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June 24, 2007
Scripture: 1 Kings 21: 1-21
Title: “Possession of the Vineyard”

This past week, Mike and I traveled to a family reunion. And there is an unspoken rule that for the McColl’s, like many other families, two topics are off-limits: Politics and Religion. Well, supposedly, there is an unspoken rule but it seems to have an exclusion clause whenever the family gets together.

The conversation started out innocently enough. We asked Mike’s parents how they were settling into their new home and if they had found a new church yet. Mike’s mom replied that they were still searching for their church home but they are enjoying the search process.

She mentioned that they had tried a Disciples church and had an interesting experience. She said that on that particular Sunday morning when they visited a church, the minister stood up and said that she had been arrested during a protest this past week. This didn’t particularly bother my in-laws. What bothered my in-laws was that minister had plea bargained and had not served any jail time.

It seemed as if this minister would only go so far for a cause that she thought was a just cause. So the question was posed to Mike and me: “Would you do that in that situation? Would we have plea-bargained as ministers or would we have gone to jail?

Choices for the sake of justice.

I quietly and quickly excused myself from this conversation. It made me too uncomfortable. I really didn’t want to think about what I would do in the situation. I really didn’t want to know what I would do in that situation. I am not sure that I would like the answer. Is there a cause that I so strongly believe in that I would go to jail, that I would stand up to the powers that be, regardless of consequence. I don’t know. But the questions stuck with me. What would I do for the sake of a just cause? What choices would I make for justice?

We came home on Friday and I began to work on this sermon, when my email bings to let me know that I have a new message. When I opened the message, I saw that it is my weekly news update from our denomination. I quickly scroll through the headlines and I stop at the headline: PASTOR SPENDS 60 DAYS IN JAIL FOR PROTESTS AT MILITARY SCHOOL. The article starts by stating that this Disciples minister was “being released from prison … after serving 60 days for trespassing at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly the School of the Americas (SOA), in Fort Benning, Ga. [This minister was one of 16] who [was] arrested while protesting at the WHINSEC Nov. 17-19. This minister had been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since April 17.

The article continued by sharing a statement by this minister: “Those of us… know that there are consequences to the training that takes place [at Fort Benning]. We know names and see faces of people brutally slaughtered by Guatemalan military personnel trained here,” …“They keep the upper class in power, protect corporate interests, rob the poor of their land, and are responsible for killing or disappearing church leaders and labor organizers and teachers and community leaders.”

As I read this article, I could feel this minister’s passion coming through to me for this just cause. And I wondered what I would do in this situation? Could I go to jail for a cause that I believed in? Could I stand up to the powers that be for people that I have never met but know that they are not being treated as children of God? Would I remain faithful to my calling as a prophet of God, to my vocation to speak out against oppression and injustice? I’d like to think I would but I’ve never been placed in a situation to know what I would do. What would I do for the sake of a just cause? For the sake of faithfulness and for God’s justice, What would you do?

This is the question that is posed to us this morning as we read our Scripture. What would you do to be faithful and for God’s justice? This question is hinted at all through the story and each character in our story has the opportunity to answer this question as our story unfolds.
We meet up with King Ahab again and he wants a certain piece of land that is beside his winter palace. So he travels over to his neighbor’s house to see about a property transfer. He offers to buy the land from Naboth for a fair price or for exchange of another property.

Each one of these men has a choice: For Naboth, his choice is to be a rich man in money or a rich man in faith and keep his land, For Ahab, his choice is to be a true king of Israel and understand Naboth’s faithfulness or to be a selfish ruler?

Naboth chooses faithfulness. Naboth explains that the land is not really his. That it is God’s land and he is forbidden by law to sell his inheritance because he would be being unfaithful to God. Naboth explains that God gave the land to God’s people in good faith and that the people are suppose to hold that land in trust for God. No one could make a profit for themselves by selling their heritage or at God’s expense.

Ahab chooses selfishness. And he goes away pouting. He refuses to eat, lays around the bed all day, sulking. Finally Jezebel comes in and says, “You’re the king! You can have anything you want. Forget your God. Forget your people. You’re the king!”
And once again each character has a choice:

Jezebel’s choice is to be the true queen of Israel and to understand the ways of the God of Israel or to sacrifice the respect, the duty, and the privilege that comes with being a rule of a nation.
Ahab’s choice: to rein in his wife, to get her to understand that they should be ruling according to God’s law and not by their own desires?

Ahab chooses selfishness once again. He rolls over and pouts.

Jezebel chooses power and greed. She sets in course a plan that will lead to the shedding of an innocent man’s blood; that will ultimately led to their down fall that will ultimately bring God’s justice down upon them.

Jezebel calls the elders of the town where Naboth is living and says call a fast, make up some celebration and call a fast. Have Naboth sitting up front and then have two witnesses bring false charges against him. Then have him stoned to death.

And once again, the characters in our story have a moment of truth and a choice.

The elders’ choice: To stand up to a corrupt queen, to stand up for the innocent, to uphold God’s justice or to keep the status quo of injustice and greed.

We know what the elders decide. Naboth is stoned to death and now King Ahab has possession of the vineyard. Ahab doesn’t question how he is now in possession of the vineyard. King Ahab doesn’t reprimand Jezebel when she comes to him and says to take possession of the vineyard. He simply goes to see his new vineyard.

And God calls Elijah and tells Elijah to go down to the vineyard. There he will find Ahab and tell him that God knows what he did. Tell him that God is going to bring down destruction to his household.

And we have another moment of truth.

Elijah’s choice: face up to the powers that be, stay true to your calling as a prophet of God, speak out against the injustices that happened or run in fear from a powerful king, run from the king that has threatened your life.

Elijah makes his choice and goes to the vineyard. He stands before Ahab and denounces him for his evil practice. Elijah predicts Ahab’s death, promises that his family will die out and that Ahab will only be remembered for what an evil king he is.

And as our story draws to a close, we are left once again with the question: What would you do for the sake of justice? What choices would you make for a just cause? Will you stand up against evil? Will you speak out against tyranny? Will you stay true to your calling as people of faith to speak out against the injustices that we see in the world? Will you plea bargain and cheapen your cause or will you stay true no matter what the consequences may be?

It is an uncomfortable story that we have read today. It is an uncomfortable question that it leaves us with today. We want to excuse ourselves from the conversation. We want to put limits on what are acceptable topics of conversations for us as Christians. We don’t really want to think about what we would do in this situation.

And in the end, our story leaves us with the answer and relieves us from our uncomfortable-ness. It ends with the word of God. It end with God have the last word. It leaves us with the promise that God has the last and final word.

And this strengthens us for the journey. And this gives us courage to speak out because God has the final word.

God will not let people suffer in vain. God will not let faithful people be persecuted for the sake of greed and power. God has the final word.

And we have been given a choice: What would you do for the sake of God’s justice? What would you do to remain faithful to your call? What choices will you make as prophets of peace, hope and justice?

May we always remember that God has the final word. Amen

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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