1 Kings 21:1-21a June 12, 2016

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1 Casting Call Janet Chisom 1 Kings 21:1-21a June 12, 2016 Prayer for Illumination: Eternal God, in the reading of Scripture may your Word be heard; In the meditation of our hearts, may your Word be known; In the faithfulness of our lives, may your will be done. Amen. Scripture: 1 Kings 21:1-21a Later the following events took place: Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. And Ahab said to Naboth, Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money. But Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance. Ahab went home resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him; for he had said, I will not give you my ancestral inheritance. He lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat. His wife Jezebel came to him and said, Why are you so depressed that you will not eat? He said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it ; but he answered, I will not give you my vineyard. His wife Jezebel said to him, Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab s name and sealed them with his seal; she sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. She wrote in the letters, Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them bring a charge against him, saying, You have cursed God and the king. Then take him out, and stone him to death. The men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. Just as it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. The two scoundrels came in and sat opposite him; and the scoundrels brought a charge against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth cursed God and the king. So they took him outside the city, and stoned him to death. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned; he is dead. As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, Go, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead. As soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab set out to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria; he is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. You shall say to him, Thus says the LORD: Have you killed, and also taken possession? You shall say to him, Thus says the LORD: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood. Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy? He answered, I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, I will bring disaster on you; 1

2 This story about Naboth s vineyard is crazy! In fact, I m surprised that Hollywood hasn t grabbed it and made it into a movie since there is enough emotion, drama, greed, conspiracy, death, villains, and heroes that it could be a blockbuster! The plot: King Ahab throws a temper tantrum when neighbor, Naboth, won t give up his vineyard. King s wife, Jezebel, steps in and orchestrates Naboth s death so there are no claims on the vineyard. When Ahab takes possession of the vineyard, Elijah, prophet of the Lord, finds Ahab to pronounce judgment and death on Ahab. I m not surprised that Hallmark hasn t picked up this plot, (it s not exactly a warm and fuzzy tear-jerker), but I am surprised that Hollywood has not jumped on the story with all the action and subplots. Before we sign the movie contract with Hollywood, let s take a closer look at the players in this drama. First, we have Ahab. King Ahab. King Ahab of Samaria who must be at his winter palace in Jezreel. The king is the center of power and privilege, and King Ahab has both. King Ahab was known to have been the most evil king in all of Israel, doing more evil than all who were before him (1 Kings 16:30). As a leader and decision-maker, Ahab has the opportunity to expand his locus of control and take the best for himself. He can make decisions that guard and fortify his wealth and power. So, King Ahab was acting according to character when he looked out his palace window and saw the nearby vineyard of his neighbor Naboth... and wanted it. Surprisingly, Ahab s request for Naboth s vineyard was, by face value, a fair one: Ahab would give Naboth a better vineyard or pay him what it was worth. However, when Naboth flatly refused, stating that the land his vineyard was on was given to him by the Lord and was to be passed on to his ancestors, not sold or traded, Ahab threw a Class A temper tantrum. Ahab went to his room, flopped down on his bed, probably stuck his thumb in his mouth, and pouted. He sulked so much that he refused to eat. The pouty, privileged, evil King Ahab had been bitten by the Gimme Bug that caused him to want more and more. Covetous, sullen Ahab. If you believe that Ahab was an evil King, consider his wife Jezebel; I think she was really the evil one. She began her evil influence on Ahab from the very beginning of their marriage. Jezebel encouraged Ahab to worship Baal, the deity of the sun or fertility, instead of God. There were Asherah poles, poles erected to honor the goddess Asherah, and people worshipped them, again instead of worshipping God. And, Jezebel was the brains behind getting Naboth s vineyard. In order to cheer up her husband, she made a plan to get him that vineyard he wanted so much. It was Jezebel who wrote letters in Ahab s name and sealed them with the king s seal. It was Jezebel who directed the elders and the nobles of Jezreel to have a fast and 2

