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Trinity Episcopal Church Hattiesburg, Mississippi Third Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 6) Father's Day, June 17, 2007 Go To Trinity's Home Page

1 Kings 21:1-21a
Psalm 5:1-8
Galatians 2:15-21
Luke 7:36-8:3
Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 75 th General Convention of the ECUSA

The following events took place: Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria . And 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.” But Naboth said to Ahab, “The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance.” Ahab 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. His wife Jezebel came to him and said, “Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?” He 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.’” His 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.” So 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. She wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; seat 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.” The 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, they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. The 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. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.” As 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.” As 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. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: Go 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. You 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.” Ahab 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, I will bring disaster on you.” (1 Kings 21:1-21a)

Affluenza
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop

     “Deal or no Deal?”[1] I first heard those words shortly after moving to Hattiesburg. The house I moved in to had one of those under-cabinet televisions installed in the kitchen. Well before I bit the bullet and got cable, I put a set of rabbit ears on top of the kitchen cabinets to maximize signal reception, and while making supper I would turn on the TV and listen to whatever show was on the one or sometimes two channels I could receive. And that’s when I first heard bald-headed Howie Mandel ask, “Deal or no deal?”

     When I was a kid and had to stay home from school due to illness, I enjoyed watching the morning game shows on our black and white Magnavox television. Remember some of those shows? Let’s Make a Deal hosted by Monty Hall (premiered December 1963), The Match Game hosted by Gene Reyburn (premiered December 1962), Password hosted by Allen Ludden (premiered October 1961), What’s My Line (premiered February 1950), Jeopardy! first hosted by Don Pardo (premiered March 1964), and of course The Price is Right initially hosted by Bill Cullen on NBC (premiered in 1956). In those days, hosts like Bob Barker, Wink Martindale, and Monty Hall doled out cash and prizes to overexcited audience participants who bounced up and down and clapped when they pocketed a few hundred bucks or took home a life-time supply of Rice-a-Roni from behind door number 2. Losers often went home with the game board equivalent of the show or with some kitchen utensils.

     But the game show today is another matter all together because we are a culture infected with affluenza. The promise of bigger payoffs and national exposure has pushed the game show into prime time. Shows like Regis Philbin’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,Deal or No Deal, and ABCs newest offering, National Bingo Night, all promise huge rewards and appeal to that very basic human drive: greed.

     On Deal or No Deal twenty six smoking-hot fashion models wearing the briefest of dresses and holding briefcases representing dollar amounts come on stage and face the contestant who tries to win the top prize of $1 million – a far cry from the game shows of the 1960s! One particularly riveting episode featured a man from a very small town in rural Arkansas.

     As I tossed a caesar salad and boiled pasta for my supper, he picked one case which was his to keep, if he chose – until its unsealing at game’s end. Over the next hour, with the help of three of his relatives, he had to instinctively eliminate the remaining 25 cases - which were opened to reveal the amount of cash inside. Opening the cases changed the odds that the case he originally chose contained the really big money. Each time he opened a case, he was tempted by the shadowy “Banker” to accept an offer of cash in exchange for his chosen briefcase. I gobbled my salad with each of his choices, totally caught up by the suspense.

     At one point he was offered almost one-half million dollars by the banker. Mandel said he had never seen an offer that large. After chatting about the odds with Mandel and his relatives, Mandel finally asked, “Deal or No Deal?” “No Deal!” he shouted. I slapped my forehead, pulled the now very done pasta off the stove, and poured myself another glass of wine.

     As each subsequent case was opened, the likelihood of his chosen case containing the really big money went down. But that didn’t stop his need to win the big bucks. As my pasta cooled, I watched as the man made one avaricious choice after another, giving up tens of thousands of dollars, hoping to score more. And no matter how much he could have had, he was driven by the potential to have even more.

