A Cautionary Tale

A Cautionary Tale

Pentecost 22 – NL1 John B. Valentine
2 Samuel 11:1-5; 11:27-12:9 October 23, 2022

“A CAUTIONARY TALE”

I’m going to try something a little bit different here today.

I’m just going to share with you a series of stories ... and let you connect the dots.

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Story #1 is a story which you’d find in a history book.

The year was 1770 .... and tensions were high.

• The populace of Boston had been chaffing under an onerous tax burden for well-nigh five years ...

• The patriots ... Paul Revere and Samuel Adams principle among them ... were looking for ways to thumb their collective noses at the British monarchy ...

• Some among them were clamoring for conflict ....

• Others were passionately pleading for peace.

But at just such a time as this ... a well-respected and eloquent national leader ... surrounded by the most-respected and influential of his countrymen ... took to the podium ... to address the cries of the Colonists ... and argue for a peaceable resolution of the situation.

You know this one of whom I speak?? Was it ....

• Was it Thomas Jefferson??? No.
• Was it John Adams??? No.
• Was it George Washington??? Absolutely not!!

It was actually an English politician ... and he was addressing the House of Lords in London!

His name ... William Pitt the Elder ... the British Prime Minister ... the fellow after whom the City of Pittsburgh is named.

And in his speech that day he spoke these words: “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.”

Now you may never have heard of William Pitt the Elder before ....

And you may never have known that a British Prime Minister was a staunch advocate for the cause of the colonists ...

But I suspect you may have heard Pitt’s words before ... at least as they were paraphrased in later years: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Pitt’s words again:

“Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.”

Thus far Story #1 ......

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Now hold Pitt’s words about how “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it” ... and consider Story #2 ... which comes from this week’s news feed ... and which spoke volumes to me.

A well-known minister in New Orleans and Baton Rogue ... the Rev. Dr. Charles Southall III ... pleaded guilty to money laundering before a U.S. District Judge.

It seems as though Pastor Southall solicited ... and then stole ... nearly nine hundred thousand dollars from his church, its housing ministries, his congregations and a charter school.

Now ... by all accounts ... Pastor Southall was all that:

• a highly-respected leader in his community ...
• the one-time winner of his community’s ‘Business Person of the Year’ award ...
• a Police Department chaplain ...
• a trustee of one of the most esteemed seminaries in the country ...
• and a crook.

But it would appear that all that acclaim and respect went to his head ....

And that he began to believe all the amazing things that people said about ...

And that the normal rules for institutional oversight didn’t apply to him ...

And now he’s facing ten years in a federal prison on a money laundering charge!

What was it that William Pitt the Elder said???

“Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.”

Apparently ... when you’re the unsupervised and unchecked leader of a multi-million dollar ministry ... you have a LOT of power ... and you believe that “you can get away with all sorts of things” ... eight-hundred eighty nine thousand, five hundred sixty five things ... to be exact.

Thus far Story #2 ......

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Now our third story is a story from Holy Scripture ... this morning’s lesson from the Second Book of Samuel.

It’s that story about King David ... and his abusive interaction with a woman named Bathsheba.

I suspect some of your have heard something of that story maybe a time or two before???

For the most part ... 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.

But what was it that Prime Minister Pitt said????

“Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.”

And David had power ... unlimited power ...... and things ... as they were apt ... 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 “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.”

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 “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.”

Thus far Story #3 ......

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Now the last story I want you to consider is a story that hasn’t even been written yet.

It’s YOUR story.

For while you may not be a prime minister or a crown prince or a king ... these stories have something to say to each and every one of us ...

For ... 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!

• 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.

• 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.”

“A Cautionary Tale” was a sermon preached by Pastor John Valentine on the weekend of October 23, 2022 — the 20th Sunday after Pentecost.  The text upon which it was/is based is the story of King David, Bathsheba and the Prophet Nathan as recorded in 2 Samuel 11-12. To access a copy of this week’s worship bulletin, click here: Worship Order 20221023