Reformation Sunday – NL1 John B. Valentine
2 Samuel 11:1-5; 11:27-12:9 October 25, 2026

“JUST A CAUTIONARY TALE”

Let me tease your semantic memory for just a moment .... and see if you can “fill in the blank.

• “Birds of a feather” ... FLOCK TOGETHER ...

• “Opposites” ... ATTRACT ...

“Birds of feather flock together” asserts that people who have similar interests, personalities, habits, or backgrounds tend to spend time together and form groups.

Meanwhile ... “Opposites attract” asserts that people who have completely different personalities, tastes, or characteristics are often drawn to each other.

And it leaves me wondering ... which one of those two old saws is right.

Here’s another one ...

• “Absence makes” ... THE HEART GROW FONDER ...

• “Out of sight” ... OUT OF MIND ...

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder” asserts that being physically separated from someone or something you love makes you appreciate them more.

Whereas “Out of sight, out of mind” asserts that when a person is no longer visible or present, people quickly stop thinking or caring about them.

Again it leaves me wondering ... which one of those two old saws is right.

One more .... maybe a bit more obscure ... this one ...

• "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts” ... ABSOLUTELY.

That turn of phrase comes from the 19th Century British politician Lord Acton.

• Or “Absolute power doesn’t absolutely corrupt, but it absolutely reveals”.
That one comes from a recent reworking of something that the legendary sportswriter Heywood Hale Broun said back in the 1970's.

But which one of those is it ... folks.

Does absolute power necessarily corrupt? .....

Or does absolute power simply reveal the true nature of the character of those who possess it???

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I can’t imagine it’s too very tough to figure out where this sermon is heading .... no???

You see ... this morning’s lesson was that bit we heard read from the Second Book of Samuel.

It was story about King David ... and his abusive interaction with a woman named Bathsheba ... a story that I suspect you may have heard something about a time or two before.

It was a story about power ... and absolute power ... and the absolute abuse of absolute power ... was it not???

Actually ... the way the Bible tells it ... the story of David is the consummate Cinderalla ... rags-to-riches ... tale.

As a kid ... David was an afterthought ... the youngest of eight sons of a man named Jesse.

In fact ... David was so little thought of that ... one day ... when Jesse was asked to present his sons to a visitor ... he neglected to even include David on the list ... fit for nothing more than taking care of sheep!

But ... through a series of strange twists and turns ... David the shepherd boy gets hired away to work for the king ...

• and he becomes friends with the king’s oldest son ...
• and he becomes a trusted royal servant ...
• and then he goes and kills the giant Goliath with a single stone ...
• and then he’s branded a traitor and an outlaw ...
• and then ... finally ... David himself is crowned king.

The story of David’s rise to power and fame is part Rocky and part Harry Potter ... and all gold. He’s the real deal and the whole package.

If the writers of the Books of Samuel are to be believed ... David has

• the ruggedly good looks of Matthew McCoughnehy ...
• the musical abilities of James Taylor ...
• the martial prowess of George S. Patton ...
• and the combat skills of Jackie Chan ...

All rolled into one!

And when Israel anoints David as their king ... they think that they’ve got it made in the shade.

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But what was it that Lord Acton said????

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

And David had power ... unlimited power ... absolute power ......

And things ... as they were apt to do ... took a turn for the worse.

You see ... it was the start of fighting season ...

And David sent his army off to put the fear of God into his neighbors ...

But David himself stayed behind ... to enjoy the good things in life ... and among the things that he found himself enjoying was a certain view from his roof ... his view of a woman named Bathsheba.

Now let’s make NO mistake about this.

This story of David and Bathsheba is NOT one of those Nicholas Sparks romance novels.

This is NOT about sparks flying.

This is NOT about instant chemistry.

Regardless of what certain Renaissance painters and Hollywood producers would have you believe .... this story of David and Bathsheba is NOT an affair ... or an illicit romance ... or a consensual anything.