3 seat Naboth at the head of the assembly. It was Jezebel who orchestrated for two scoundrels to bring accusations against Naboth and then take him outside the city and stone him to death. Jezebel may have been trying to cheer up her husband, but she did it at the expense of someone else s life! And, Jezebel may have been acting with her own interests in mind, as well. As long as her husband had riches and power and what he wanted, she benefitted, too. Unfortunately, her actions were sinful and conniving, and resulted in the harm and death of others. Brainy, deceitful Jezebel. If Ahab and Jezebel are the villains, Naboth is one of the heroes. Naboth was the caretaker of the vineyard on land that had been given to the Hebrew people. When Ahab asked him for the vineyard, Naboth was not just being stubborn by refusing to sell or trade it. According to the land inheritance laws in Leviticus (Leviticus 25), the land given to the Israelites by the Lord was to be cared for by the Israelites and not sold for profit. The land belonged to God and although the Israelites were to cultivate it, there were rules about how they were to do it. Every seven years they were to let it rest. And, if the land was sold because the owner came into financial strain, every seven times seven years (or on the 50 th year) the land was to revert back to the original owner. The Lord put these laws into place to make sure that the Israelites were taken care of and that more powerful people couldn t just bully their way into taking over their livelihood. Therefore, Naboth, faithful to the Lord, reminded Ahab that the land was God s gift and for that reason, not for sale. Naboth acted and spoke boldly, standing up for what he knew God required of him. Even though Naboth did not have much status or influence, he was willing to speak the truth to a powerful person who worshipped possessions rather than worshipping God. Bold, courageous Naboth. And then there s Elijah. Elijah was God s prophet. We heard about him several weeks ago when he had a fire-starting competition with the prophets of Baal. (Elijah told the people that they needed to stop limping about with two different opinions. They needed to either believe in the Lord their God and follow him, or follow Baal. Elijah then challenged 450 prophets of Baal to start a fine. Calling on Baal all day did not result in fire. However, even after Elijah doused the wood with water, when he called upon God, the wood and sacrifice were consumed instantly. The people then proclaimed their faith in God.) Although Elijah won the hearts of the people for God, Ahab and Jezebel were still worshipping Baal. That is why when Ahab encountered Elijah this time Ahab said, Have you found me, O my enemy? The words from God that Elijah delivered to Ahab were often very harsh, and again, this time, Elijah spoke unpleasant words of judgment against what Ahab had done. Elijah spoke the words of the Lord, 3

4 harsh words, condemning Ahab for the harmful and covetous actions he took against Naboth. Honest, direct Elijah. So, these are our four main characters in our great Hollywood film. We have covetous, sullen Ahab. Brainy, deceitful Jezebel. Bold, courageous Naboth. Honest, direct Elijah. Since we are the ones who had the idea to make this story into a movie, we get to do the casting! Who would we ask to play those roles? Should we cast people in roles based on experience and knowledge of the role? Hey! Since we are the directors and producers of this movie, we might as well grab a starring role while we can, right? Would we fit into any of the roles? Who would you be? Let s start with the easiest one first: Naboth. Would you cast yourself as Naboth? Maybe you can identify with Naboth s humble position. You don t occupy a position of power at work or at home, and so you can identify with the feeling of being taken advantage of. You know what it feels like to suffer injustice. You ve had people ask for what is yours, or assume they can take something from you. You have felt powerless at times. You are grateful for people like Elijah who take up for you and remind others that the powerless deserve respect, too. As an aside, playing the role of Naboth is a possibility, but I think it is taking the easy way out. If we are honest with ourselves, we can recognize that most of us (fortunately) have a position of some power, respect, and voice. Although there may be times that we feel that we are powerless and suffer injustices, there are many people with more experience than we who would be lined up to play that role. There are people who would be in that casting call line to play Naboth who know what it is to be disrespected because of their skin color, the job they have (or the job they search for), the country that they live in, the religion they practice, the way they dress. If we are honest with ourselves, we would like to sign up to play Naboth, (even though he dies in the end), but there would be many people more qualified to play that humble role. As director, do you know anyone who you could recommend or endorse for the Ahab role? You would want to look for someone who has vision. Ahab sees what he wants and he goes for it! He wants Naboth s land, and he asks for it. He s caught that Gimme Bug and feels entitled to have it. He must have enough already, but he wants more. I wonder... do you have enough experience for this role? Do you ever suffer from that Gimme Bug? Do you ever have enough but still want more, bigger, better, newer? You want something, you have the money, so you get it... whatever it is and however much it stretches your credit. If you can t have it, do you pout, or fixate your thoughts on it until you do get it? I know that I have all I want and much more than I need. I could get in the audition line for Ahab, what about you? 4

