A Reversal of Fortune
“A Reversal of Fortune”
1Kings 21:1-4a, 5-6a, 7-18, 20-21, 25-29
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen
One bright Sunday morning, everyone in the small town of Creighton woke up early and went to the church. Before the service started, members were seated in the pews visiting with one another when suddenly Satan appeared and stood by the communion table!
Screams were heard as men, women and children ran for the narthex almost trampling one another in the race to flee from the Evil One. Just one solitary figure was left in the sanctuary. He sat calmly in a back pew, oblivious to the fact that God's ultimate enemy was right in front of him.
Satan was taken aback. He walked down the aisle and leaned into the pew and said, "Don't you know who I am?"
The man said, "Yes, I do."
Satan replied, "Well, aren't you afraid of me?"
The man said, “No, I am not afraid of you.”
Now perturbed, Satan, demanded, "Tell me why you aren’t afraid of me?"
The man replied, "Well, I've been married to your sister for 25 years."
Her name was probably Jezebel. King Ahab feared his wife for good reason: she was mean and greedy and duplicitous. She was amoral with no compass to guide her save a lust for power and control. As his kingdom unravels, King Ahab realizes that he should have feared the Lord, not his wife. Unfortunately Queen Jezebel was truly the power behind the throne of King Ahab. And unlike her husband she knew nothing of what it meant to be a Chosen People in covenant with a sovereign God.
It is hard for us to fully appreciate the context for this story that took place in the latter part of the ninth century BC. It appears that the plot centers on a real estate transaction.
In fact it is about a Chosen People, a Promised Land and the heart of a people who promised to love their God and put no other gods before him. For Israelites land was sacred ground: an inheritance from God who brought them out of Egypt.
Love for ancestral land is not a foreign concept for us. Who could forget the scene in Gone with the Wind when father and daughter stand silhouetted against a spectacular sunset and an ancient grand old tree as they look out upon Tara. Gerald OHara picks up a fistful of red soil and holds it up to Scarlett, “Why Scarlett, land, lands the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for because it is the only thing that lasts.”
Naboth does something similar: he preaches to the king about the sacred covenant and concludes with an unequivocal oath: the Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance (I Kings 21:3).King Ahab retreats, remembering God’s command, The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants (Leviticus 25:23).
King Ahab knew that once Naboth invoked the Lord the negotiation was over despite the imbalance of power between a king and a small farmer. He knew that to disturb a vineyard, a symbol of God’s special blessing, in order to plant a utilitarian “vegetable gardens” associated with life in Egypt was disgraceful. Not so Jezebel: it was inconceivable to her that the King of Israel could not wield absolute power like all the other kings surrounding Israel. Ahab is unmoved by her disdain but does nothing to stop her singular obsession with Naboth.
The story calls into high relief the difference between pagan kingship and holy kingship: devotion to power and devotion to Yahweh. Jezebel defies God’s Law: she steals the king’s seal and his authority; she lies and bullies the people to accept the word of scoundrels as truth and lurks in the shadows as the community stones Naboth. Like her god Baal - the god of thunder- she storms into Israel to replace Yahweh and commands her husband to claim the land she ripped out of a sacred trust.
Enter the prophet: “Have you found me, O my enemy?” said Ahab and the prophet replies, “I Have found you.” The king’s conscience is awakened as he hears Elijah pronounce the Oracle of Doom. In a surprising twist the most horrible king of all time repents.
In his mercy God shall delay his sentence but Ahab shall bleed to death in his chariot during battle as dogs lick up his blood.Jezebel will be thrown out of the palace window, trampled by horses and her body devoured by dogs, leaving only her skull, hand and feet: she who desecrated God’s land and people is likewise desecrated.
We may wonder how God is speaking to us in this gruesome account of the demise of a notorious king and queen who in the words of the narrator, “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”
It is obviously a cautionary tale about power, greed and revenge. However, to take something into this new week, I suggest that we look more closely not at Jezebel or her weak greedy husband Ahab; not even at Elijah the prophet who declared God’s judgment upon them but at the witnesses. They have something important to say to us. It is not always about the power of a king or the power behind the throne or the voice of the prophet but the power of bystanders.
The entire story rests upon the willingness of elders and nobles to witness to word of scoundrels and a crowd willing to act upon word of false witnesses. The bystanders did not exercise the power they had. Maybe they feared no one would listen. It takes courage to stand for your beliefs – just ask Billy Graham.
Early in his ministry he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Wanting to mail a letter, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy had told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said, "If you'll come to the Church this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to Heaven." "I don't think I'll be there," the boy said. “You don't even know your way to the post office."
On a more serious note, the Irish political philosopher and member of the House of Commons, Edmund Burke, captured what this story reveals: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
We are called to stand for goodness in small things: when someone disparages or gossips about someone who is not present for example. This one practice can transform a church, a business, a community.
The Amazon culture detailed in a recent NYT article illustrates the point: a culture based on hearsay and gossip is awful. The Ashley Madison site members, the hackers and now the parade of extortionists are deeply troubling for the layers of betrayal and the thousands of reputations that will compromised and lives forever changed.
I want to give you an example of how critical it is for the future of the church that we speak directly to one another if we hear something that upsets us. Our General Presbyter shared this story at a session retreat and gave me permission to share it with the congregation.
Graham was a pastor for many years in Ohio before coming to Florida. Early in his pastorate he noticed a chill in the air and went to the Personnel Committee to request they look into the problem.
I few weeks before a member of the church overheard the church secretary speaking to a member on the telephone. The family requested the pastor come over as their father was gravely ill. The secretary expressed her concern about the situation but said it was the pastor’s day off and shortly thereafter the call ended. The member was furious that the pastor did not call on the family as their father was dying. She shared her outrage with church members.
What the member did not hear that day was the other side of the conversation. When the secretary said that it was the pastor’s day off, the member replied that he had given them his home number. The family called, and the pastor visited the family that day.
When a member of the Personnel Committee traced the misunderstanding from the original member the chain was 17 members strong. Graham observed that his 17 year pastorate would have ended before it began if it were not for the willingness of all involved to discuss the misunderstanding. The church was different ever after.
We are called to witness to truth and stand against all that undermines the body of Christ. The elders in Jezreel abandoned their post and a kingdom fell and so it will be for us unless we use the scripture lesson, the events of this week and our own experience in the church to set a new course of not engaging in hearsay and gossip. Amen.
The Rev. Elizabeth Kuehl
Hope United Presbyterian Church
August 23, 2015
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