So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it. – 2 Samuel 12:29

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 25, 2016): 2 Samuel 12

We are easily sidetracked. I want to say that this just describes some of us, but I am becoming increasingly aware that this is the human condition. We simply do not finish what we start. Seldom do we keep our New Year’s resolutions, not because they were not good resolutions, but because we get sidetracked by other things, and often less important things. So most of us have simply stopped making resolutions and stopped dreaming that things could be better.

This is my story, but it also our story. Recently someone remarked on the changes that a mutual friend was making in their lives. But the comment was basically, “Yeah, it good now. But it will never last. We are simply destined to fail in doing good.” Maybe on a grand scale that is true, but it is also patently untrue. There is something that we are designed to do. And to allow ourselves to get sidetracked from those things is actually a definition of sin. And getting ourselves back on track is part of our redemption.

At least, that is part of the David story. This comment is part of the conclusion of the David and Bathsheba saga. In the spring, when kings go to war, the armies of Israel went out to Rabbah to finish a conflict that had started with the Ammonites the year before. But David didn’t go. He should have gone. If he had commanded the armies of Israel as he should have, David was unquestionably a military genius, and then the whole episode with Bathsheba would never have happened. But David got sidetracked and stayed home, and further sidetracked and ended up in bed with Bathsheba. She got pregnant which resulted in David murdering Uriah. And then the priest confronts David, and David repents and is forgiven.

But then David goes back to work. He leads the army back to Rabbah, where he should have been in the first place. This is the redemption of David. In the New Testament, Jesus does the same thing with Peter. He calls Peter to be “a fisher of men.” But then Peter gets sidetracked and he denies Jesus. Jesus forgives him, and then on the shores of Galilee, he restores him to his job, being “a fisher of men” and the task of caring for Jesus’ sheep. This is Peter’s redemption.

And part of our redemption is getting back on track with what it is that we are supposed to be doing – or are called to do. Whatever that is, it is time to get back on track, and experience our own redemption.  

Today is that Friday that we call Good. It was originally God's Friday because God's purpose was being accomplished on a cross just outside of Jerusalem. In this case, it was our redemption that was gained because Jesus stayed on track; our redemption was the result of Jesus doing exactly what he came here to do. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 51