I Kings 21
“Get What You Want”
June 13, 2010 - Third Sunday after Pentecost

         “Jerom gets to stay up as late as he wants!” Joanna came home with that report in second grade. Their teacher had asked them to share their bedtimes. Jerom became the most envied kid in the class when he told them his parents let him stay up watching television as long as he felt like it.

         Sometimes it seems it would be nice to have more permissive parents, or better yet to be the top dog, king over everyone else, and get what you want all the time. The desire to have what we want, when we want it, is a powerful force. It fuels much of what happens in the world, much of what you and I do everyday.

         One of the things we want today is cheap, easy, fast travel from place to place. And the dark cloud of oil gushing out of the Gulf floor is an apt picture of how getting what we want can be destructive. As we watch images of black goo washing up on beaches, seeping into coastal marshlands, and sliming beautiful white pelicans, we are seeing a live parable of the effect of breaking the tenth Commandment.

         Ahab coveted Naboth’s vineyard. He wanted a little plot of land next to his palace that he felt would be better used for his own purposes, an Egyptian style vegetable garden, rather than the traditional vineyard planted there. It is a classic portrayal of how the rich and the powerful have always wanted and taken what they desire from little people.

         Ahab is the Bible’s stand-in for the BP fat cats whose thirst for wealth led to the false economy of careless and dangerous drilling practices. He also represents the natural gas barons who are slipping into rural communities around the country, offering leases of $5,000 an acre for the land of poor and struggling farmers, then using gas mining techniques that poison ground water, making both people and animals ill.

         Yet Ahab is also you and I. As the media pundits constantly remind us, rightly for once, it’s our own desire to fuel our cars and heat our houses as cheaply and easily as possible that feeds the oil and gas industries. If we want to get a good picture of king Ahab, we have to look in the mirror.

         The fearful thing about seeing Ahab in the mirror is that he did not break just one commandment. He broke the tenth and with his wife’s manipulation broke the sixth and then the eighth. Coveting led to murder and to theft. Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon put it this way:

First we want a new car, then we must have a new spouse worthy of the new car, then children who tell us that we are the perfect parents we wish we were, then an obedient dog to go with the adoring kids and … is it any wonder that most murder is committed by those in [their] own homes? Covetousness leads to death. All the commandments are connected.[1]

         We usually imagine our coveting is under control. We can covet and have what we want without any further sin. Ahab did not set out to murder or steal. He offered Naboth a fair price for his vineyard, just like you and I expect to pay a fair price to fill our gas tanks.

         Naboth was not selling. Rena Wilkey of Springfield, Illinois lives today in a house surrounded on three sides by big parking lots because she refused to sell her home of fifty years to the city’s medical center. Naboth said “No,” to Ahab, not just because he was stubborn or comfortable where he was, but because God said no. Leviticus 25:23 says that land in Israel is not to be permanently transferred out of a family, because the land ultimately belongs to God.

         Ahab was angry and frustrated. Like any child, like many adults, he did what I confess I’ve done at times. Verse 4 says, “He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat.” Sulking is like a leisure suit. It doesn’t look good on anyone.

         Picture the scene in the royal bedroom of Ahab’s southern palace in Jezreel. Literally verse 4 does not say “sulking,” but that “he turned his face away.” There’s the great king, curled up on his bed, face buried in a silk pillow, gruffly refusing all the fancy food and other attempts to cheer him up. No child could have done it better.

         Verse 5 demonstrates who was really in charge in Israel. Jezebel enters in the same way mothers and wives have approached sulkers since the beginning of history. “What’s the problem here? Why won’t you eat?” When he explains, she sneers at his weakness in verse 7, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

         The queen was a formidable woman. Using Ahab’s authority through a royal seal, she proclaimed a fast, a religious observance repenting of national sin. Jezebel’s plan in verses 9 and 10 was to seat Naboth among those leading this act of repentance. Then two false wit­nesses would rise up and accuse him of cursing God, make him responsible for Israel’s problems. It’s as if in Senate hearings on the oil spill, BP executives were able to pin the blame on one of the senators.

         It was clever and ironic. Naboth refused Ahab because of what was written in Leviticus 25. Nearby, in Leviticus 24, verse 16, the Law makes blas­phemy against God punishable by death. Jezebel used the very commands to which Naboth was so faithful to bring about his death. It was over in a matter of hours. Two witnesses were enough for a judgment. They grabbed Naboth, took him outside the city and stoned him. II Kings 9 tells us they also stoned his sons, keeping them from inheriting the property.

         In verse 15 Jezebel returns to the royal bedroom and announces with scorn, “Get up. Take possession of the vineyard of Naboth. He’s dead. It’s yours. You’ve got what you want!” You can almost hear her add, “You wimp.”

         King Ahab is now standing on the land he wanted, wearing a smile rather than a sulk. He’s imagining how he will dig up the grape vines and plant cucumbers and onions. But as he bends down to scoop up a bit of the soil he now owns, a shadow falls across his hand… Elijah. Ahab is about to get what he does not want.

         “Crimes and Misdemeanors” is not Woody Allen’s funniest movie, but it may be his best. It’s the story of a contemporary Ahab named Judah. He is a prominent ophthalmologist and a respected servant of the com­munity, a husband and father. But he has a mistress. She’s making demands of him, threatening to tell his wife, to tell the press.

