2. Samuel 12,1-10.13-15a. 11. Trinity

2. Samuel 12,1-10.13-15a                              4122

11. Sn. n. Trinitatis 58   

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius, Algeria, † 430 

28. August 2022

1. ℣ God is in His holy habitation: 

    ℟ He is God who setteth the solitary in families. (Psalm 68,5) 

  Our narrow-mindedness, our short-sighted vision, these we bring before You, O Lord; change and broaden our mind and eyes, so that we understand and see through the lens of Your mercy. (Meine engen Grenzen elkg 620,1 2021 Eugen Eckert 1981)

2. »And Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He went to him and said to him: „There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there approached a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had arrived, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had visited him.“«  

  3. »You are the man!« Those 4 words cut King David to his heart. He had sinned against Yahweh and his neighbor. David was guilty and his sin had been exposed, but he was also a man who sought after God’s heart (1. Samuel 13,14). David was a talented musician (1. Samuel 16,18). After the Prophet Nathan had confronted him, David wrote Psalm 51; it is a psalm of repentance that we still us 3000 years later. 

4. »Have  mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit« (Psalm 51,1-12).  

5. O that the Holy Spirit would give us a heart that epitomizes those words and sentiments! Sin is not merely a collection of bad things we do, but it is ultimately a severing of the relationship we have with God and our neighbor. it is this relationship that God desires to restore. David had become lost, and Y sent Nathan to find him. God is the one who finds sinners and restores them. In today’s parable, both the Pharisee and the tax collector needed redemption> the Pharisee who boasted in his works righteousness and the tax collector who admitted his total depravity (Luke 18,11.13). 

6. David knew the sorrow expressed by the tax collector: O God, be merciful to me, a sinner! (Luke 18,13). »David said to Nathan: „I have sinned against Yahweh.“ And Nathan replied to David: „Yahweh also has put away your sin.“« And so we confess in the Divine Service: I, a poor, miserable sinner. David reminds us: »The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise« (Psalm 51,17). God is loving, merciful and forgiving; He finds lost sinners and restores them to fellowship with Him. John the Baptizer declared this of Jesus when he proclaimed: »Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!« (John 1,29). Jesus has made propitiation for our sin; He has purchased our redemption with His very blood. 

7. The core para. 11 2sam12,01 2014

8. Oh, how blest it is to know:

Were as scarlet my transgression,

It shall be as white as snow

By Thy blood and bitter Passion;

For these words I now believe:

Jesus sinners doth receive (Jesus Sinners Doth Receive tlh 324,6 Erdmann Neumeister 1718).  

This is most certainly true.

13. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

14. Let us pray. O Lord God, we pray Thee to keep us from all self-confidence and vainglory. Bestow upon us Thy great grace of humility and self-forgetfulness; to Thee may we look up, in all that we do, alike for the will and for the power; and to Thee may we ascribe with a sincere heart all the praise.  Amen. (The Week of Trinity 11, Vespers Collect 1. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.