June 16th sermon 2 Kings 21:1-21 Naboth's Vineyard

2 Kings 21:1-21

Galatians 2:15-21

In the story of Naboth's vineyard, we are reminded of the abuses of power, and how the system that is society renders many complicit in acts of evil. We are reminded that it is our calling to act as Elijah, and proclaim the good news that God stands against broken systems of racism, injustice, and environmental degradation, and calls us to new life. 

Good morning friends! It is good to gather in worship with all of you this morning.

We've been talking this spring about the formation of the church, and the ways that Jesus called into being a new kind of community. Last week we talked a little bit about how Paul shaped the new Christian community, and how we are called to bend to allow new people to shape our community today.

This morning, I'd like to reflect a little bit about how this contrast community called the church interacts with the violent and oppressive powers and principalities of the world around us, the society in which we live and breath with its blessings and curses, which we so often take for granted.

Our Old Testament scripture text this morning, the story of Naboth's vineyard is one of many violent stories in the Old Testament, where powerful people misuse their privilege, and the dictatorial governments of the ancient world take advantage of their subjects, generally serving as object lessons for how not to behave. It is one of the challenging hallmarks of the Old Testament-while there are some leaders, like King David or King Josiah who are celebrated as basically good and faithful people, in general the Bible tells us stories of a series of faithless leaders who abuse their authority, are corrupted by temptation, and fail to live up to God's vision of a society shaped by loving and just relationships.

Our story this morning is a classic example of the trope.

Ahab, king of Israel around 850 BCE, was the primary nemesis of the prophet Elijah, and one of the major figures in the book of Kings. He was generally considered a bully, and his wife Jezebel has become synonymous with a dangerous woman.

Here, in his quest for a new vegetable garden, Ahab demonstrates the 2 year old's fallacy perfectly- for the King, there is no difference between I WANT and MINE, and to be told NO is a justification to tthrow a tantrum and go to bed without supper. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtiJAexxSPo)

Which would be bad enough, but as so often happens, the selfishness of the powerful is supported by partners, underlings and sycophants.

Jezebel, the loyal wife, preserves plausible deniability for her husband by arranging a casual murder. The leaders of the town of Jezreel were willing to take the king's instructions, and set up the innocent Naboth, by colluding with scoundrels, and reporting back that the mischief has been managed. It is a horrible story, and Elijah's closing condemnation doesn't really create justice in the end.

Yet this is no mysterious phenomena-this is still the world we live in.

Just for example, right now there are some 21 million people around the world suffering in some form of bondage- modern day slavery- according to CNN's Freedom Project. Industries like gold and diamond mining, sugar, coffee, and chocolate growing, and the garment industry are rife with human trafficking and both child and forced labor. It is both tragic and ironic that the classic Valentine's day gifts of Jewelry, Chocolate, and flowers, are some of the worst offenders. http://productsofslavery.org/ This system of oppression is why Plowsharing Crafts exists, seeking to live out more human values.

This system of oppression works about the same as it did in our story from ancient Israel today-

CEO's of major corporations look to the bottom line, and want maximum profits.

Yes men come up with financial plans that squeeze everyone below, but claim that they are not responsible for independent producers further down the line.

Governments turn a blind eye, happy with campaign contributions and other perks.

And people whose livelihood or even their very survival is dependent on getting the job done are willing to do whatever is necessary, including using slave labor, to produce what we want when we want it.

In our story this morning, Elijah goes to the king to offer God's condemnation, a reminder that it is worth starting at the top, but all through the rotted system, people fail to live out the values of YWHW, the creator who loves the widow and the orphan, who invites us to live simply, that others may simply live, the one who challenges us to live lives of Tsedek and Chesed, of righteousness and loving-kindness.

This is a story that reminds us who God is-the one who challenges the strong, and raises up the weak, the one who cares for the innocent, and has no bias for the whims of kings.

But it is also a story about who we are called to be. In Elijah's prophetic challenge, I think we can be inspired to follow in his footsteps and challenge these kinds of powers and principalities. Yet it takes a powerful prophetic witness to stand against all of that inertia, to say no to the requests of the king and the manipulation of the town leaders.

It is no easy thing to say no to the powerful-

Elijah suggests it can be done, but after his warning to the king, he had to spend years in exile from his home country. Naboth suggests it can be done, but he paid for his stand with his life. And modern whistle blowers often pay for their defiance with firings, black-listing, and loss of status.

