You are the man! - Father Dave's Blog

“You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7)

The words of the Prophet Nathan to King David.

Taken on its own, it looks like an affirmation of David’s kingship – “Yo Da Man!” Taken in context though, Nathan is saying to David, “You’re a thief, you’re an adulterer, and you’re a murderer”. It’s a tough message to give to a king, but that was the job of a prophet.

We often make the mistake of thinking of prophets as fortune-tellers. Many Biblical prophets did give warnings about the future, but it was never for the purpose of entertainment or vocational guidance. The prophet’s job was to warn the community when they went off course, and their warnings normally targeted those in charge.

Authority, in Biblical Israel, was divided three ways between prophets, priests and kings. The king had executive power but, unlike the kings of the other nations, the king of Israel was not a law unto himself. The prophet Samuel always referred to Israel’s first king, Saul, as ‘prince’ (in Hebrew, ‘nagid’) so as to remind him that he was not really in charge. God was the real king, and the earthly monarch was as much under God’s law as were his citizens.

The king was responsible for implementing God’s law, while the priests performed the sacraments. The job of the prophets was to critique anyone who went off track. Their primary focus, predictably, was the monarch.

In our text a couple of weeks ago we read of the John the Baptist trying to pull King Herod into line. He paid the price for his efforts. Being a prophet has always been a dangerous job. Perhaps Nathan was a little cleverer than John for he couched his critique in a story of an outrageous rich man who oppressed a poor and powerless man. When David responded that the abuser in the story deserved to die, Nathan dropped the bombshell … it’s you! “You are the man!”

Even good people make terrible mistakes and do terrible things. Great people recognise their mistakes and try to deal with the consequences. The greatness of King David was that he respected the word of the prophet. He accepted God’s judgement. He didn’t silence Nathan, and while David didn’t exactly go on to live a pure and virtuous life from that day forward, he did write a great Psalm of contrition:

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Your presence.
take not Your Holy Spirit from me
(Psalm 51:10-11)

I don’t see any great people like David amongst today’s leaders. I’m still waiting for George W. Bush and Tony Blair to say, “we made a mistake about Iraq. We are sorry. Forgive us all the death and destruction we caused.” It’s not going to happen, any more than the current Israeli Prime Minister is going to come out and say, “I made a mistake in ordering an attack on Gaza and I don’t want to see this war escalate any further”. Leaders like David are hard to find.

I think of our modern-day prophets like Julian Assange, Ed Snowden, Morde Vanunu, David McBride … The prospects for those who speak truth to power hasn’t changed much. The words of Jesus still ring true: “you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you” (Matthew 23:37).

As courageous souls continue to speak out, we must pray that the light of their truth will penetrate the corridors of darkness. The light of prophecy continues to shine and, as the Gospel writer reminds us, “the darkness has never put it out” (John 1:5).

Our Sunday Eucharist

We had another wonderful Sunday Eucharist last weekend, and it was good to reconnect with my old friends, Andrew Madry and Doug Pyeatt. Doug appeared under the pseudonym of “The Swamp Fox” this time as he was joining with us from the swamps of Louisiana where he was visiting the grave of one of the heroes of the American War of Independence. It made an interesting backdrop for our discussion of both Biblical and contemporary wars.

As is my new practice, I’ve included just two short excerpts from the discussion below. To view all the shorts from last Sunday, visit the Sunday Eucharist Instagram account. To watch last Sunday’s full broadcast, scroll down to the end of this email.

This coming Sunday I’m looking forward to having my dear friends, David Baldwin and Tom Toby, back with me on the panel. Unfortunately, our brother, Dr Stephen Sizer, will not be sharing his wisdom with us this time as it is his dear wife’s funeral this coming week.

We remembered Joanna in our prayers last week and will do so again this week. The funeral is being held on Tuesday at 2.30 pm (London time) at Christ Church, Virginia Waters, where Stephen served as parish priest for many years. In Sydney it will be 11.30 pm on the same day. The service will be broadcast live via YouTube. Here is the link.

Our Sunday Eucharist will take place before then, of course, and I’ll hope you can join me there from midday this Sunday. Find us at TheSundayEucharist.com or on Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or Streamyard.

I look forward to sharing this Eucharist with you. 😊

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What’s On?

Friday to Sunday, August 2 to 4 – @Binacrombi. Please join me
Sunday, August 4 – Our Eucharist from midday via thesundayeucharist.com (or through Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or Streamyard).
Tuesday, August 6 – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 6.30 pm.
Thursday, August 8 – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 6.30 pm
Saturday, August 10 – Boxing at Fadi’s Boxing Gym in Fivedock from 8.30 am
Friday, August 23rd – in Queensland for my fight with Leon Irwin

I fear that by the time I publish next week’s newsletter, World War III will already be underway. I pray that I am wrong.

As I write these paragraphs though, my phone is displaying live images from Tehran of the funeral of Ismail Haniyeh – the assassinated leader of Hamas. Ayatollah Khamenei is praying over the body. He’s wearing a keffiyeh round his neck (the symbol of Palestinian resistance). The crowd of mourners stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction. How tragic is this day, and how terrible what comes next!

As I talked this through with Joy today, she commented that it was like a game of chess. I think that is exactly right. As in chess, players are often very limited in what they can do. You reach certain positions on the board and your options are very few. A good chess player will know when to resign. A desperate chess player will strike out, trying to capture one more big piece to stave off the inevitable collapse. Benjamin Netanyahu is not a good chess player.

Is there any hope? Of course there is. We hope in God, and we must pray that God will raise up another Davidic figure in the state of Israel who will have the strength and spiritual integrity to both acknowledge sin and embrace life. No such figure is obvious on the public stage at the moment, but with God all things are possible.

May the Lord bless and strengthen you for the work for which you have been called.

Your brother in the Good Fight,