Day 131: Hope for the Future

2 Samuel 13:1-39 Just as Adam’s sin led to Cain’s murder of Abel, similarly David’s sin had adverse moral repercussions on his own sons. David painfully observed their wrongdoing and realized that this was punishment for the sins he had committed. (CCC 2268, 2356, 2388)

1 Chronicles 17:1-27 This chapter is almost identical to an earlier narrative (cf. 2 Sam 7) but with some differences. In this account, God told him that one of his sons would oversee the construction; the promise regarding the Davidic dynasty is not stated as strongly as in 2 Samuel; and the prayer of David gives more explicit credit to God for his success.

Ch 17:13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: The Lord referred to Solomon, son of David, who would continue the Davidic dynasty and would build the Temple that God had requested. In the Old Testament, to be a “son” of God had a variety of meanings; the term was applied to the Kings of Israel, the people of Israel, their children, and even the angels. These usages in the Old Testament are qualitatively incomparable to the unique status of Jesus Christ, the ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, who is God himself. (CCC 441)

Psalm 35 Here the psalmist turned to the Lord for deliverance from persecution. He described his miserable state, made his petition to God, and then confessed his trust and confidence in the Lord. 

Who hate me without cause: According to John, Christ cited this verse when false witnesses brought charges against him (cf. Jn 15:24-25). 

Malicious witnesses...with their teeth: The psalmist provided comfort and sympathy and even did penance for his friends amide their sickness and turmoil. However, these same friends never reciprocated these kind gestures. Instead, they are like the friends of Job who chided him on the assumption that he had sinned in some way. (CCC 304)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

• Sin’s Consequences

• According to the Book of Wisdom, “one is punished by the very things by which he sins” (Wis 11:16). 

• In few places in the Bible is this clearer than in the subsequent events involving David and his sons.

• Amnon, David’s firstborn, lusts after his half-sister Tamar, David’s daughter by the Aramean princess Maacah of Jeshur.

• Feigning illness, Amnon asks David to send Tamar to care for him.

• When Tamar arrives at Amnon’s house, he rapes her.

• Tamar is Amnon’s Bathsheba!

• David takes no action against Amnon.

• His failure to punish wrongdoing triggers a new cycle of aggression.

• Absalom, Tamar’s brother, presses David into sending Amnon to a feast where Absolom then kills Amnon. 

• In sending Amnon to the feast, David plays a role similar to his sending Uriah to his death.

• Amnon and Absalom recapitulate David’s sins, and David is unsuspectingly drawn into both intrigues.

(*Walking With God: A Journey Through The Bible by Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins)

• Gosh, MAN...OH...MAN 😉

• 1 Chronicles 17 is a redux of 2 Samuel 7

• David wants to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant

• At first, Nathan says to go ahead 

• But then, Nathan brings a message from God

• God is going to build the HOUSE OF DAVID

• God is going to build A GREAT NAME for David

• David’s prayer is SO GOOD

• God reminds David that he took him from HERDING SHEEP to be the KING OF ALL ISRAEL

• There is something SO POWERFUL about that

• David realizes HE HAS BEEN BLESSED

• David has TRULY BEEN CALLED TO GREATNESS

• David has been GIVEN A MISSION

• Remember when David first met Samuel

• Samuel asked if each of Jesse’s sons was God’s ANOINTED

• God points out that David is THE ONE (Like Neo in the Matrix? So does that make Samuel Morpheus? 🤔)

• David is the one ANOINTED to be the King

• David is a man after God’s own heart

• Remember what God said about David when He said, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.”

