Have you ever been disappointed in someone you loved? Have you ever noticed a sin in someone’s life that was eating him up? After the events of today’s passage, that was certainly true for Jonathan. Sure, he knew about his father’s tendency to lose his temper. But he kept on insisting that his father didn’t really want to kill David (20:2). And he believed that even if his father had made such a murderous plan that Jonathan could talk him out of it, just as he had done before (20:32, see also 19:6).

But then, on the second day of the feast, everything came to light. Jonathan made his loyalty to David clear, and Saul came clean about his hatred for David. Jonathan could no longer try to do what both David and Saul wanted – he had to take a side.

Yes, the sad truth is that there does come a time when you can’t just go along with someone else’s sin, no matter how much you love him or her. Sometimes, we have to bring that sin to light, as Jonathan attempted to do. For however much we want to avoid conflict, if we just ignore the problem it won’t go away. It will grow to the point where it eventually explodes.

And for a Christian, our highest loyalty simply can’t be in question. For after all, Jonathan didn’t just support David’s claim to the throne because of his friendship, but also because he knew it was God’s will for David to be king. In other words, Jonathan didn’t just choose David – he chose God’s will, even though that meant disappointing his father and losing out on a kingdom for himself.

So, sometimes, if we really love other people, we need to help them come to grips with the sin in their lives. That’s really the only way to love them and love God at the same time.

I Samuel 20:24-34 (NASB)

24 So David hid in the field; and when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food.
25 And the king sat on his seat as usual, the seat by the wall; then Jonathan rose up and Abner sat down by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.
26 Nevertheless Saul did not speak anything that day, for he thought, “It is an accident, he is not clean, surely he is not clean.”
27 And it came about the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty; so Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
28 Jonathan then answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem,
29 for he said, ‘Please let me go, since our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to attend. And now, if I have found favor in your sight, please let me get away that I may see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.”
30 Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
31 “For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for he must surely die.”
32 But Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
33 Then Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down; so Jonathan knew that his father had decided to put David to death.
34 Then Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did not eat food on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved over David because his father had dishonored him.