David and the Pharisee

DAVID AND THE PHARISEE

(2 Samuel 11.1-12.14)

(Luke 7.36-50)

It is always easier to see the fault in someone else, rather than see the fault in oneself. This is the simple message of the above Old Testament and Gospel readings.

The Old Testament reading usually mirrors the Gospel reading for the day and we can see this principle at work in the selection of scriptural readings for today.

In our Old Testament reading, David, we are told, had taken quite a fancy to Uriah's wife but since she was already married, she was not free to respond to his advances. David therefore decided that he had to get rid of Uriah. He did this by putting him in the front line of his army engaged in fighting the Ammonites where he stood a good chance of being killed. And this is exactly what happened. Hence, we are told that 'When the wife of Uriah was told that her husband was dead she made lamentation for him.' As soon as the mourning was over, ‘David sent and brought her to his home, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.'

Needless to say, this, 'displeased the Lord,' and in response, he sent the prophet Nathan to David to point out the error of his ways.

Sadly, David was blind to his faults, and initially refused to acknowledge any wrong doing. So Nathan tried a more subtle approach. He told David a story. After all, everyone enjoys a good story, particularly if it captures the imagination.

The story concerned the unexpected arrival of a traveller to a rich man's house. Unfortunately, like old Mother Hubbard, the cupboard was bare, and he had no meat to for the occasion. Now, the host was a very rich man and owned a large flock of sheep. On the other hand, his neighbour was a poor man owning only one ewe lamb which he had raised from birth. Since the rich man was reluctant to kill one of his many lambs for the meal, he chose instead to kill the poor man's only ewe lamb.

Needless to say, David, as the prophet Nathan had anticipated, suggested that the rich man deserved to die because of his selfish and thoughtless act.

And so we come to punch line of the story when Nathan faces David and says, You are the man'.

He was the man because, although God had richly blessed David, he still wanted another man's wife and would do anything to get her, including putting Uriah in the front line of battle so he stood a good chance of being killed, leaving the field free for David's advances.

Finally, we are told that David saw the error of his ways and said, 'l have sinned against the Lord.'

Although God is now able to forgive David he nevertheless seeks to punish him by the death of the child that David and Uriah's wife was expecting.

Hence I said at the beginning, that it is always easier to see the fault in another person, in this case, the fault of the rich man in Nathan's story, than to see the fault in oneself.

Our Gospel reading records a similar story, only this time it concerns an unnamed Pharisee, who had invited Jesus to a meal.

Unfortunately, the meal was interrupted by a well-known prostitute who, whilst passing the open doorway saw Jesus and came in. We are told that she was so thrilled that she broke open an expensive jar of ointment and poured it upon the head of Jesus. Then she did what no respectable Jewish woman would ever think of doing in public; she let down her hair and used it to wipe away her tear drops from the feet of Jesus.

Needless to say, the Pharisee was very annoyed. He was not just annoyed that she had invited herself to the feast, but that she was a well-known prostitute. How could Jesus, who claimed to be a prophet, not be aware of who she was, let alone allow her to anoint him and wash his feet.

Again, as in our Old Testament reading, we are given a story within a story in order to show the Pharisee the error of his ways.

Jesus tells the story of how a creditor had two debtors. One owed him the enormous some of five hundred denarii, whereas the other one only owed him the mere sum of fifty denarii. However, the creditor cancelled the debt of both of them.

Just as Nathan invited David to comment upon his story, so Jesus invited the Pharisee to comment upon this story. So Jesus asked the Pharisee, 'Which of them will love him more?' The Pharisee naturally replied, 'The one for whom he cancelled the greatest debt.'

Jesus then turned the table on the Pharisee and pointed out that, whereas he had neglected to show the traditional courtesy of anointing Jesus’ head upon arrival, the woman had anointed him. Also, the Pharisee had failed to provide water for Jesus to wash away the dust from his feet from off the Eastern road, though this notorious woman had washed his feet with her tears. Finally, whereas the Pharisee had failed to kiss him upon arrival, which was the Eastern custom, the woman had not ceased kissing him.

Jesus concludes by rubbing salt into the wound of this very religious and respectable Pharisee by pointing out that, no matter how many faults the woman may have committed in the past, they were now forgiven. She had recognised her faults, but the Pharisee had failed to notice his faults.

Again, as I said at the beginning, it is always easier to see the faults in other people rather than see the faults in ourselves.

When you look into the mirror to shave, or put on your make-up, do you see any faults in your own lives, or are they only evident in other people?

After all, there can be no experience of forgiveness in our lives, unless we have first learned to acknowledge our own sinfulness. We may fool ourselves, but we cannot fool God. He sees through all the pretence with which we clothe ourselves, in the same way as he saw through King David in our Old Testament reading, and the Pharisee in our Gospel reading.

Part of Christian maturity is learning to accept responsibility for our own actions and not blame other people.

I am reminded of some words of the Benedictine nun, Sister Joan Chittister, to her own community of nuns.

She writes, 'If you are not committed to your adulthood, if you are just coming in and going out, letting others take care of the ragged edges of our life together, then you will forever see the problem in someone else. If you want to know if you are committed to your own adulthood, ask yourself, "In the last three things that bothered me in this community, who was to blame?"