     Although this was a game show, it was also a metaphor for life. The constant drive for more can cause us to lose perspective and make us nearly manic – “at best screaming, crying, and stressing out like a game show contestant, or, at worst, going to the dark side where we’ll do absolutely anything to have what we want. Covetousness, greed, avarice – all of these things are about the pursuit of what’s in it for me.” 1

     Take Ahab. Because of the cold climate in Samaria during the winter, Ahab went to his southern palace in Jezreel. He noticed the nice vineyard adjacent to the palace, and proposed a deal to Naboth the owner. Naboth could choose another vineyard for himself or cash. Nothing was hidden behind door number 1 or curtain number 2, and the odds of winning wouldn’t change if he accepted the offer. So why did Naboth say, “No deal!” Probably for two reasons.

     First, it was because of what the land meant. It was his ancestral inheritance, and the law stipulated that ancestral lands were to stay within the clan was a way of maintaining the integrity of tribal territories and to keep the land from being sold to foreigners. And this was particularly important because the had been given to the Israelite people by God after the exodus.

     Second, Ahab said that he wanted the land for a vegetable garden. While this might seem reasonable, the term “vegetable garden” is used only one other place in the Old Testament (Dt 11:10 -11) where the naturally fertile land promised to Israel by God is contrasted to the land of the Egyptians who had to irrigate their land. Converting this land from a vineyard, which the Israelites considered a sign of God’s blessing, would have been tantamount to snubbing God’s gift. Naboth would have none of this deal!

     Ahab sulks like he’s just found out he had a penny in his chosen case, when Jezebel, Ahab’s foreign Phoenician wife starts behaving like an advisor on Deal or No Deal. “Aren’t you the king?” she asks like the hyped up game show host. “Cheer up! There’s big money still out there!” Jezebel tells Ahab that she’ll get the land for him, and hatches a plot against Naboth. She has him falsely accused for cursing God and the king. Indicted by false witnesses, Naboth was stoned to death, and Ahab got what he wanted. “Coveting led to greed, greed led to lying, and lying led to murder.” 1

     The problem with avarice is that it often cloaks itself as a virtue, or insinuates itself under the pretext of making a decent provision for the future. It does not see that things like money and possessions are valuable only as instruments for the conduct of a good, loving, harmonious life. It becomes in itself something to live for, and can become an incentive to injustice in acquiring and retaining more things.

     The story of Naboth and Jezebel invites us to look at what we have as a gift, and to manage it as if it was an inheritance from God. Our culture shouts at us all the time to play the greed game and deal up for more. But the story warns us of the price we might pay if we give in to greed or envy or deceit to get what we most want.

     A father was walking down the street one day with his two sons, both of whom were crying and fussing. A neighbor inquired, “What’s the matter? Why the fuss?” The dad answered, “The trouble with these two is the problem with most everything in this world. The one has some candy, and the other one wants it.”

     Incidentally, the Arkansan who was offered almost a half a million left Deal or No Deal with the money in his chosen case: ten dollars.

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1 Kings 21:1-21a

The following events took place: Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria . And 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.” But Naboth said to Ahab, “The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance.” Ahab 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. His wife Jezebel came to him and said, “Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?” He 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.’” His 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.” So 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. She wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; seat 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.” The 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, they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. The 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. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.” As 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.” As 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. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: Go 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. You 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.” Ahab 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, I will bring disaster on you.”

Psalm 5:1-8, Verba mea auribus

1 Give ear to my words, O LORD; *
consider my meditation.

2 Hearken to my cry for help, my King and my God, *
for I make my prayer to you.

3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; *
early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.

4 For you are not a God
who takes pleasure in wickedness, *
and evil cannot dwell with you.

5 Braggarts cannot stand in your sight; *
you hate all those who work wickedness.

6 You destroy those who speak lies; *
the bloodthirsty and deceitful, O LORD, you abhor.

7 But as for me, through the greatness of your mercy I will go into your house; *
I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.

8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness,
because of those who lie in wait for me; *
make your way straight before me.  

Galatians 2:15-21

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Luke 7:36-8:3

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him-- that she is a sinner.” Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “Speak.” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God . The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Collect of the Day

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[1] This sermon was inspired by and adapted from Timothy F. Merrill. “Deal … or Else!” Homiletics19(3):57-61, 2007.

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Copyright © 2007, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
14 June 2007

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