So how do we take this next step? I think that is where the church comes in-because it is much easier to stand against the tides of evil when there is a community that stands with you, when there are options that you can see before you. We come to this place not only because here we worship, and here we listen to the word, but because looking around at the people in the pews around us, we are reminded that we are not alone in hoping for justice and working for peace in a world that sometimes seems bent on destruction, to learn from those who put solar panels on their roofs, and adopt foster children, and run fair trade stores, and spend years of their lives in voluntary service, and all the other ways, large and small this community serves as a contrast to the oppressive structures of the world.

Because while the battle against these powers and principalities may seem impossible, there continue to be victories against the forces of evil.

I've been listening off and on to Morning Addition's “Summer of '63” coverage of the 50 year anniversary of one of the most important years in the civil rights movement.

1963 was a big year for our country-Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his letter from the Birmingham Jail, JFK called for a civil rights act, which would be passed a year later, and this week marked two anniversaries that speak to this story of Naboth's vineyard.

This Wednesday, June 12^th marked the 50^th anniversary of the brutal murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evars, who was gunned down in his driveway by a white supremist, a man who was almost immediately identified, but was not prosecuted until 30 years after his crime. This was a reminder that forces of violence have always been willing to do evil to preserve broken systems of power and control.

At the same time, this Tuesday, June 11th marked the 50^th anniversary of the Desegregation of the University of Alabama, when Vivian Malone and James Hood became the first black students to enroll, after the governor of Alabama, George Wallace, who in his inagural address earlier that year cried “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” was forced to back down by President Kennedy and the Alabama National Guard. (http://www.npr.org/2013/06/11/190387908/a-daughters-struggle-to-overcome-a-legacy-of-segregation) That was a small victory for the forces of integration, and a reminder that we can be persuaded towards justice.

The civil rights movement was a moment, in living memory, when millions of individuals, in a massive act of protest, made choices to break down a sinful system, to challenge the king and his underlings, to no longer blithely accept the unjust orders of the rich and powerful. And things changed.

We've still got a long way to go-minorities still face significant discrimination in employment, housing, law-enforcement, and education-the statics on drug arrests and incarceration are a particularly egregious example of legalized racism in our society-there is plenty of civil rights work for us to do as a church and as a country-but it is a reminder what faithful people, doing the right thing, can do to a society and to the world.

So, this is our calling-to be Elijah's in the world, to speak to the rich and the powerful and to be willing to confront the sin of our world, to do the work that God has set out for us.

But I'd like to close with one final thing. Because in the story of Naboth and his vineyard, we learn the mind of God, and we are called to proclaim like Elijah a new way forward, but sometimes we end up playing Ahab, or Jezebel, or the leaders of the town of Jezreel, or those who threw the stones at Naboth.

For in our world today, many of these broken systems come back to us-

Climate change is happening because each person in this room is using 5 to 10x as much energy as we deserve.

We are participants in the militaristic power of the United States Empire, which even now is making plans to exacerbate the civil war in Syria.

We benefit from a capitalist system that leaves many in this country and around the world behind, and fosters values of selfishness and heartlessness. I could go on.

When Elijah comes here, “so you have found me then” may be our line, we may live in the place of the king.

This reality offers us an opportunity for conversion-an opportunity to give up some of our inflated lifestyle, to be more aware of the ways that our consumer society destroys culture and the environment, to think about where we physically live, and who we spend time with.

But it is also the reason that I think it is important to include our text from Galatians. Because the story of Naboth's vineyard is the story of the world, the broken systems of powers and principalities that shape reality. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that even deeply buried within that broken system, full participants in the destruction of the innocent, salvation is at hand.

Because our salvation is not dependent on works of the law, on fixing everything that is wrong with this silly world in which we live, in extracting ourselves from empire. Salvation is dependent on the love of God for each of us, on Christ's sacrifice for the entire world, and the grace that is sufficient for each of us.

So go-go into the world, challenging the powerful, looking chances to say to no to the Ahabs and the Jezebels and the town councils and the scoundrels of this world, but know that there is no where that you can go that God's love cannot find you, and that you have already done enough when you decide to love your neighbor. Go in peace.
Amen.