1 Kings 21:17-29 Please, Let's Stop Being Such Ahabs!

"I was the world's nicest guy and they ruined my life for no reason!"

1 Kings 21:17-29 (NRSV)

¹⁷Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: ¹⁸Go 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. ¹⁹You 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."
²⁰Ahab 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, ²¹I will bring disaster on you; I will consume you, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel; ²²and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin. ²³Also concerning Jezebel the LORD said, 'The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel.' ²⁴Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat; and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds of the air shall eat."
²⁵(Indeed, there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD, urged on by his wife Jezebel. ²⁶He acted most abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD drove out before the Israelites.)
²⁷When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his bare flesh; he fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly. ²⁸Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: ²⁹Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the disaster on his house.

Observation:
Wow, the harshness at first is shocking. Elijah is prophesying Ahab and Jezebel's death, and that their bodies will be eaten by dogs. Yeesh!

Probably a little context is needed. The second half of 1 Kings is mostly about Ahab and Jezebel's feud with Elijah (and, by extension, God.) Since Elijah dares to share the truth, that God is displeased with his and his wife's worship of other gods, Ahab and Jezebel count him as an "enemy". 

For more immediate context, at the start of this chapter, king Ahab wants to buy his neighbor Naboth's land and plant a nice veggie garden. His neighbor refuses to sell. Ahab gets so depressed, he refuses to eat. Then Jezebel reminds him that he his king, and can just have Naboth killed, which of course Ahab immediately does. 

Application:
I have to admit, the land-grab aspect of the story, and the totally entitled way in which Ahab behaves, reminds me very much of the classic Disney film, The Emperor's New Groove. Emperor Kuzco, when life goes badly for him, is very quick to play the victim and very slow to reflect on how his own actions and misuse of power may have gotten him to this point. When others dare to raise this issue with him, they are labeled as enemies. Ahab behaves much the same way.

As they say, "Everything happens for a reason. And sometimes the reason is you made a dumb decision." We, like Ahab, are often too quick to misuse our power, and too slow to hear from others that this is a problem. We are too quick to think of ourselves as victims, and too slow to understand the ways we victimize others. With whatever internet clout I can muster, I would like to coin a gender-neutral term for this. Can we please stop being such "Ahabs", and be ready to listen when God may be calling us to repentance?     


Prayer: 
God, like Ahab, I am often blind to the way I use power and privilege to my advantage. Help me to see life through the eyes of other, that I may better love my neighbor as myself. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. 

Jeremiah 25:8-14 God is Bigger than Any One Country

Jeremiah 25:8-14 (NRSV)

​⁸Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the LORD, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace. ¹⁰And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ¹²Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste. ¹³I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.

Observation:
The more I look at this oracle of Jeremiah, the more shocking it is. God calls Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, "my servant." In punishment for Judah's unfaithfulness, God will use Judah's enemies against them. God says the Babylonian Empire will be executing God's own will by conquering and holding captive the whole kingdom of Judah for seventy years. After that time, God will punish the Babylonians themselves.

Application:
I'm trying to put myself in the place of a nice, red-blooded, patriotic Judahite boy overhearing Jeremiah's prophecy. For him to call the king of Babylon, our enemy, "God's servant", would be like walking into Washington DC today and saying God is fighting on the side of Kim Jong Un or Vladimir Putin. There may not be too many things left that can unite all Americans, but the outcry this would cause might just do the trick. 

I'm conflicted reading a passage like this, because I believe when First John says "God is Love." It's hard for me to picture God basically ordering a military strike on any nation, even if they have been unfaithful. I would never preach that any national catastrophe, in any country, is God's retribution for our sins. On the other hand, I would also never preach the kind of nationalistic lies that Jeremiah's contemporaries were preaching: namely, that God is exclusively on the side of our own nation, no matter how we act or who we hurt. This prophecy from Jeremiah reminds me that God isn't on the side of any one country. God is on humanity's side. God will do what's best for all God's children.  
  
Prayer: God, I love the country where I live. I am thankful to be an American. I think we have done some good things that have made you happy. But I need your help to remember that everyone, from every nation, is also your child, and you are working through people in every nation to heal, liberate, and save humankind. Thank you for making me part of your movement, that transcends space and time. Amen. 

Galatians 5:2-6 The Only Thing That Counts

Galatians 5:2-6 (NRSV)

​²Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. ³Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. ⁴You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. ⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.

