Speaking With Imagination
June 20, 2010
1Later the following events took place: Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. 2And 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.” 3But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance.” 4Ahab 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.
5His wife Jezebel came to him and said, “Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?” 6He 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.’” 7His 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.” 8So 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. 9She wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; 10seat 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.” 11The 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, 12they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. 13The 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. 14Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.” 15As 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.” 16As 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.
17Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: 18Go 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. 19You 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.” 20Ahab 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, 21I will bring disaster on you; I will consume you, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel
I Kings 21:1-21
Some of you may not remember this about me, but when I was a senior in college, I worked as a youth minister for a year at an Episcopal church. And it was an interesting experience, to say the least. First of all, I am a Baptist. And as a Baptist, I found the Episcopal style of worship to be very different than my own--not bad, just different. And it took me a long time before I figured when I was supposed to be sitting down and when I was supposed to kneeling and when I was supposed to be standing up. But eventually I mastered it.
Another thing I learned during my year as a youth minister is that I am not called to be a youth minister. You know, sometimes you can only learn things like that by trying it first. So, I tried it. And the youth were okay. But it’s just not my thing. God had something different in mind for me.
So, my year as a youth minister was a good time for me to learn and to grow. But this morning, I want to tell you about one particular thing that happened while I was a youth minister. I had taken the youth on a trip to Atlanta for the day to work at an organization that helped homeless people and low income residents. The organization was located only about 5 or 6 blocks from the Atlanta Braves stadium. And if you know anything at all about the geographical layout of the city of Atlanta, you know that the Braves stadium is on the south end of town, kind of separated from downtown by several interstates. And as we were working that day, I got into a conversation with one of the people who ran the organization and I said, “You know, I’m curious as to why this homeless shelter is way out here, because it seems like it’s an awfully long way from downtown Atlanta where all the homeless people live.”
And that’s when I learned something. The guy said, “Well, actually, not all homeless people live downtown.” He said, “When they built Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium back in the 1960s, they built it right on top of a thriving lower income neighborhood. And ever since then, this community has struggled to survive.”
Now, before that day, it had never occurred to me to ask why they chose to build the stadium in the place they did. But after that conversation, I began to think about it. And I began to realize that it wasn’t just the Braves stadium in Atlanta. The same thing was true all over. If you think about where all the big stadiums are located in cities around our country, they are almost always in the sketchier parts of town. And because of my experience that day on the youth trip, I know why that is—It’s because the sketchier parts of town are where you can get land cheaply and sometimes, even for free. In a city, there’s not usually any big tracts of open ground or fields in which to build large structures. And so, the places that get chosen are the neighborhoods that are not so good, the eyesores, the projects.
The same principle applies for almost any big public works project. The people who get displaced tend to be poor. I wasn’t in Portsmouth 60 years ago; in fact, I wasn’t even alive 60 years ago, but I’d be willing to bet that when the downtown tunnel was constructed, the homes that were knocked down in preparation were not the finest in the city. In other words, there was a reason they built the tunnel where they did, and not at the end of High Street or coming out of Swimming Point down here. And the reason probably had something to do with the depth of the river, but it also had something to do with economics. I would guess that the spot they chose was the spot where they could build the tunnel for the least amount of money.
Now, so far this morning, I doubt if I’ve roused your interest at all. If you haven’t already fallen asleep, you’re probably thinking that what I’m saying is not only obvious, but it makes good sense. After all, don’t we want the government to spend as little money on projects as possible? Don’t we want the ugly parts of our city to be destroyed and replaced by beautiful new construction? It seems reasonable.
But I guess the question is—What if it was your home that was going to be destroyed? What if it was your family land that the government decided to repossess? Would that change things at all? It is a principle known as eminent domain, the right of the state to seize a citizen’s private property with appropriate monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent. And it is a legal issue at the heart of the biblical text we have before us today.
