2 Samuel 11:1-5

11 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. 3 David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, ‘This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ 4 So David sent messengers to fetch her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant.’

The problem began not in vs. 3, when David decided he wanted to have sex with Bathsheba. No, the problem began in vs. 1. David the king chose not to be with his forces when they were on the front, instead he stayed in Jerusalem and travelled down a path that he would never have travelled down if he had been on the front.

Yes, David should have handled things very differently in vs. 2. He should have turned away when he realized that he was looking down into Bethsheba’s garden and seeing her there. He should have decided when he heard that she was married to someone else (vs. 3), “She is not for me.” But again, the problem begins back in vs. 1. Joab and the people who had the ability to tell David, “No, don’t do this.” They were all at the front. David’s accountability group were not around to hold him to account.

Self-control works best when we have people around us to hold us accountable. When we have people around us who we know we will have to explain ourselves to. When we have people who can say to us, “you have made a mess, you need to own what you have done.” But David with his power, and no one around but a few servants, had no one to hold him to account. No one who could see what he was thinking and say, “You are really going to do this thing?!?”

We as human beings are capable of self-deception and self-justification, our self-control (our consciences) needs support. Our consciences work best if they are sharpened by the Holy Spirit and if we draw around ourselves people who will hold us accountable.

PRAYER:

O Lord, you put us in community with other people. Give us the courage to be held account by those communities of care and compassion into which you have put us. Give us the humility to be held accountable for our actions and our words. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Titus 3:1-7

3 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Saviour appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6 This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

In reading this passage, it is very important to get the flow of the argument.

Vs. 2 points to the fact that followers of Jesus are to speak well of others, avoid quarrelling, show courtesy to others, and to be gentle – why? Because (“For” vs. 3) we were once foolish, disobedient, “passing our days in malice and envy…hating one another.” So the followers of Jesus are to be gentle, showing courtesy, to others, knowing full well that the others to whom that gentleness is being shown are – malicious, envious, hateful people. We do that because we once were among the malicious, envious, hateful. We were like the people we are now called to show gentleness and courtesy towards. And Jesus “the goodness and loving-kindness of God” appeared among us and showed us gentleness, grace, mercy. So we who have received the mercy of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ, we are now to be those who show mercy and grace to those around us, including the malicious, envious, and hateful.      

As vs. 7 says, the mercy and grace offered to us in Jesus makes us heirs, children of God – and children are to bear the marks of being the children of their parents. Having been saved by the grace of God, the mercy and gentleness we see in Jesus Christ, we are called to live that gentleness and mercy in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in the business of transforming our lives – and as this passage makes clear that transformation is seen in us becoming gentler, more courteous, less quarrelsome. That such changes are just as much a work of the Holy Spirit transforming us, just as much a work of the Holy Spirit’s power, as are other things that seem more bigger and draw more attention. In the quiet ways of God, the Holy Spirit seeks to make us gentle and gracious like Jesus.

PRAYER:

O Lord, make us gentle. Bend our lives towards gentleness as we relate to people who are quarrelsome, envious, and even hateful. We rejoice that your grace and gentleness found us, transform our lives that we might live gentle lives towards others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.