Augustana Podcasts
From the Pulpit - The Hero (August 16)
Sermon Title: The Hero. Preacher: Deaconess Claire Schoepp. Preaching Text: 2 Samuel 11:1-18, 26-27 & 2 Samuel 12:1-14. As we continue our sermon series on Villains of the Bible, today we meet David, a most beloved king of the Israelite people. He's known as "a man after God's own heart." David began as an underdog and even suffered at the hands of an unjust king, but he grew up to be the hero, a composer and poet, and a king himself. When he inherited the throne, David failed his people when he began to see himself as above the law. As his sense of entitlement grew, David abused his power to avoid his job as king, committed sexual violence against one of his citizens, and had her husband murdered to try to avoid the consequences. David lost his grounded sense of identity in God. He let his entitlement and inflated sense of power take the driver's seat. In imagining he could just make the world how he wanted it to be, David failed to see things as they actually are. And so, this week, the hero is the villain. Today, we will hear a story about power and abuse. We will hear a story about cowardice and consequences. We will hear a story of truth and grace. The villain is shown a mirror so that he too might recognize his need for God and be changed. May he be a mirror for us as well lest we forget who we are anointed to be, beloved children of God. It's a complicated bit of good news.
