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Years ago my daughter, then four or five, was asleep. I took the moment literally to go across the street from the Rectory to the drug store for a quick purchase only to come home and find her crying by the door. “You left me all alone.” She cried on and on. I felt so neglectful and guilty and a little defensive. I had only crossed the street for five minutes but to her I had abandoned her and she felt it greatly.
Today’s readings invite us to think about order and power. David is confronted by the prophet Nathan about his use of power. It is so delicate an approach to tell a story of a man with much who takes the little of a poor man to entertain his guests. It is only a sheep but it is the only one the poor man owns. Why would a person take the little of another when already he has so much, sheep to spare, wealth to lavish?
David rises in fury and says; "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."
Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” 2 Samuel 12:5-7
Never has the pronouncement, “You are the man,” been so piercing and so true. Yet so often we need to hear these words as we reflect on our role and place. The day my daughter announced, “You left me all alone.” I needed to hear it. I had not prepared her to cope with aloneness or know how to feel safe. To this day this tale is told and has meaning for her and me and her mom.
When we hold power, and we all do, we hold responsibility for those who live in relationship to that power. This is a simple truth of adult life and those who grow toward this phase of life.
One of the most impressive aspects recently of attending an Eagle Scout pinning was to listen as young men 14-19 were given their awards. We heard not only about the project they planned and executed, we saw how they had been mentored, and learned how they had taken initiative, guided others, and come into responsibility and action as young leaders. They each took their power as a Scout with opportunity, skill, hope, vision and learned to plan, coordinate others' abilities, and work to a good end. They embodied what it is to lead for the good of the larger community.
We see the same in Acts. A riot takes place over the possible loss of income from casting silver idols, mini-temples and the goddess Diana. The budding Christian faith is seen as the enemy and perhaps it was the enemy of an idol-worship driven economy. Finally the town clerk, a man with power to be heard over the crazed crowd now quieting, reminds them there is an order by which we deal with perceived threats. It is in the courts and the government assembly. Otherwise the very ones lodging the complaint may be arrested on charge of riot.
Speaking to power is important and is best done in orderly patterns. Sometimes it will be done by showing one in power that they have misused that power. It can be a parent who forgot to ready his or her child to know safety. It can be a king, a president, a national or state assembly that has abused its station or neglected the greater good. There is a season to try or legislate what is best for all or a particular subgroup in relation to all. There are times when we orderly create the future. There is also a season to take on a prophetic voice and speak truth either very directly or by story so those who hold or take power see the full ramifications of their action/s.
In North Carolina just now there has grown up a movement called “Moral Mondays.” It has taken shape to bring to the legislature a different perspective about the cost of cutting taxes and underfunding education and welfare of the whole but in particular the poorer elements of society. Since there is a perceived deaf ear in the legislature, these protests are orderly, outdoors and now moving beyond the capital to the regions of the state. How well they well achieve a hearing is not yet clear. Is the legislature a “David”, is the Congress? Always. Sometimes they earn a corrective.
Is the crowd gathered like the riot in Acts? Not yet, but there is an energy afoot seeking to be orderly. It could erupt but has not done so yet.
Sometimes power needs the quieter voices to see its self and how we perceive its function. “You are the Man,” is not always a compliment of a job well done. It can be an accusation of failure at the depth of responsibility we have assumed.
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