         Judah tells his problem to two people. One is a rabbi, a patient who is slowly going blind. The rabbi gives the answer with which he approaches his own blindness. Trust in God and do what is right. Confess to his wife, seek forgiveness, start over. But the other in whom Judah confides is his low-life brother, a cheap mobster. His brother is Judah’s Jezebel. He can “take care of it for him.” He means he can have the annoying woman murdered.

         In tense moments Judah wavers, but finally consents to the murder. Then in remorse he goes to the scene of the crime, al­most incriminating himself. He is wracked by guilt. The police ask questions. He nearly confesses. But then… nothing happens. The police give up their investigation. His wife is still with him. The community still adores him. Even guilt begins to fade.

         Given what we’ve learned of Woody Allen’s life since he made “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” it’s clear he believes you can do horrible things and still go on as you were. You can get what you want, especially when no Elijah shows up to announce God’s judgment.

         Yet the movie is better than Allen’s own life. At the end Judah attends the wedding of the rabbi’s daughter. He is there as an honored guest. He has everything he wants. He kisses the bride and shakes her father’s hand and no one knows his secret. Yet we watch Judah and then we watch the blind rabbi dancing joyfully with his daughter. And we compare the rabbi’s honest contentment with Judah’s deceitful and dark happiness. On the surface, they seem the same. Both men are loved and respected. Both men have peace. But ask one simple question: Which one would you rather be?

         Or even between Ahab and Naboth, the rich king who has what he wants versus the poor, duped Naboth who could have had a nice price for his land but instead ends up dead. Who would you really rather be?

         Joanna would tell you that she didn’t really want to be little Jerom, the boy who chose his own bedtime. Getting what you want is not always what you want. Real freedom is not always getting whatever you please.

         Getting what we want can mark us. It can cover our lives with darkness like the oil that is dragging fish and seabirds to their deaths. It’s not easy to remove. Volunteers are rushing to help wash off poor distressed gulls and pelicans, but experts say it will do little good. They will soon be covered again. That’s us when we always get what we want.

         Elijah’s arrival and announcement of his crimes was actually a blessing for Ahab. Though verse 20 says “So you have found me, my enemy!” the truth is, Ahab was his own enemy. His own crime had found him. The prophet came because, despite everything, God wanted to be the king’s friend.

         There was judgment, grim judgment not only on Ahab, but on his entire household. In verse 19, God says to Ahab, “In the place where the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood.” Jezebel’s whole body is to be eaten by dogs. It’s an ugly prophecy. Would you want to be him, even if you got to enjoy life and have what you want for awhile?

         This spring we saw Gounod’s opera Faust. Dr. Faust is an old man who makes a deal to serve the devil in Hell in exchange for what he wants in this life. So the devil makes him youthful again and helps him seduce the young woman he desires, Marguerite. She is carried down into Faust’s own damnation, captivated by the jewel he offers her and even murders her own illegitimate child. Faust and the devil come to her in prison and offer to help her escape her hanging. But she begins to trust in God, imagines she sees Faust’s hands covered in blood, and turns away from him. As we watch her mount the scaffold to be hung we hear angels singing “Saved! Christ is risen!”

         There was mercy even for Ahab. At the end of the chapter he repents and God’s judgment is delayed. He discovered something he wanted more than a vegetable garden and power. He wanted to be at peace with God. Ultimately that’s what we all really want.

         That’s what the woman wanted who knelt and anointed Jesus’ feet in our Gospel lesson today. Turning from the old life she thought she wanted, giving up a jar of expensive perfume her sin had bought her, she humbled herself, wept and received what she really desired, forgiveness and peace with God through Jesus.

         Who would you rather be? Jerom who got to go to bed when he wanted or Joanna whose strict parents made her go to bed at 8? Weak, evil Ahab enjoying his vegetables or faithful but murdered Naboth? Queen Jezebel in all her power and wealth and influence or a pitiful woman of the streets washing the feet of Jesus? The well-off ophthalmologist who gets away with murder or a humble honest rabbi going blind? An oil executive cleverly evading the truth and responsibility or an idealistic volunteer hopelessly trying to rescue an oil-soaked animal? Faust clinging to youth or Marguerite going to her death in grace? Those are not simple, straightforward choices. The temptation is great to think that what we want is possessions and strength and health, when what we really want is deeper and often feels more difficult. It’s tempting to think that what I want is what I want, when what I really want is what God wants.

         What God wants is to show us His love and mercy in Jesus Christ. Just as God incredibly offered mercy to the worst king of Israel, He incredibly offers you and me grace and forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ.

         Wherever you are at today, God has grace for you in Jesus. Whether you’re carrying around a conscience as heavy and guilty as Ahab’s or whether you are sulking like him over all the things you wish you had but don’t. Whether you feel taken advantage of like Naboth or humiliated and repentant like the woman who anointed Jesus. Our Lord loves you. He has grace for you. He has peace for you. He has what you want, what you really want. May His peace and love and grace be with you and belong to you today.

         Amen.

Valley Covenant Church
Eugene/Springfield, Oregon
Copyright © 2010 by Stephen S. Bilynskyj