Reflection: you the man! 

By Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai 

We were privileged to host here at SAOTT the Convention on the rights of children/mokopuna all day Thursday.  The Human Rights Commission were there in full force.  They launched a booklet “Doing what’s right for mokopuna” recommendations from the United Nations to Improve mokopuna rights in Aotearoa, New Zealand.  Maori Mokopuna presented an amazing kapahaka on the Convention on the rights of Children.  It was moving and incredibly powerful.  Our children are crying out to be heard, they are now claiming their voice.  What a privilege it was to be a fly on the wall of this National Convention for the rights of children.   

When we read in last weeks Hebrew bible reading on God punishing David and Bathsheba by causing their baby to become sick and die, its hard to comprehend and fathom such cruelty by a God that I believe is good.   

One of our Wellington City Councillor’s Iona Pannett, Margaret’s daughter who happened to worship with us last Sunday emailed me that she thought the Royal Commission of inquiry into Abuse would have featured somewhere in our Sunday service.  My response was that would be part 2 of the David and Bathsheba story today.  I will send her a copy of today’s reflection. 

As some of you may be aware from E News I opened the Alo.Fa centre a place for healing etc, for the Pacific from sexual violence and abuse  launch on Tuesday evening with a blessing.  My reflection would have been very confronting for church people and clergy whether or not you are of the Pacific.   

People in power, people of privilege, the more you have, the more you want the greedier you become as in the case of David.  The interesting thing is he did not recognise himself in the parable of the rich man and the poor man.  Sometimes our privilege can make us so blinded to the realities of those in poverty, those who struggle to make ends meet, those who are much less fortunate than ourselves.  A friend of mine calls it champagne compassion or even as Segundo calls it Armchair compassion.   

As the story goes when David heard what happened to the poor man he burned with anger and said “as surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”  Then Nathan said to David, “you are the man”. 

This story is a biblical masterpiece. As we watch the story unfold, we see Nathan setting up David mercilessly, using details that pull at the heart strings. A poor man uses his precious money to buy their only lamb — it becomes the family pet; it eats at their table and it lays in his arms. There is a strong sense that this poor man is sacrificing much for his family to care for this little lamb, but then it is stolen and killed by a rich man who had many of his own.

Nathan tells the story in such a way as to extract David’s words of conviction from his own mouth. It is almost too painful to watch.  The story makes a much greater distinction of the love both men had for their sheep. The wealthy man was not so concerned with any one of his sheep. His concern was with the total number under his control. He did not want to lose any of them, for their total was a measure of his wealth.

When a visitor comes to the wealthy man, hospitality toward strangers required that he provide refreshment, lodging and protection. So, the wealthy man took the poor man’s sheep, instead of using his own.  Nathan tells David the story and David is outraged against such an injustice toward the poor man.  Nathan was counting on that reaction because of how Yahwist society dealt with issues of greed, hospitality and the use of wealth.  He chose this example because it would strike a chord with David in recognition that his actions were reflected in the character’s example of greed and the false front of a fake hospitality.

The impact of the story is heightened when we consider that Uriah Bathsheba’s soldier husband was from the Hittites who were enemies of the Israelites. He must have been a convert, since we see him living near the palace, eating with the king, faithfully serving the God of Israel, and his wife is observing the Jewish purification laws. When David tries to cover up his crime by coaxing Uriah to go home to his wife, Uriah self-sacrificially refused to do so because his comrades were on the battlefield.

Nathan’s words to David “you are the man” must have felt like a sword piercing David’s heart.  Nathan goes on to confront David that he has killed Uriah.  Nathan confronts David after his escapades with Bathsheba and orchestrating the murder of Uriah the Hittite, crafting a story contrasting a poor and a wealthy man, each with sheep.

David had become ensnared by his wealth and the desire for even greater wealth.
Bathsheba was considered property. She was the wife and property of Uriah, an immigrant living in the land and in service to David. Uriah had done respectable work on David’s behalf, yet David’s treatment of him disrespected his humanity.

Just as Bathsheba was treated socially as property, so David considered his own wives and concubines as property, desiring to amass greater wealth and prominence by claiming more for himself.  Stepping upon others in the process of giving in to his greed was the same sort of injustice Nathan’s parable highlighted.

Interestingly, Nathan’s parable does not mention anything about the wealthy man killing the poor one. It stops with the slaughter of the poor man’s sheep, focusing on the wealthy man’s greed, theft and injustice toward one with little to no recourse for his own defence.

Greed is the issue highlighted. It is a parable of economic injustice that ends prior to the death of the poor man, even though David orchestrated Uriah’s death.

Death, murder and killing were accepted ways of life for David. His career had been built upon the violence of war and death.

While his actions in orchestrating Uriah’s death were condemnable, they were not as relatable to an accusation of injustice as was greed. It is as though the cultural, social and religious norms of David’s day and our own were reversed.

Nathan had no need to address the murder of Uriah once David understood how greed was behind his actions toward Uriah and Bathsheba.

David’s greed for power, wealth, influence and control had taken over his life and perspectives. It had become the dominant theme of his life. 

Culturally, socially and politically, many actually blame the poor for their plight, seeing them as greedy for wanting basic access to those things essential for living – food, shelter, clothing and health. Meanwhile, the greed of the wealthy is seen as worthy of social and political protection.  

The Royal Commission of Abuse in care both in church and society highlights the power imbalance between perpetrator and victim.  The victim’s had no voice, they were powerless and the perpetrator being older, bigger, prominent, cunning, manipulative, deceptive knew all the tricks in the books, the language of grooming, abuse and total disregard.  They would have been very much aware of their crimes both at the time and afterwards and yet they returned to their work, their families their normal lives as if they were good and upright citizens standing up for Christian values and justice falsely blind to their own crimes and guilt in the process.   

Habitual offenders actually believe they are innocent.  We don’t need to look far at American politics where we have a presidential candidate who has been found guilty himself of sexual misdemeanours.  Hypothetically these include taking the sheep of the poor man and yet still he can’t see that “he is the man.”   

Our church ie. The Presbyterian church has not featured well at all this week particularly Presbyterian Support Southern.  The destroying of the records that incriminated the Presbyterian Church when they heard there would be a Royal Commission of Inquiry.   

Many clergy have used their powerful roles as ministers to hide behind the masks of the Christian faith in which they have carried out their sexual violence and abuse.  Some have been found out and convicted and served prisons sentences, many have died before being found out or going to trial.   

There are far too many stories of this nature that mars the corridors of power in all our communities both in church and society, big and small.  I have had the sad undertaking of listening to the stories of incest and abuse within families that were afraid to speak out.  Stories of mothers taking their daughters shame and pain to the grave with them.  Stories of daughters who gave birth to their father’s children and fathers who continued to violate that sacred boundary between father and daughter and yet still remain within the protected sanctity of Christian marriage.   

What happens in our own families, churches and communities when people’s human rights are raped and violated? Are we complicit in hiding our shame? Do we expect to keep silent for the sake of public shame? 

Do our leaders speak out in their defence? Or is there a silence which forbids us to speak out against injustice? 

What can we change in our communities that will encourage the victims of violence to have a voice and be supported?  Amen. 

Let us now join together in the litany prepared by the Moderator of our church the PCANZ Right Rev Rose Luxford.  

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Audio of selected readings and reflections

Audio of the complete service