We are now on our third week of studying the life of the prophet Elijah. But Elijah is not the central character of this particular story. That distinction belongs to Naboth. The text says that Naboth was a Jezreelite, who had the misfortune of owning a vineyard right next door to the palace of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. If you and I were to make a list of the worst possible neighbors to have, Ahab and Jezebel would probably rank right at the top, right after Pepe Le Pew and Neal Sasser. I mean, these were not nice folks to have around.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard about Ahab and Jezebel’s propensity for idolatry and violence. But in 1st Kings Chapter 21, we get to add coveting to their list of sins. Because as Ahab looks out his castle window one day, he decides that Naboth’s vineyard would make the perfect spot for his vegetable garden. So, Ahab goes to Naboth and makes him an offer he can’t refuse. It’s a clear cut case of eminent domain. Ahab is taking over the property, but he’s going to compensate Naboth for his trouble. Ahab says, “I’ll give you the money for it, or I’ll give you another vineyard.” Sounds fair, right?
Wrong. Eminent domain only sounds good when it’s not your house that’s being destroyed. That’s one of the truths of this passage of Scripture. And Naboth refuses to part with his vineyard. So, Ahab goes home and he sulks for a while and then in comes Jezebel. I don’t know why there aren’t more girls today named Jezebel; after all, it’s a biblical name. We can ponder that more later. But Jezebel comes in and she begins to mock Ahab. And she says, “Hey, Ahab, you’re the king. You’re the one that’s calling the shots here, not Naboth.” And so, between the two of them, they concoct an elaborate plan and they get two cronies to trump up some fake charges against Naboth, after which Naboth is stoned to death and Ahab gets the vineyard.
Whenever you’re feeling discouraged about the governance of the city of Portsmouth, this is the biblical story to read. Because it doesn’t get much more twisted and corrupt than this. Ahab and Jezebel have schemed and lied and killed to get what they wanted. And if the story stopped at verse 16, it would appear as if they had succeeded.
But it doesn’t. Verse 17 says that the word of the Lord came to Elijah. And Elijah was sent to denounce Ahab and Jezebel and to avenge the murder of Naboth. Because as it turns out, our God does not allow injustice to go unchallenged. Our God does not allow injustice to go unchallenged.
You say, “Well, preacher, I don’t understand what all the big deal was about. After all, Ahab offered Naboth some money for his land. And if he had just taken that, everything would have worked out all right.” But the only reason you and I say that is because we do not understand the importance of the land from a Jewish perspective.
This wasn’t just another piece of property to be developed. To Naboth and his fellow Jews, the land was sacred. For one thing, it was his means of making a living. And so, for Ahab to take away Naboth’s vineyard was the same thing as Ahab taking away Naboth’s livelihood. It’s what happened when the Braves stadium was built. The people lost their livelihoods and so they struggled to survive.
But it goes even deeper than that. Because the Jewish understanding of the land goes all the way back to the promise that is made in Genesis Chapter 12. That’s the place in the Bible where God promises Abraham that his offspring will eventually take possession of the land on which he is standing.
And so for Ahab to try and buy Naboth out of his vineyard was not just crass; it was a direct threat to the promise of God. That’s why Naboth tells Ahab in verse 3, “The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance.” Because this wasn’t just a vineyard; this was the land that was promised to Naboth and his ancestors. The land was the past, present, and future for the nation of Israel. The land was the tangible symbol of Israel’s relationship with God.
And so, what Ahab was doing was trying to put a price on something that was priceless. Ahab was trying to turn God’s promise into a commodity. And I want us to understand what was at stake here because this wasn’t just about one man being stubborn and holding out against the evil king. That’s a nice scenario, but this story is more complex than that. This story in 1st Kings Chapter 21 is about two conflicting sets of realities. The first reality claims that the rich and powerful of our world can do whatever they want. That is the reality of Ahab and Jezebel, the reality that might makes right.
But there is another reality. It is the reality that Elijah was sent to proclaim, the reality that God is in charge and that God does not allow injustice to go unchallenged. The wicked will not go unpunished. And just because folks think they can get away with something doesn’t make it right.
