2 Samuel 11:26-12:15

Pentecost + 9 – Year B

2 Samuel 11:26-12:15

Presuming G*D's level of involvement with David – Teacher's Pet – there is no reason not to presume G*D's level of involvement with a new born – Moral Lesson – or with G*D's level of involvement with you – _______.

A question to be asked: If sin is not the last word, forgiveness is, how does that apply to a baby as well as to David?

Are we here into an earlier version of blood atonement? If so how do parse out whether this is G*D speaking or Nathan's understanding (like all of us getting some things spot on while wildly missing the mark on something else)? Is this something still being worked out with G*D, like a flood? Might G*D not also repent of this (particularly seeing how poorly the rest of the children turned out) tit-for-tat response and later disavow it when dealing with another baby – Jesus (to live in the midst of the messiness of life, not to die as a moral lesson or doctrinal point)?

As you wrestle with this passage can you see forgiveness as a larger word than sin, not just for David, but also Baby ben David? Does forgiveness really take us further than scapegoats and mandatory atonement? In a community's life as well as in an individual's?