David is a dirty boy. A truly filthy young man. He hasn't had a bath in 130 years.

You ought to see his toenails.

What I'm talking about is the famous sculpture of David by Michelangelo. Here's a tiny version of the 16-foot original. This statue is getting a serious scrubbing these days, courtesy of a group of restorers at the statue's home in Florence, Italy. The Washington Post reports that these cleaners are going high-tech, using ultraviolet light to expose surface chemical deposits, and photographic mapping to show every crack, chip and pockmark. The restorers started their work last December, and should be finished any day now, in plenty of time for David's 500th birthday in the year 2004. (Daniel Williams, "After 130 Years, A Masterpiece Awaits a Makeover," The Washington Post, December 2, 2002, A15)

So, why is David such a mess?

The poor boy is carrying deposits of dirt and grime from the years he had to stand out-of-doors, exposed to billowing smoke and humid weather. He also had to endure lightning strikes and excitable city-dwellers: In the year 1527, rioters broke off his left arm, the one that holds his sling. Life was never easy for this man of marble!

Michelangelo spent three years carving the statue from a single block of stone, and the finished David was then placed in a public square, where he stood for 369 years. David's one and only bath occurred in 1873, when he was moved into his current home. This was a rather violent scrubbing, however, one that involved the use of a high concentration of hydrochloric acid.

I don't think they recommend such cleansers at "Bath & Body Works."

This time, restorers are being much more gentle, using specialized vacuum cleaners and instruments resembling Q-tips to get at those hard-to-reach places, such as David's ears. This cleaning should help us to appreciate the David that Michelangelo created almost 500 years ago, the statue of a pure and youthful David who bravely killed the mighty Goliath.

Yes, the David of today's Scripture lesson was a remarkably clean kid when he faced the giant of the Philistines. But then he got soiled, sullied, and stained -- dirtied by selfishness and sin, passion and pride. He became as filthy as a pigeon-covered statue in a public square. Only confession and repentance could get rid of the dirt on David, and restore him to the greatness of the man who had once been a giant-killer.

He started out as a model for Michelangelo: A model of youthful purity and strength. But over the course of his life, he went through a series of failures and restorations that turned him into a different kind of model: A model for God. He became a man after God's own heart.

The greatest miracle of cleansing was not high-tech, you see, it was spiritual. And it occurred in ancient Israel, not in modern Italy.

David's story begins in the valley of Elah, where King Saul and the Israelites are forming ranks against the Philistines. From the camp of the Philistines comes a giant named Goliath, a champion of the people, who mocks the Israelites with the challenge, "Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to kill me" (1 Samuel 17:8). It will be "winner-take-all," he shouts -- come on, cowards, let's rumble! Needless to say, when Saul and his people hear these words, they are terrified and dismayed.

But out of the crowd emerges a young man named David. He tells King Saul that he is willing to do battle with Goliath, and he speaks of his experience killing lions and bears while watching his sheep in the field. Then, in a bold and inspiring statement of faith, he announces, "The LORD, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine" (v. 37).

So Saul says, "Go, and may the LORD be with you." In the back of his mind, he is probably thinking, "Good luck, kid ... you'll need it."

Saul offers David his armor, bronze helmet, coat of mail, and sword, but David declines. He's not used to this type of equipment, and knows that he'll stand a better chance with the familiar staff and sling that he uses in the field. David chooses five smooth stones from the riverbed, and puts them in his shepherd's bag. He is feeling pure and clean in body, mind and spirit, and knows that he is as ready as he'll ever be, for victory ... or defeat.

When Goliath draws near to David, the giant is outraged. He feels utterly dissed by the people of Israel. Goliath curses David and threatens to carve up his flesh for the feasting pleasure of the birds and the beasts. To which David calmly replies, in another stunning statement of faith, "This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand .... For the battle is the LORD's and he will give you into our hand" (vv. 46-47).

Sure enough, David takes out a stone, launches it with his sling, and strikes Goliath on the forehead. When the big man goes down, David grabs Goliath's sword, and uses it to kill him and cut off his head (vv. 48-51).

Eat dirt, Goliath!

It's an amazing triumph, and a shining example of David's faith in the power of God. But David's words and actions do not remain quite so clean and pure. It doesn't take long for David to begin to soil himself with the dirt of passion and pride, selfishness and sin.

After Saul's death, David becomes king over all Israel, and he comes to the peak of his powers. But as he wins victories over the Philistines and other enemies, he begins to experience defeats in his personal life. He starts an affair with a married woman named Bathsheba, impregnates her, and attempts to cover his tracks by arranging the murder of her husband Uriah. This leads to the judgment of God, and the death of the child of David and Bathsheba. David loses control of his family and watches as turmoil erupts among his children, with one son raping a daughter and another son committing murder to avenger her violation. David's son Absalom rebels and a civil war breaks out, a conflict which leads tragically to the defeat and death of Absalom.

Sex and violence and vengeance and self-destructive ambition -- it's a mud-slinging family meltdown worthy of an episode of Jerry Springer. Everyone comes out of the mess looking dirty, especially David.

But cleansing is always possible. David realizes this, even in the midst of his sinfulness, and his hunger for divine forgiveness is what makes him a man after God's own heart. "I have sinned greatly in what I have done," David confesses to God. "But now, O LORD, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant" (2 Samuel 24:10). David realizes that he can never cleanse himself completely on his own -- he needs the forgiveness of the Lord. Even as a mighty king, at the peak of his personal power, David is profoundly aware that he needs an even greater power to be at work in his life to remove the crushing burden of his guilt.

David trusts in God, even in his darkest hour. "Have mercy on me, O God," he pleads, after his affair with Bathsheba has been revealed, "according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:1-2). For the David of Holy Scripture, cleansing is not going to come from specialized vacuum cleaners or instruments resembling Q-tips. It is going to come only from the steadfast love and abundant mercy of God.

"For I know my transgressions," he admits, "and my sin is ever before me." There is no kingly cover-up being attempted here, no effort to pass the buck or spin the truth. "I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight," confesses David, "so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment" (vv. 3-4). He is painfully aware that his moral dirt-removal has to begin with an honest confession of his sins.

That's true for all of us, I think, which is why our worship almost always begins with a prayer of confession. From the time I was a child, I have always loved the prayer of confession, because it invites me to be honest with God, and to unload all the burdens of the previous week. I have always felt a bit of a lift when hearing the words, "In Jesus Christ, you are forgiven." It has made me feel lighter, freer, more hopeful, and ready to face the future.

But confession is not the end of the process. Any true scrubbing of sin continues with repentance -- with a willingness to make a change for the better because of sorrow for our sins. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me," David pleads. "Then I will teach transgressors your ways," he promises, "and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance" (vv. 10, 13-14). David realizes that it is not simply trust in God that leads to forgiveness, nor even trust combined with confession. Repentance is also required -- repentance that includes a change of heart, a complete about-face, and a desire to walk in the way of the Lord.

Trust. Confession. Repentance. These are the tools that transformed a dirty David into a restored and completely cleansed child of God. They are what restored this king to his earlier glory, to the condition he enjoyed as a giant-killer, pure and clean in body, mind and spirit.

David was always at his best when he relied on God, rather than himself. He made himself filthy when he focused inward, on his own desires and ambitions and selfish dreams. We, like David, are certainly going to soil ourselves as we move through the challenges and temptations of life, but we can also share his trust in the Lord, and his willingness to confess and repent.

The dirt on David was removed, thanks to the love and mercy of God. And we can be scrubbed clean in the very same way. Thanks be to God. Amen.

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