“Culture’s Conscience”
1 Kings 21:1-21a
Sandpoint United Methodist Church
June 13, 2010
Stan Norman
Last week, this week, and the last week in June our worship theme is “Prophets and Community.” Next Sunday, you get a break from listening to me. Rick and Elaine Cole will be bringing you a message of hope. Since our Old Testament Scripture readings in June come from 1st and 2nd Kings, the prophets we will be discussing are Elijah and his protégé, Elisha.
If you ask someone on the street, someone who is unfamiliar with the Bible, what a “prophet” is; they would probably say a prophet is someone who can predict the future. But, in the Bible, prophets are more likely to be “announcers” than “predictors.” A Biblical definition of prophet might be: a person chosen by God to speak God’s words to God’s people. In 21st century America, you might hear a third definition of prophet:
Gigi and her husband taught Sunday school to first-graders at an affluent suburban church. For several weeks they had been studying Old Testament prophets. Before moving on to Jeremiah, Gigi asked the kids if they could remember what a “prophet” is.
There was a long period of silence before Gigi’s own daughter, Natalie, raised her hand. Swelling with parental pride, Gigi called on Natalie.
Natalie proudly stood up and announced, “A prophet is when you make more money than you can spend.”
Please pray with me. May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts, and the conduct of our lives, be always acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our blessed redeemer. Amen.
Let me give you a little historical background for today’s story of intrigue, deception, and murder. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the Patriarchs – lived about 2000 years before Jesus. Moses came along to lead Jacob’s extended family, now called Israel, out of slavery in Egypt. Moses was the first prophet.
Between 1500 and 1000 BC, the Israelites took over the real estate called Canaan, the land promised to Abraham and his descendents by God. This is the period of time covered by the Bible books Joshua, Judges, Ruth and 1st and 2nd Samuel. Samuel was the next great prophet. Samuel was the one who anointed David as King of Israel on God’s behalf. David was the king who united the tribes of Israel, creating what we would consider a nation and selected a small city in south Canaan named Jerusalem to be the new capitol city of Israel. 2nd Samuel ends with David turning over the kingdom to his son, Solomon.
The book of 1st Kings begins with the reign of Solomon, which starts off with great promise as Solomon places his trust in God, and God blesses him with great power, prestige, and wealth. But, power corrupts Solomon, and when Solomon dies, the nation of Israel splits into two kingdoms, each ruled by a succession of less than Godly kings.
Enter Elijah, the next great prophet, who will call Israel to repent and turn back to Yahweh, the one true God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David. During the reign of King Ahab and his notorious wife, Jezebel, the Israelites had begun to worship one of the pagan gods of their neighbors in Canaan, the god of storm and fertility, Baal. Jezebel was a Baal worshiper and she was so evil that her name has become synonymous with evil in the female form. Our story for this morning takes place about 100 years after King David’s death, about 870 years before Jesus’ birth.
“Prophet” was an interesting vocation. There were no job applications to fill out, no reference or credit checks, just a terrifying one-on-one job interview with the boss! It’s probably a good thing that God didn’t take applications for the office of “prophet” because few, if any, would have applied for the job…as the old joke goes: the working conditions were miserable and the pay was marginal, but the retirement system was out of this world.
God used prophets to hold people and nations accountable. Prophets were sort of like God’s auditors, and we all know how popular auditors are. Elijah was called by God to hold Israel, and Israel’s rulers, accountable for turning away from God, and for their ungodly actions.
When God chose Israel, and created a covenant relationship with the Israelites, the Israelites were blessed by God for the express purpose of becoming a light that would draw all the other nations of the earth to God. Israel was directed by God not to conform to the culture around it, but to transform the culture in God’s name. God chose Israel to be a prophetic voice, to be humanity’s conscience, to teach the world the difference between good and evil, between right and wrong.