This is a story about a man of privilege taking advantage because he can.

This is a story about sexual assault.

This is a story wherein the first victim of David’s misbehavior is Bathsheba.

David sees Bathsheba ... and makes her an offer that she literally CAN’T refuse.

Because “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

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Now we don’t have time to ponder the details of the problematic pregnancy which results from David’s abusive misbehavior ...

But ... at the end of the day ... the coverup is even worse than the crime ... and

• This beautiful woman Bathsheba is undone by David’s misdeeds ...
• Her utterly honorable husband is undone by David’s misdeeds ...
• Her first-born child is undone by David’s misdeeds ... and ... eventually ...
• A nation is thrown into a civil war because of David’s misdeeds.

At the end of the day ... this story is a cautionary tale about the abuse of authority ...

Of how David allowed his power to affect his judgment ...

Of how he lost sight of the value of others as others and simply saw them as means to an end ...

Of how he had come to view people as objects ... and as disposable ones at that!

Of how “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

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Speaking of corruption ... folks ... did any of you see the news which broke on Fox earlier this week?

Fox News reportedly surveyed a thousand people across the country recently ... in which they asked respondents to state whether they were “extremely concerned” ... “very concerned” ... “not very concerned” ... or “not at all concerned” about a whole number of key issues facing the electorate.

• 75% were either “very concerned” or “extremely concerned” about the war in Iran ....
• 80% were either “very concerned” or “extremely concerned” about healthcare ....
• 83% were either “very concerned” or “extremely concerned” about gas prices .... and
• 85% were either “very concerned” or “extremely concerned” about inflation.

But the issue that was/is most concerning to the American electorate in the days leading up to these midterm elections is “Corruption in government” ... which is "very concerning" or "extremely concerning” to 88% of the population!

And Fox ... FOX! ... acknowledged that ... by a wide margin ... those same respondents reported that they felt Democratic candidates were more trustworthy in dealing with government corruption than were Republicans!

Then again ... just within the past month ... there’s been:

That story about our now-former ambassador to Greece who asked some guy to pay off her $100,000 credit card bill as a “quid pro quo” ... and

That story about DHS secretary buying multiple airplanes from a political donor at substantially inflated prices ... and

That story about how an adviser to the Justice Department took a $50 million job from a billionaire banker just before she got the President to give that banker a pardon.

If Fox is willing to name those statistics and cite those stories three weeks out from the election ... folks ... then this is an issue.

Heck ... that survey actually says that this is “THE issue”.

Even more than “gas prices” and “affordability” and “inflation”.

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But ... at the end of the day ... this isn’t a sermon about how other people misuse ... and are corrupted by ... such power as they have .... as it is an opportunity for us consider how power may just as well get the better of us.

After all ... if David ... who elsewhere is described as a man after God's own heart ... can become so enamored with his power as to use people to serve his own ends ... then I suspect that we can too!

I mean ....

• Some of us have power at the office. We’ve been given the responsibility of supervising our co-workers.

And every day we can choose to help them to be the best they can be ... or we can simply see them as steps on our ladder of success.

• Some of us have power in our households. We’ve been given responsibility as parents and/or siblings and/or spouses.

And every day we can choose to help others thrive for their own sake ... or simply treat them as tools to be used.

• Some of us have power at school .... some of us have power in our communities ... some of us have particular power here at church ... most all of us have power in the marketplace ... most of us any have power and privilege of which we are not particularly aware.

But every day ... in a whole lot of ways ... we can use the power which we’ve been given to do good by our neighbors ... or we can simply use to love ourselves.

But before you write that story ... consider something which Saint Paul once wrote to a church that was bickering among themselves about power:

“Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”

You see ... it really all goes back to something of which we’ve really been speaking all Fall.

HOW is it that we live into the Covenant that God has given to us???

• “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and mind” ...

• And“Love your neighbor ... love your neighbor as yourself.”