• God saw something in David’s heart that was ANOINTED

• God REAFFIRMS the fact that David’s dynasty will endure FOREVER

• His son will be on the throne

• There will be a KINGDOM through which this FAMILY blesses the ENTIRE WORLD

• We need to be reminded of this because David commits ADULTERY with Bathsheba

• David sexually exploits her

• David arranges for the MURDER of Uriah the Hittite

• David is exposed by Nathan the Prophet for his sins

• David REPENTS of his sins

• BUT THERE ARE STILL CONSEQUENCES FOR HIS SINS

• One of the consequences is here in 2 Samuel Ch 13

• Absalom and Tamar are David’s son and daughter

• Amnon is their HALF-BROTHER

• Amnon lusts after his half-sister

• Same dad, different moms 

• It’s horrible what happens

• Amnon essentially RAPES his sister Tamar

• We see the MYSTERY OF SIN

• Amnon made himself SICK over how much he “loved” her

• It’s not LOVE

• It’s really LUST

• There wasn’t another word to translate for LUST in Scripture so the word “loved” is use

• So Amnon’s buddy, Jonadab, tells him how to get Tamar alone so he could do whatever he wanted with her

• Poor Tamar is just simply serving her brother

• This is a painful chapter for so many of us

• Even 2 Sam Ch 11 is a painful chapter for so many of us (the story of David and Bathsheba)

• Here is the story of sin

• Amnon takes his sister

• The mystery of almost any sin, not just sexual sin, Tamar tells Amnon NOT TO DO THIS

• Tamar is arguing so powerfully for her DIGNITY

• Tamar tells Amnon to talk to their father David and they could even be MARRIED

• How that would work, a half-brother and half-sister getting married? We don’t know 

• Tamar at least offers something of DIGNITY

• TREAT ME LIKE A HUMAN BEING

• TREAT ME LIKE SOMEONE WHO IS WORTHY OF RESPECT

• TREAT ME LIKE SOMEONE WHO IS WORTHY OF DIGNITY

• By MARRYING me, not by RAPING me

• Amnon wouldn’t listen 

• Verse 15 says, “Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred; so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her.”

• This is part of the mystery of almost every sin

• We finally get what we LUST after

• Then we HATE

• There is a sense of SHAME

• There is a sense of DISGUST

• Amnon treated Tamar HORRIBLY

• Now, Amnon feels HORRIBLE

• Amnon now DETESTS Tamar because she is a SIGN OF HIS SHAME

• She says, “No, my brother; for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other which you did to me.”

• Tamar wasn’t just raped

• Amnon destroyed her PRESENT

• Amnon destroyed her FUTURE

• In that culture, how could she be someone’s wife now??

• Remember in that culture, you marry a virgin

• That’s the situation

• So basically, Amnon USED Tamar and then DISCARDED her

• So now we call upon Jesus because there are so many of you who are listening that have EXPERIENCED this firsthand

• Someone violated you

• In Jesus’ name, Fr. Mike wants you to know that Tamar’s story is HORRIBLE.

• You can hear the cry of her heart where she says, “Not only have you used me up, now you are throwing me away.”

• So many people who have been treated like this feel like they are USED UP

• They feel like they are DISQUALIFIED

• They feel like they can NEVER be loved again

• THAT IS NOT TRUE

In Jesus’ name, Fr. Mike is PRAYING FOR YOU, HEAR HIS WORDS IN YOUR EARS. 

LET THE WORDS OF GOD PENETRATE YOUR HEARTS.

YOU ARE NOT UNLOVABLE,EVEN IF SOMEONE HAS ABUSED YOU AND USED YOU, YOU ARE NOT UNLOVABLE.

YOU ARE NOT DISQUALIFIED FROM BEING LOVED TRULY AND FOREVER

YOU ARE NOT DISQUALIFIED.

YOUR PAST HAS BEEN MARKED BY TRUE WOUNDS AND TRUE UGLINESS AND TRUE EVIL.

BUT YOUR FUTURE IS RESTORABLE.

YOUR FUTURE IS REDEEMABLE.

YOUR FUTURE IS A FUTURE FULL OF HOPE.

BECAUSE OUR GOD TAKES THINGS THAT ARE BROKEN AND MAKES THEM WHOLE AGAIN!