The Bible tells us that God continued to send prophets to Israel. The last Old Testament prophet to show up was Malachi, about 435 BC. After that, God sent just two more prophets to Israel, John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. John’s job was to call the Israelites to repent of their sins and restore their covenant relationship with God through faith in God’s Messiah. Jesus came to earth to be that Messiah and establish a new covenant between God and all God’s people, not just the Israelites. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and proceeded to the Temple, where he cast out the salesmen and money-changers. The Temple leaders became indignant and asked Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” In response, Jesus told this parable:
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. [The vineyard is Israel, planted by God in the Promised Land.] Then he leased it to tenants [The tenants are the leaders of Israel – the kings and priests.] and went to another country. 34When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves [The slaves are God’s prophets.] to the tenants to collect his produce. 35But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37Finally he sent his son [The son is Jesus.] to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” 39So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” 42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? [This is a quote from Psalm 118.]
43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
My friends, God no longer needs a prophet. Jesus took care of that, once and for all. But there is still a need for God’s prophetic voice; there is still the need for a community of people who light the way to God’s presence for all the nations. It is not a job that we have applied for, but it is the job that God has chosen us for. God has chosen the Church to be not just Christ’s hands and feet, but also Christ’s prophetic voice – to speak God’s truth and to hold nations and leaders accountable. Christ’s church is called to be our culture’s conscience.
Let me tell you a little story to illustrate how this works in our world today. For decades, migrant Hispanic farm workers have been used to perform the back-breaking task of picking fruits and vegetables on American farms. They have often been abused and mistreated by their employers and have almost never been paid a “living wage.” Most of the migrant farm workers families make $12,000 or less each year, far below the federal poverty level.
One of the places where farm workers were treated unfairly was Immokalee, Florida, where tomatoes are grown for some the world’s largest restaurant chains, including Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, among others. After several failed labor strikes, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers called for a boycott of Taco Bell restaurants in 2001. By May 2004, the National Council of Churches, including the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and the United Methodist Church had joined the boycott. In June 2005, Yum Brands and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers announced the end of the boycott, and an agreement to vastly improve the wages and working conditions of farm workers in Immokalee. That is just one example of what Christ’s church can accomplish when it speaks God’s truth to the culture in words and in deeds.
Being God’s prophetic voice is not easy work, it requires balance. Please take out your worship bulletins and look at the illustration on the front cover. What you see there is a Jerusalem Cross. A Jerusalem Cross is perfectly balanced, all the arms are the same length and they meet in the middle.
From left to right above the cross you will find “Acts of Compassion” and “Acts of Justice”, these are what John Wesley called “works of mercy.” From left to right below the cross you will find “Acts of Devotion” and “Acts of Worship”, these are what John Wesley called “works of piety.” On the left side of the cross are works that are normally done as individuals and on the right side of the cross are works that are normally done in community.
When Wesley studied Jesus’ life and teachings, he saw a balance that provided Jesus with the spiritual, emotional, and physical strength to complete his mission. Jesus would often transition from a time of intense public teaching and personal acts of compassionate feeding and healing, to private time in prayer and time alone with the Twelve Apostles for worship and fellowship. The time he spent serving and loving God empowered and deepened his service to, and love for, others…and vice versa.
Before Elijah confronted Ahab and Jezebel about stealing Naboth’s vineyard and having Naboth murdered, he had been hiding from Jezebel’s hit men out in the wilderness. Then God came to Elijah in that lonely, deserted place and spoke to Elijah. God didn’t come to Elijah in a strong wind, or a great earthquake, or a roaring fire – God came to Elijah in the sound of “sheer silence” and spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice. In that still, small voice Elijah found the strength to go on and complete his God-given mission.
What acts of compassion and justice is God’s still small voice calling us to today? What new and deeper acts of devotion and worship will give us the strength and wisdom to answer that call? What are we saying to our community about whose we are and what we stand for?
Once we get Christ in the right place, the world will come out all right.
Amen.
