her behavior sin, tells her to amend her life, and offers her grace and forgiveness.

So what does this mean to us?  Several things:

(1) Scripture tells us, (Romans 6:23)—The wages of sin are death.  As far as we know, both Amnon and Absolom died with serious sins on their souls.  They predated Jesus and they did not seem sorry for the wrong they had done.  They probably now reside in hell.  

(2) But, for us, this side of the Cross, Jesus’ mercy triumphs over justice.  Thank God!  As Paul reminds us in Romans 3:23—For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  And as John writes in 1 John 1:8—If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  We are all sinners in need of a Savior.

(3) And, praise God, we have One!  Jesus is our Savior! 

(4) So let us learn from the examples of the wrong-doers in Scripture.  Let us live like metaphors of those who want to please our Lord.  And let us praise Him!  Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams