Feb

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Tragic Consequences

February 1, 2008 |

A couple of weeks ago, a family tragedy of biblical proportions hit Cincinnnati.  A mother and her four children (all under the age of 8 years old) were killed.  The husband/father is in jail for their murder.

This family was a Catholic family living an upper-middle class life in an affluent suburban community.

These are the facts as they have come out. 

The husband/father was a contract engineer who traveled often.  He was usually on the road about 250 days a year.  Their marriage was strained.  Money may have been getting tight.  He started having an affair with a woman from out-of-town.  When he came home from a trip, she confronted him with a $2,000 charge on his credit card from a jewelry store.  He may have told her he was having an affair and that the charge was for a ring for his girlfriend.  He then told her he was leaving her and went upstairs to pack.  The kids had been put to bed and were sound asleep.  She came upstairs -armed with a frying pan and a kitchen knife.  They struggled.  Both ended up getting stabbed - her wounds were fatal.  A fire was started and he has told conflicting stories on who set it.  After his arrest, he indicated he started the fire.  This week, his story has changed and now it’s she who started the fire.  In any case, he either tried to get the kids out or he didn’t try - and proceeded to jump out the 2nd floor window to the front yard.  The kids died in the fire.

As I said before, a tragedy of biblical proportions - and no one that has been interviewed saw it coming.

I’m writing about this story because of today’s first reading from 2 Samuel 11.  King David sees Bathsheba - falls for her - has her come to the palace where they have sex - even though she is married to Uriah, one of his soldiers who is away on a military campaign.  Bathsheba becomes pregnant by King David - he calls Uriah back from the front and tries to get him to have sex with his wife.  Uriah refuses out of respect for his brothers in the field.  David then returns Uriah to his unit and orders Joab, his general, to place him in the most dangerous position on the front lines.  Uriah is killed in action.  David brings Bathsheba into the palace and makes her one of his wives (remember, David was permitted to have several wives).  Their child ends up dying in infancy.  The consequences don’t stop there as David’s children would become very rebellious and engage in a great deal of infighting.  David’s oldest son, Absalom, would actually lead a revolt and challenge his father for the throne - only to be killed.  

Both King David’s story and our modern counterpart have one glaring similiarity - the incredibly bad choices and misguided priorities of the men involved.  King David was driven by lust, committed adultery and facilitated a murder.  His actions resulted in death, discord and suffering.  Our modern David was driven by lust and greed.  He committed adultery and was responsible in one way or another for the deaths of his wife and children.  Like David, his actions resulted in death, discord and suffering.

Our modern David somehow got hopelessly lost.  I would hope that all family men could agree on something - it is not ok to be away from home 8 months out of the year - it is not ok to have an affair - it is not ok to neglect our wives and our children (and we are neglecting them if we are on the road all of the time).  It is not ok to create such a mess in our lives that self-made tragedies can take root. 

I’m not going to judge our modern David just as I wouldn’t want to judge King David - that’s Christ’s work to do.  But we can only pray that God calls our modern David to still bear fruit in this life.  He does have an example to follow - remember, Bathsheba did end up bearing Solomon as David’s heir.  And, Christ was born from David’s line.

But for now, we need to make sure our priorities are straight and that we are being the best family men that we can possibly be - that we are walking with Christ and serving him well in our roles as fathers and husbands.  Our modern David lost sight of his priorities - let’s make sure we never do - and that if we do, God saves us from the tragedy that can follow so many consistently bad choices.


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