SETTING THE CONTEXT

David was the shepherd boy who faced down the giant Goliath. He was the young man chosen by God to be king after Saul. He is still remembered as the greatest king of Israel and Judah. He had enormous power, but he was still imperfect. Although most of the art I looked at of Bathsheba portrayed her as somewhat of a seductress, let’s remember that she had no power. Women were the property of their fathers or husbands. This story takes place in the spring after David sent his troops out to wage war. He was old enough now that he no longer went with them.

Read 2 Samuel 11:2-5

THE SERMON

At the dawn of creation, God gave human beings the power to make choices about their lives rather than being forced to live some path dictated by the Divine. This gift of freedom put creation at risk because humans have the ability to make choices for good or evil. They have the option to build up and care for what God creates or to destroy it. This freedom of choice introduces us to the whole dimension of morality.

Another reality in human affairs is power. The wealthy have power over the poor. Superpowers have power over weaker nations. Government officials have power over citizens. In many countries and in many relationships, men have power over women. Without a moral center or guide the mixture of those two realities – the freedom of choice and use of power can lead to disaster.

Over the last month we’ve been using the “language of Disney” and the language of the Bible to seek spiritual insights. Today we will look at a story called “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from the movie Fantasia. Not one word is spoken, but it is an outstanding parable. Mickey Mouse is the apprentice of a great sorcerer. While the sorcerer is gone, Mickey tries to use his power to lighten his workload. Well, let’s watch.

SHOW SORCERER’S APPRENTICE FILM CLIP ^[i]1 (start at sorcerer conjuring butterfly, End as Mickey starts walking with broom)

Now that is one smart mouse! Who can blame him for trying to make his work load lighter by enchanting a broom? He has the broom draw the water from the well outside and bring it into the wizard’s castle. Self-satisfied, he falls asleep dreaming of being such a powerful wizard that he can control the stars and the heavens. Ah, don’t we all dream of having great power at some time in our lives? Isn’t that part of our celebrity fascination? And usually when we make choices, we convince ourselves that it is for the best. I think very few people say, “I’m going to do this because it’s going to hurt me.” Even when it is a bad choice, we have usually rationalized why we “deserve it” or maybe they “deserve it” or we simply refuse to see the truth. Remember the old adage; “there are none so blind as those who will not see? “

The Bible doesn’t sugarcoat humanity. It is full of stories of people making bad choices, of people violating the laws that God put in place for the welfare of people and communities; that is what David did in our story today. First, he violated Uriah and Bathsheba’s marriage covenant. He used his power as king to “take” Bathsheba in adultery, maybe he told himself that it was his right as king – and it was by civil law, but there is a higher standard than civil law. As usually happens with bad decisions, there were unpleasant consequences. Her words “I am pregnant” must have sent shock waves for there was no doubt who the father was since Uriah was a soldier off waging battle for David. King David tries to cover-up his sin, but it doesn’t turn out as he planned.

In our movie, Mickey Mouse learned the concept of snowballing. He awakens to find that the enchanted broom has done its job too well and is flooding the castle. His attempts to fix the problem don’t quite have the effect he anticipates. Let’s watch.

SHOW FILM CLIP 2 (start at Micky running after broom end at Mickey brooms add more water to well and Mickey falls down)

Mickey wakes up from his dream to discover he’s in the middle of a flood.  Did you notice that in his panic the first “fix” that comes to mind led him right to violence? Only he has made things worse, not better. Mickey went to the instruction book for help, but it is too late. He finds himself heading down a whirlpool of his own creation.

King David can certainly identify with that feeling. David’s attempts to cover-up his adultery with Bathsheba take him down a more and more sinister path. He sends for Uriah and tries to get him to go home and sleep with his wife, but Uriah won’t cooperate. He won’t sleep in comfort while his fellow soldiers sleep on the ground. Then David gets him drunk and tries to get him to go home, but that doesn’t work. David can’t trick the man to cover his sin. Finally he has Uriah murdered through the efforts of his own army officers. And not only does Uriah die, but so do a lot of other innocent men. David’s actions led him into a whirlpool of his own creation that led him to “playing God” with the lives of not just one woman and one man, but of several.

How many of us can relate to this snowballing? We make one bad choice maybe we tell a lie, break a confidence or maybe we break our marriage vows “just once” or we cheat at work “just once”, but that leads us to more lies, more cover-up, more choices away from truth and wholeness. What do you do when things are swirling out of control and you are drowning? Let’s see what happened to our Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

SHOW FILM CLIP 3 (start Mickey swirling out of control stop as sorcerer watches him walk away)

Have you ever felt like Mickey did when he faced the wizard? I know I have turned to God more than once with that sheepish look. Fortunately, there are many Biblical images of God’s tenderness for sheep! Mickey was rescued by the sorcerer whose power he had misused. Hopefully, he learned his lesson, but who knows. King David needed a more direct approach to even admit his sin. The prophet, Nathan, confronted him and David saw the evil of his actions. He needed God to unmask his rationalizations and call him to accountability through the prophet. Then David was quick to admit his error, to confess his sin and the Lord forgave him, but there were still consequences to his actions. Even though he married the wife of Uriah their baby died and there was strife in his family. Yet a short time later Bathsheba bore his beloved son, Solomon, who inherited the throne from David. Bad choices, even those as bad as David’s, don’t have to be the end of the story.

We need God in our lives. We need the measuring stick that Jesus provides as we make our decisions and as we use our power. On our own, it is too easy for us to delude ourselves, to rationalize our sinful behavior. We need prophets to come into our lives and tell us the truth even when it is hard to hear. I read a pamphlet recently entitled, “Do Christians Need to Come to Church?” They do for we need the accountability; we need to be reminded of who Jesus was and how his witness applies to us today. Freedom of choice and use of power are a dangerous combination without a moral compass, a compass God has provided us in the life and teachings of Jesus. And for those times when we like David, like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, make wrong choices God has provided the way back. We face our error and confess the truth. We choose to repent or change our direction and attitude to move in step with God and then we receive God’s gracious forgiveness and start anew. For by God’s grace that whirlpool sucking us down, can become God’s whirlwind lifting us up. It happened for David and it can happen for us. Amen.

Sermon delived by Rev. Nancy Cushman on August 19, 2007.