Sermon Series: Parables
Message 4 of 4: Poor Man’s Lamb
Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:1-15
Notes from a message offered Sunday, 8/18/19 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota Florida.

Colorblindness affects 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women in the world. Most people see 10 million shades of color. A colorblind person only sees around 100,000 shades.

A company named EnChroma invented glasses to help colorblind people see color. There are hundreds of videos on YouTube recording the emotions of people seeing color for the first time. Here’s one of them.

Like these glasses, stories have the power to help us see, open our eyes, wake us up.

Sermon recording starts here

This morning, we’ll read a story from the prophet Nathan, praying God will use it to open our eyes and souls. As I read it, close your eyes and imagine the story.

After I read it, I’ll give you some questions to think about. This is not a quiz. Just jot down some impressions.

If you know the story or the reason the prophet Nathan told this story and who he told it to, set that aside for a moment. Look at it with fresh eyes. No spoilers for the rest of us

The Story of the Poor Man’s Lamb. 2 Samuel 12:1-4, The Voice Translation
1…Two men lived in the same city. One was quite rich and the other quite poor; 2 the rich man’s wealth included livestock with many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man owned only one little ewe lamb. He bought it and raised it in his family, with his children, like a pet. It used to eat what little food he had, drink from his meager cup, and snuggle against him. It was like a daughter to him.

4 Now a traveler came to the city to visit the rich man. To offer a proper welcome, the rich man knew he needed to fix a meal, but he did not want to take one of the animals from his flocks and herds. So instead he stole the poor man’s ewe lamb and had it killed and cooked for his guest.

What do you love as deeply as the poor man loved his lamb?
When you think about the rich man’s actions, what feelings are stirred up inside you?

Read the story again
How is the story speaking to situations in our country?
How is the story speaking to you?

Stories are powerful. They have the ability to help us see, to open our eyes, to wake us up.  A story can help us better understand a situation, see something from another person’s perspective, or see our own prejudice and sin.

What stories have changed your perspective?

• Stories like The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee help us understand the experiences of black folk in America
• Stories like The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood warns us about the abuse of power, the abuse of the Scriptures. How horrible injustices like slavery, oppression, and rape can become institutionalized with a society.
• Stories by Dr. Seuss. I am The Lorax, I speak for the trees

What stories have opened you up, opened your eyes, awakened you to something going on in the world or going on within yourself?

The Scriptures are very powerful for doing this. The Bible is unlike any other book you will ever read. God’s Word is living, active. God communicates with us through the Scriptures.

If you go to the Bible looking for history or science, you will be disappointed. But if you go to the Scriptures looking for God, you will find God. By reading the Scriptures we learn what God’s voice sounds like. We learn the character of God.

God speaks to our souls and our character. It’s why we need to be reading the Scriptures regularly and reading the Scriptures with others. We read so it becomes more than head knowledge, it goes deep to become heart knowledge and soul knowledge. It brings a change in our life.

2 Samuel 12:1-15
The prophet Nathan tells this story to King David. David has an emotional reaction to this story, just as you did. He is awakened inside.

5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; 6 he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

David is read to ask, “Who is this?” David’s going to hold him accountable.

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”

It’s a hit in the chest at this point. Truth bomb.

Nathan reminds David who he really is. What David has done is out of character. David’s become something twisted, having done great evil and sin.

Nathan is a close, good, faithful friend to speak the truth to David so he can be awakened to his true self, so he can see what he has done.

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; 8 I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ….

Nathan lays it all out. I know exactly what you have done.

David, the one who is called the man after God’s own heart.

• The faithful shepherd boy who defeats the giant Goliath with a sling and a stone
• Who then becomes the leader of the armies of Israel, a brave warrior who leads them to great victories in the Name of God.
• Who is chased by a jealous and violent King Saul. Does David fight him or take revenge on him? No, David forgives him and proclaims again he is Saul’s servant. David is a humble, disciplined man.
• When Saul is dead, God raises up David to be King. David unites all the tribes of God’s people, bringing them into one nation. David sets up the capitol in Jerusalem and in the center of the capital, David places the ark of the covenant where the presence and worship of God will take place.
• David, the one who writes many of the Psalms we still read today.
• David, who dances with abandon in the worship of Almighty God.
• David who has many wives and could snap his fingers and have even more.

David, who is now king, abuses his power. He looks down from his palace and sees Bathsheba bathing. (How crazy is it that Nathan doesn’t use her name!)

David sees her and wants her and summons her. What can she do? Nothing because he is the king. He rapes her. He commits adultery. Then she gets pregnant.

From there it gets worse and worse. There’s deceit. There are lies. Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, is brought home. David tries to cover it up by manipulating Uriah, but it doesn’t happen. He’s a man of integrity.

So David basically puts out a mob hit on him, sending him back to battle in the very front of the line, knowing he’ll be killed, so he can marry Bathsheba.

It is awful. He has stolen the poor man’s lamb. A man who was faithful to fight for his country.

Nathan is calling him out on it. Because that’s what friends do and that’s what prophets do and that’s what a story does. A story opens us up to where we have blindspots. David is totally blind to how twisted he has become.

Nathan reminds David who is truly is. This is who you are and this is what God has done for you. What you have done is evil.

What does David do? David repents. 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Our sin does not just affect ourselves, it ripples. Look at all the lives- Bathsheba’s life, Uriah’s life, the lives of all the insiders who knew what was really going on in a breach of trust. It ripples all the way up to God. It breaks relationship.

God through Nathan calls David back to himself.

This is not a fairy tale. David repents and everything’s all right. It isn’t all right. The consequences of his actions ripple and tear his family apart. It’s a mess. God redeems it.

This is the power of a story. This is why we stay in God’s Word. This is why we have close friends who are going to speak the truth in love to us and call us back to ourselves. And this is why we worship the One, True, Living God who speaks us and forgives us and gives us eyes to see.

Do you want eyes to see? We live in a time where we need to be awake and alive and true and trustworthy. We need to be the people of hope. We need to be the people of integrity. We need to stay awake to all that’s going on because we have the Word of Life.

How did the story speak to you? Did it speak to you personally? A family, business, community, or national level? What is God calling you to do?

Prayer: God we thank you for speaking to us. It is amazing that you would want to have anything to do with us. Your love is that great and your patience is that great and your mercy is that great. We thank you that we can come to you just as we are. That we don’t have to hide. We don’t have to pretend. We pray for eyes to see. Awaken us and keep us woke. Give us a story to share, a story of mercy and grace and forgiveness. A story of new life and hope and truth and justice. A story of belonging. Thank you, Lord. Make us new. Give us eyes to see. Amen.

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Poor Man’s Lamb Sermon © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
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