𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆

Who is the sexiest man in the Bible? Put your money on King David. He's got it all. He's a real man's man, and a woman's man too: handsome, glamorous, magnificent in statecraft, a lion on the battlefield, a brilliantly gifted musician and poet, a flamboyantly physical presence yet deeply introspective and prayerful, a man of action and a man of contemplation ... just recounting these traits makes me go weak in the knees.

The final chapter of King David's life is as pathetic as the rest of his life is titanic. He has become so feeble that he cannot leave his room, and he shivers constantly. His servants and family pile covers on him, to no avail. Finally, in desperation, they resort to a stratagem appropriate to an Eastern potentate--they put a young woman into bed with him to keep him warm. This may sound exciting, but since he has become impotent, it is not even the last flickering of a once-brilliant flame, but a pitiful dying away into ashes--precisely the kind of death we all dread.

Excerpts from a sermon by Fleming Rutledge: God on the Move (Lk 1:26-33).

4th Sun in Advent 1996; St. John's Church, Salisbury, Connecticut.

Published in Advent. The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ, 2018.

How David Expressed His Thanksgiving (2 Samuel 9:1-13)

"I will surely show you kindness" (2 Sam 9:7).

Being thankful is so darn hard. Why? It's so much easier to be angry and upset with others!

2 things that seem to deeply upset and anger us is when we think or feel that we were unappreciated or disrespected. We just can't get over feeling dissed or disregarded, regardless of whether or not others intended to do so. This bothers us so deeply and profoundly, because we so naturally default to self-centeredness and self-righteousness, which are common expressions of selfishness.