GOD TAKES THINGS THAT ARE LOST AND HE FINDS THEM!

GOD TAKES THINGS THAT ARE DEAD AND HE GIVES THEM LIFE AGAIN!

IF YOU FEEL BROKEN YOURSELF, WHATEVER YOUR EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN, JESUS DESIRES TO MAKE YOU WHOLE!

IF YOU FEEL LOST, JESUS DESIRES TO FIND YOU!

IF YOU FEEL DEAD, JESUS WANTS TO RAISE YOU UP AND GIVE YOU A FUTURE FULL OF HOPE!

HEAR THESE WORDS!

THIS IS TRUE ABOUT GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU.

YOUR FUTURE, YOUR LIFE, IS NOT OVER.

NOT BY A LONGSHOT.

• So when King David hears about what Amnon did, he was very angry

• Absalom also hated Amnon now

• Absalom waits 2 years and then avenges his sister by killing Amnon

• This is going to be the beginning of Absalom becoming a REBEL against King David

• He will try and turn the people of Israel against David

• What is more critical now is that David is OFF MISSION again

• He went off mission the first time by simply staying back in his palace in Jerusalem

• He falls into ADULTERY

• He falls into MURDER

• So here is David OFF MISSION again

• He does get ANGRY when he hears what happened

• BUT...HE DID NOTHING

• David was ANGRY with Amnon who had RAPED his daughter, Tamar

• BUT HE DID NOT DO ANYTHING

• This is particularly important for ALL OF US

• Remember how David would pray and ask God about which battles to fight or which to refrain from which made him a great KING

• BUT HERE....

• David is angry BUT DOES NOTHING

• David is angry BUT IS A TERRIBLE DAD

• David is angry BUT HE DOES NOT DEFEND HIS DAUGHTER WHO WENT THROUGH THIS HORRIBLE THING

• David is angry BUT HE DOES NOT ENGAGE WITH HIS SON WHO DID THIS HORRIBLE THING

• David doesn’t even ask God if he should engage in THIS battle or avoid THIS battle

• That’s for ALL OF US

• We will see the consequences of all of this in the next few days

• This will be one of the marks of David’s life

• When it came to his own family, he started living OFF MISSION

• And it seems right now, he STAYS OFF MISSION

• Yes, his HEART is one that is after God’s own HEART

• BUT HIS ACTIONS DO NOT LIVE UP TO HIS HIGH CALL

• So ask God for Fr. Mike, for you, and for all of us, that we all have a HIGH CALL

• We have been made into CHILDREN OF THE FATHER

• WE HAVE A HIGH CALL

• We are people who have hearts after God’s own heart

• AND YET…

• We don’t always live up to that call

• SO PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

• PRAY FOR THE WOUNDED AMONG US

• PRAY FOR THE BROKEN AMONG US

• PRAY FOR THE LOST AMONG US

• PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE SPIRITUALLY DEAD AMONG US

• THAT GOD CAN HEAL US

• THAT GOD CAN MAKE US WHOLE

• THAT GOD CAN FIND US

• THAT GOD CAN BRING US BACK TO LIFE

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise. We thank you because we do find ourselves in battles. We find ourselves called upon to act, called upon to speak, called upon to refrain from acting, and called upon to be silent. All these different times, Lord, it’s so confusing sometimes how we should act and how we should not act. When we should move and when we should not move. Lord, especially when you have entrusted your children to our care, it is hard to know when discipline is called for and when mercy is called for. It’s hard to know when justice is called for and when forgiveness and clemency is called for. And so, God, we just ask for your wisdom in making decisions, your wisdom in assisting others, your wisdom in serving others, and your wisdom in leading others. Because, God, it is often complex. Life is often complex. And the next step is not always absolutely clear. And so we pray for wisdom to know what to do, to know how to move forward, to know how to be yours, and to know how to actually help the people around us. Help us to be the kind of people who can help the people around us. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”