5 Jezebel also has vision, as well as ambition, and drive. As we are casting for her role, we want to look for someone who can see the obstacles in her way and plan a way around them to achieve the goal. We would look for someone who is powerful and is not afraid to use that power, even if it means manipulating the situation. She looks out for family. She looks out for herself. Could you play this role? Should you respond to this casting call? Have you ever schemed until you got what you wanted? Can you think of a time when you lied or manipulated a situation so that it would benefit you? Maybe you just encouraged others to go after more, to live extravagantly, to do whatever it took, regardless of the little guy next door. Will you audition for the Jezebel role? Although because of our experiences we might be type-cast to play Ahab or Jezebel, my guess is that most of us would like to be the hero in our movie. We would like to be the one who saves the day. We would like to be the strong character that makes good decisions. We would like to be the one that little kids look up to and say they want to be like when they grow up. Could you cast yourself as Elijah? Elijah spoke the truth even in a difficult circumstance. Maybe you are like that. Maybe you have that ability to speak the truth even when you know that there may be negative consequences in the future. Maybe you have the ability to weed out the extraneous voices that compel you to win at all costs, that tempt you to buy into the American belief that you can have it all, that commend you for looking out for yourself first. As Elijah did, you listen for the word of God to guide you. You have the courage to speak the truth and act for justice, even when it goes against what others seem to be doing. It could also be that you would cast yourself as Elijah because you aspire to have that confidence and courage to speak up, and you feel you would live into the role. Truth be told, we could probably make our preparations and study our script and be cast as any of the characters. We as human beings are a complex mix of sinner and saint. As sinners, there are so many opportunities for people to harm one another, or to take advantage of one another. We can all think of examples of when this happens the news is plastered with it. Even in 2016, there are times that race is a driving factor in how people are treated: racial profiling, stand your ground laws, percentages of African Americans incarcerated. Discussions about religion are a daily occurrence, especially when it comes to immigrants. Some religions seem to be given preference to others: Should the United States let in all immigrants? Do all Muslims pose terror threats? Should we allow Syrians to come to the United States only if they are Christians? Economically, the rich tend to have the upper hand, but at whose expense? Do 5

6 we look for the best bargains, or do we support products that pay a living wage or are fair trade? Do our investment or purchasing decisions have an effect on others? We make bad decisions right alongside the good decisions. We look out for ourselves and our families, but we still find time to serve others... once our needs are met. We tell the truth and look out for the least and lost... when the risk isn t too great. We ve manipulated situations to make sure we come out on top. We worship God on Sundays. We have other priorities on Monday through Saturday. As I said, we are a complex mix of sinner and saint. Or, said another way, we all have a little Ahab and a little Elijah in us. This is why in church each week we have a prayer of confession. We need to recognize the times that we fail to live as God dreams us to live. We need to recognize the times that our actions cause someone else to stumble or fall. We need to recognize our impact on the environment. We must acknowledge the opportunities we had to do something to change a situation and instead we sat idly by and did nothing. We need to confess those times that we have played the role of Ahab or Jezebel. Immediately following the prayer of confession is the assurance of forgiveness. We also need to hear that word of forgiveness. We need the acknowledgment that when we humble ourselves to acknowledge the sins we have committed and the actions we have omitted, God, who is faithful and just will forgive our sins, and we will be set on a path toward more righteous living. We then have a renewed opportunity to speak up against injustice, to focus on the right things, and to live into the people God dreams us and commands us to be. We can then celebrate the times we took a prophetic role and spoke for the Lord as Elijah did. The church is where we learn to see ourselves for who we are; where we learn to tell the truth in love to one another; and where we learn to listen for the voice of love and correction from our God. As we grapple with who we are, may we constantly strive to be more like Naboth and Elijah, speaking words of truth, making room for justice, and standing up for the outcast. Amen. 6