Observation:
Paul uses really strong and strident language in his letter to the church in Galatia. They have been influenced by a group of Jewish Christians who insist that circumcision (and following every other religious law) is essential to salvation. It's easy to dismiss this viewpoint now, but let's remember that Jesus and all his original apostles (including Paul himself, for much of his life) followed these religious laws and saw them as essential to their own identity. But when people start suggesting that following these laws is a way to "earn" a right relationship with God, Paul has to draw a line in the sand. He says twice: "If you let yourself be circumcised, you are missing the whole point of what Jesus did for you. You're on your own." The only thing that counts is faith. If you're not counting on that, you're not counting on Jesus. 

Application:
There's a word in theology for a disagreement that doesn't affect matters of salvation: adiaphora. 

Sometimes the concept of adiaphora is misused. People take the word to mean "stuff that's not important." That's not what it means at all. There are vitally important issues we talk about each day--matters of life and death--that don't affect our salvation. Just because it's "adiaphora" doesn't mean it's trivial. 

But the reason I'm thinking about this today is sometimes people will take a matter of adiaphora--like the "circumcision faction" did--and place it in the center, as the defining factor of whether or not you are saved and have a right relationship with God. According to the Reformers, when someone does that, you have an obligation to call it out and resist it with all our might. 

If a Christian is publicly placing any person, thing, idea, ideology, set of rules, identity or anything else above faith in Christ, even if I agree with them that that thing is important, I am bound as a minister of the Gospel to resist them. If faith in Christ doesn't count, then nothing does. 

Needless to say, in our increasingly troubled and divided world, we are exposed to a LOT of ideas that flirt with this kind of idolatry. More and more of our identity seems wrapped up in our stance on important issues of the day. And again, there are a TON of life-or-death issues that Christians SHOULD have opinions about and be taking action on. These days, putting such a high value on faith in Christ is an invitation to be misunderstood. If you place it at the center, you will have to reject other things. To some, that will seem to some like you're being disloyal, unpatriotic, or picking fights. To others it will seem as though you are out of touch, lacking in compassion, and don't care enough about issues that they care about. Discipleship isn't supposed to be easy. But it is grounding, in a deep way that our world desperately needs. 

Prayer:
Jesus, ground me in faith. Be my anchor in a world of turmoil. In your name I pray. Amen. 

Malachi 3:1-4, Commemorating John the Baptist

Malachi 3:1-4 (NRSV)

​John the Baptist

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the LORD whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight — indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

Observation:
I'm struck by the harshness of the metaphor of a refiner's fire. I can understand why this would be an appointed text for the Feast of Saint John the Baptist. John's preaching and teaching was full of fire, to be sure. He warned that one coming after him would separate the wheat from the chaff, and burn away everything in us that was not part of the just and equitable Reign of God that was coming.

Fire can be painful and destructive. It can rage out of control. I am reminded of the devastating forest fires that claimed so many lives and homes in California two years ago. Metaphorically, that was exactly how John the Baptist was: uncontrollable, volatile, and liable to burn some of the very people others may have wanted him to reach out to. But his job wasn't to make lots of friends. It was to prepare people for the holy fire that was coming.

Application:
I'm an incorrigible people-pleaser. I often see my job as putting out fires, rather than starting them. But these words from Malachi, and the story of John the Baptist, remind me that some fires are good. They burn away our excuses and nonsense. They leave behind what is most core to our identity: what we most value. What we worship. And if, at that level, what we worship isn't God, maybe it's time to start from scratch anyway.

Sometimes I find myself looking with disapproval on people who use strong, fiery language to get their point across: people like John the Baptist. What John the Baptist understood, that I sometimes forget, is that some people need that fire lit under their feet, even if it means they'll be turned off to me. John the Baptist didn't assume he was the whole operation, and if he didn't make lasting, faithful, mature disciples out of his listeners, that no one would. In fact, he assumed the opposite. He knew he was just one part of God's plan, and there was one coming after him. I don't imagine he loved getting jeers from those he offended, but his call was not to win everyone over, but to light the fire that would begin to expose his society to the truth about itself, and about God. Maybe God isn't as concerned with putting out fires as I am.

Prayer:
Jesus, as I reflect on your cousin John, I'm hearing that song from my childhood, "We Didn't Start the Fire". Your fire of justice and love, your Spirit, has burned in the hearts of prophets for millennia. Help me to better understand when fires need to be put out, and when they need to burn brighter and hotter. In your name I pray, Amen.