When a Hero Falls.

When I was a boy growing up in the 1950's and 60's  I read all the Superman comics and stories I could get. I was thrilled with the possibility that there was someone out there who could "put the world to right", stand up against the bullies and save the day. Oh, how I longed for hm to be  real person. When the then Superman actor, George Reeve died, possibly by his own hand, I was  disabused of the childish notion that such a mortal being existed. My boyhood hero had feet of clay after all. It was a hard lesson to learn.

 

In William Shakespeare's  play "Julius Caesar" Mark Antony says of his close friend, the murdered  Julius Caesar... 

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.  The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones"

It's a truism that the good that a person had done during their lifetime is often buried with them and soon forgotten, yet their dark deeds live on. I have witnessed this several times when once powerful Christian ministries lie in ruins after some "evil" act was exposed for all to see. In my early adult Christian walk, my first Pastor, a man of great talent, a gifted preacher/teacher who had a direct impact upon my life, destroyed his legacy with sexual immorality. Now when I think of him it's very difficult to separate his actions from his impact on me. This man has passed into eternity and I have no way to reconcile his actions with his positive encounter on my spiritual  life.

The composter of that much loved hymn, "Amazing Grace", John Newton was a wild-living sailor and slave-trader who was saved and became a godly pastor. He said late in his life: “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.” 

The hardest lesson that I have had to learn over the years of my Christian walk is the simplest one.... I am a sinner. I do not stand alone attesting to this sad fact... For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23 KJV

The same Book of Romans assurers all sinners of my/our reward. 

For the wages of sin [is] death. Romans 6:23 (a) KJV.  There is however a recompensable clause that cancels that condemnation... but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23 (b) KJV    

How do we reconcile the sinful deeds of one who has now passed, with the good that they have done during their lifetime? 

The ancient King of Israel, David, is a hero of the faith for me, and he was far from sinless. His grievous sin with Bathsheba, and the wilful killing of her husband Uriah the Hittite is recorded for us
all to read in 2 Samuel, chapters 11 and 12.

Aside from "The Original Sin" of Adam and Eve, no other sin recorded in scripture is as well known, as universal as David's and Bathsheba's. Their story still resonates thousands of years later, and has been the subject of several movies, plays and novels.  

It's a sorry tale in an otherwise glorious life. What does God say of this man...? For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD's commands all the days of his life--except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. 1Kings 15:5 NIV

While there were terrible and far-reaching consequences arising from David's "affair" with Bathsheba, David's legacy, whist diminished, was not destroyed. Our redeemer was born of David's line...

And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances. 1Kings 9:4 NIV

I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you. But you were not like My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, doing only what was right in My eyes. 1 Kings 14:8 NIV

The sad tale of David and Bathsheba reminds us all that God uses fallible people to accomplish His purposes. There is no PR spin, no "gilding the lilly", no politician taking 100 words to answer a yes/no question.... David's feet of clay are there for all to see. The story is told with candour and clarity, the salacious details capture our imagination. 

Quoting The Bible Exposition Commentary "It should encourage us to know that even the best men and women in the biblical record had their faults and failures, just as we do yet the Sovereign Lord in His grace was able to use them to accomplish His purposes. Noah was a man of faith and obedience, yet he got drunk, Twice Abraham lied about his wife, and Jacob lied both to his father and to his brother Esau. Moses lost his temper disobeyed God and struck the rock, and Peter lost his courage and denied Christ three times."  

When a hero falls there are always the naysayers who are quick to say "told you so", quick to issue damming judgment. But then there is Father God, who is in the restoration business. 

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Psalm 51 1:4 KJV

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Psalm 51 10:12 KJV

 A requested repeat from February 2021.