That is the second reality found in this passage of Scripture. And it is this second reality I want us to concentrate on for the rest of our time this morning, because I think this is where we are connected back to the theme from the past two weeks. We have been talking about what it means to be a prophet and how we have to use our imagination to envision a new reality in the present. And I think that this story about Naboth’s vineyard is a great example of one of the most important aspects of being a prophet, and that is learning how to speak with imagination.
Because I’m afraid that most of the time, you and I do just the opposite. We speak, but we speak out of the conventional wisdom. And the conventional wisdom says that it is the rich and powerful people who get away with whatever they want. Just look at the past few years. How many businesses have exploited the law to take advantage of people and amass great wealth? It’s all over the news. And so, I think sometimes the tendency in the face of such injustice is for us to just shrug our shoulders and move on. Because everybody knows, you can’t fight city hall. Everybody knows that life’s not fair. And so, instead of complaining about things, we might as well learn to toughen up and let it go.
That is a very pervasive mentality in our world today, even among Christians. But it is a mentality that makes me sad because it displays a remarkable lack of imagination on our part. When we make those kinds of statements, we are refusing our prophetic responsibility to proclaim a different reality.
Sure, there’s a time and a place to let things go. But sometimes, we don’t need to let things go. Sometimes, we need to make a big stink about things. Because there are some things worth fighting for. There are some things in life that aren’t negotiable and there some things that you can’t put a price tag on. And when you and I refuse to speak out against injustice because we are either too timid or too scared or too unimaginative, we allow the Ahabs and Jezebels of this world to believe that they are right.
But a prophet knows better. A prophet knows that God does not allow injustice to go unchallenged. And that is the message that God’s people are called to proclaim, no matter how difficult it may be. You and I are supposed to care enough about this world to speak the truth, even when the truth is dangerous to the powers that be.
And I mean, I’m just gonna say it like it is—that is not something we in the church are very good at doing. It’s not something we’re very good at doing here at Park View Baptist Church. We are much better at sticking our heads in the sand. We are good at avoiding controversy, because God forbid, we don’t ruffle any feathers. Let’s just fly under the radar and survive. That’s how we think. We have already forgotten what I said two weeks ago, which is that there’s no need to worry about how we’re going to get by if we can’t articulate why we should get by.
Oh sure, we get upset about things. We fuss about how the green beans taste on Wednesday nights and we complain about why the preacher doesn’t come to visit us enough. But I’m talking about principled issues. I’m talking about public stands against injustice, whether that injustice is coming from the government or corporations or the church itself. And I wonder, how many of us in here this morning could name one time in our life when we have spoken out and taken a stand on something that was unpopular? One time in our entire life when we have publically opposed someone in authority, where there was really something at risk, whether it was the loss of reputation, or job, or life, it doesn’t matter, but there was something really at stake? How many of us in here can say that we’ve done that?
Because I think it’s a rare quality. I think it is very hard for us to speak out against somebody when we don’t know what will happen, to speak out when it might cost us a friendship or a job. And it’s much easier for us to just let things go. It’s much easier to say, “Well, that’s not my problem. They took Naboth’s vineyard, not mine. They took a poor person’s house, not mine. I may not personally like what is happening, but if I say anything, I’ll just get into trouble. And so, I’m just going to go about my business and keep my head down because that’s the way the world works.”
That’s the safe thing to do. And it seems reasonable. But what if Elijah had gone with that conventional wisdom? What if instead of speaking out against Ahab, Elijah had just shrugged his shoulders and gone on with life? I mean, let’s face it—Naboth was already dead. Ahab had the vineyard. What could be gained by speaking out?
Nothing, except that is what we are called to do. Just like Elijah, you and I are called to speak out on behalf of those who have no voice, to speak out for those who live in the sketchier parts of town, to speak out for those who have been exploited and preyed upon by the rich and powerful interests in our world. All around us, there are people like Naboth whose futures have been taken from them as we sat by silently. So this morning, it’s time for us here at Park View Baptist Church to get stirred up. It’s time for us to make a big stink. We’re not going to let things go anymore. Instead, we will join our voice with the prophet Elijah and speak out with imagination, as we challenge injustice together in the name of God. AMEN