Leadership for Sale

                                  I Kings 21: 1-11, 13, 17-19

 

 

          A confused and bigoted young man walks into a church meeting in Charleston and unloads his semi-automatic weapon, killing 9 innocent people. An angry man turns a gun on his workplace in San Bernardino and 16 more are dead.  Just three weeks ago, 49 were killed in an Orlando nightclub and this week in Istanbul, terrorists killed yet another 44 people outside the airport.

          In our nation’s capital, lawmakers cannot be civil to one another and little lawmaking is accomplished. In Washington, it is the politics of “No” that grabs the headlines. In this election season, both presidential nominees have captured the most unfavorable popularity ratings in the history of polling such statistics. One candidate promises more of the same, while another candidate seems to have no agenda other than “I am the greatest.” Many people are disillusioned with the political process.

          Overseas, the world looks little different. Syria is torn to pieces and Iraq continues to suffer from its civil war. In addition to the terrorist bombing in Turkey, the United Kingdom has apparently decided on a more isolationist policy with its Brexit vote from the European Union, causing those of us old enough to remember similar policies of isolation in the 1930’s.

          For the first time in my memory, I hear people, good people, patriotic people, talking about leaving the country. I hear them saying that enough is enough, that they want a more peaceful, rational place to live, and that such countries still exist. I have never heard such talk since the days of the Vietnam War in the 1960’s, when many chose to move to Canada. It is a time of disillusionment with our leadership, our moral compass, even our ideals.

          Flash back to the days of God’s people under the reign of Ahab. Ahab was the second of three kings of the Northern Kingdom in the Omri dynasty.  His 22 year reign was marked by the most complete capitulation to religious pluralism in history. Baal worship was accepted along with the worship of God. Both religions were allowed to coexist side by side. Baal worship included temple prostitutes, even human sacrifice. And there it stood, perfectly legal, endorsed by the king himself.

          Pluralism. If one is good, maybe more is better. Pluralism is the hot ticket in America today. Whatever. It’s all good. To each his own. I don’t want to get involved. If you want to get along, you’ve got to go along. These are the catchphrases of American society. Do they work? Does tolerance to the point of blindness keep things moving? Does life work in a world in which there are no rules, nor an ethic by which to live?

          A man named Naboth owned a vineyard. Unfortunately for Naboth, his vineyard sat next to some very high dollar real estate, namely the king’s palace. King Ahab wanted that land for a vegetable garden, and he offered Naboth a swap or a purchase. The problem wasn’t that Ahab was being unfair, but rather that Naboth knew the law. In the 25^th chapter of Leviticus, God tells his people that the land is his. It could be sold, but only for a time. Every seven years, the land was to be released back to the original owner. This was called the year of jubilee. And in the 36^th chapter of Numbers, God goes on to say that his inheritance, given to each of his people, could not be transferred even to another tribe. It was God’s inheritance to each and every person.

So under the law, Naboth was not allowed to sell his lnd. Of course Ahab knew this. He just didn’t like it. He wanted what he wanted. When he couldn’t get it, he went back to the castle and pouted. That’s right, he pouted just like a 3 year old. The scriptures tell us that he lay on his bed, turned away his face and would eat no food.  Sounds like some other bureaucrats we have seen in action, doesn’t it?

Not to worry, because there is Jezebel. There always seems to be a Jezebel hanging around. When you’re in a purple funk and can’t get your way, look around and find yourself a Jezebel. People like Jezebel never let ethics get in the way of their drive for domination. Jezebel orchestrates a fast, a sort of dinner party where nobody eats, and arranges for Naboth to be publicly accused by two liars. Now one liar has little meaning to the people of Israel, but two? That was different. Two witnesses were thought to be credible. The lies were planted and they took root. They took Naboth outside and stoned him. The witnesses had to cast the first stones, but that was no problem for them. They had been bought.

Here we have the sad story of a righteous man who was wrongfully accused and ended up giving his life for a vineyard. Really it was the choice to stand firm in his beliefs for which he gave his life. He was a true worshipper of God, one of the seven thousand in the book of  Kings who did not bow down to Baal (v.19:18).

There is more to this story than Ahab’s petty selfishness or Jezebel’s evil scheming or even the predictable actions of two worthless men. There are also the “elders and leaders who lived with Naboth in his city.” They are the ones who scare me the most.

Jezebel used the king’s stationery to send letters to the elders and leaders of the city. Those letters were clear in their purpose. Frame Naboth with a false charge and then kill him. She peddled the king’s influence and it worked. One commentary suggests that these elders and leaders would have been Naboth’s friends, as he was probably a community leader in his own right. It didn’t stop his friends from turning on him. This was influence peddling at its ugly best. For just the possibility of currying the king’s favor, the elders and leaders of that city threw poor Naboth…and his sons…under the bus. His sons were also killed. The bloodline to the land had to be severed in order for the king to own it.

Where was the leadership that the kings of Israel were supposed to provide? Where is the leadership of today? Is there any justice in the land? Does anyone ever pay for sin? Wall Street playmakers deal fast and loose with our hard earned investments and when the bottom falls out of their schemes, they are not held accountable. Is that fair? Politicians repeatedly tell us how well they know us and hear us and want to help us, but after the election, their hearing seems almost deaf. Is that honest? Mainline denominations demonstrate a great affinity for the culture around us while finding ways to ignore the plain meaning of scripture which has existed for two thousand years and more. Is that truth?

These are confusing times. But the times are much less confusing when we follow the right map. As much as we all love our country, and on this day in particular as we prepare to celebrate its birthday, we still need to understand and honor the God to whom we owe our ultimate allegiance.

Theologian Michael Goheen calls the church a “contrast people.” What he means is that we are called to live in the world but not be of the world. For the Church’s witness to be effective, it has to co-exist in the middle of the communities of the world. The church cannot and should not isolate itself from the goings on of society. It should be at the ball games and the polls and the building projects and it should visit the shut-ins and feed the widows and share every load of every one in need that the church can reach. The church—and that means those who believe in God—must get its hands dirty and its boots muddy and its eyes full of tears if it is to minister to the people in need. That is living “in the world.” But while we go about the business of that witness, we must do so as sinners saved by grace, reaching out to help with arms scarred from the bruises of rejection, and that rejection will come not only in the form of those who would deny our witness, but also in the form of those who follow their own direction, who practice their lack of faith, who assert their false leadership. That is living without being “of the world.” To be at odds with our cultural setting is frankly our birthright as Christians. We nevertheless must live and work in our culture to live our lives as Godly people. As we use our witness to the glory of God, we become a contrast people, living in the covenant our Savior made, standing up for what we believe, rejecting the theology of pluralism and by our actions, inviting and drawing those around us to their own covenant relationship with God.

Edmund Burke once uttered this now famous line: “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing.” How true that remains today. Look at the elders and leaders who lived with Naboth. Their leadership was for sale. Theirs was the worst kind of leadership, the kind that could be bought. Good men turned their heads, did nothing and, as Burke reminds us, evil triumphed. Sadly, some things never change.

There was a penalty to be paid. God came to Elijah and put words of judgment in his mouth. Elijah went to Ahab and told him this: “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.” Judgment was also pronounced upon Jezebel and it came to pass. Amazingly, Ahab actually repented and his life was spared. But judgment came to his family.

For Christians, there will never be a holiday from temptation, a lack of 
 
false leadership. But neither will God ever forsake us. In this day of

false leadership, so keenly similar to that brand found in the days of

Elijah, we need to see our role. We must stand up. We must be heard.

We must witness, not to that which is popular, but to that which is

Truth!