Dog’s World
1 Kings 21:1-21; Luke 7:36-8:3
June 13, 2010
Walking to indoor track practice with some older high school teammates, we took a slightly different route and passed by one of the old art movie theatres, The Playhouse, then playing Mondo Cane. The movie had attracted quite a bit of attention, primarily because of its wonderful theme song, “More.” Originally an instrumental composed for the Italian-made film, an English lyrics version was composed by Norman Nevell.
“More” (R. Ortolani, N. Olierero, M. Ciacircolini, N. Nevell)
More than the greatest love the world has known,
This is the love I give to you alone, ....
Longer than always is a long long time, but far beyond forever you’ll be mine.
Before nostalgia overwhelms us, as we were walking along North Avenue, I believe I said, “Maybe we should go see it.” In 1963 I could actually afford going to see a movie. But one of the older fellows knew what it was about: a shock-exploitation travelogue showing bizarre rituals around the world, usually with lots of unexpected and very real blood. Mondo Cane means “It’s a Dog’s World,” and these are not happy dogs. The movie, nevertheless, won quite a few awards, and its theme was nominated for the Academy Award of Best Song, but didn’t win. “More” was soon to be sung by an Italian-American named Frank Sinatra.
In a world in which dogs were indiscriminate scavengers, how do we hear the Gospel, the Good News, in the tale of Ahab and Naboth, Jezebel and Elijah? Usually, we avoid these sordid stories as unfit for civilized folk and relegate them to our ditties, as in the song “Jezebel” by Frankie Laine. Yet this is the story that waits in ambush every third year in the Lectionary, page 1004 in Voices United, and supposed to be read today: let’s listen with ears that hear.
This is both history and a story intended to remind you of other stories, and moreover, the context is sometimes more important than the actions of the story itself. It’s also a name game. The names have been slightly changed to mock the guilty.
You could not read or hear this story with a straight face, for the Biblical author made certain readers knew that Jezebel and her lineage were proud worshippers of Ba‘al, the fertility god of that region, meaning “lord” or “master.” There was an elaborate mythology, but the morality of its practitioners was never in doubt from an Israelite point of view. Jezebel probably meant “The Lord Ba‘al Exists,” but with a cleverly added letter or so, it means, “there is no nobility” or even “the whore of Ba‘al.”
So every time one heard her name it was hard to take her seriously, except that you had to take her evil seriously. She converted her husband Ahab fairly easily it seems, and temples to the Ba‘alim were built all over Ahab’s northern kingdom. This was no time for benign multi-culturalism, “let everyone worship as they wish” kind of generosity, for the chief opponents of morality were on the throne with too much power.
Now why do the writers of the Old Testament bother to tell these sordid stories? They remind us over and over again how easy it is to fall away from faith in the One God and delude ourselves into believing we have found a more satisfactory god.
Remember that terrible indiscretion of David when he had an affair with Bathsheba and to cover up her pregnancy he had her husband Uriah the Hittite purposely placed in the front line of a battle so he would be killed. Nathan confronted David with his sin that is perceived as the beginning of the downfall of the Israelite kings. It gets worse when we find out that Ahab has a neighbour with a name, Naboth.
Instead of an attractive woman bathing, Ahab looks out and sees an attractive vineyard, and what the king sees he wants and thinks he should be given. Granted, he was polite at first and asked. This land had been in Naboth’s family for centuries and he was not about to give it up and didn’t. Ahab was not used to being refused, so went away and sulked badly, not even eating. Jezebel knew something was wrong and when told, she said, “I’ll fix it.”
This was Uriah déja vu, only much worse. Jezebel begins by forging letters in the name of Ahab, attaching the royal seal to pretend it had authenticity. The letters asked, commanded, the elders of the city to proclaim a fast, a holy day, and make sure that Naboth was centre-stage in the worship. Then find two thugs to come forward and accuse Naboth of unfounded blasphemy, “You have cursed God and the king.” Just out of thin air rumour, which most people love to hear and will accept. If someone says something good and wonderful about another person, we are skeptical, “Nobody can be that good!” Yet, are we not ready to accept on the thinnest grounds a negative smear on another person, “That has to be true!” People, even a holy people at holy worship, possess that inclination, and it didn’t take much to drag Naboth outside the city - shouldn’t do such terrible stuff in the church! - and stoned him to death. First thing they did was report back to Jezebel their queen, “Naboth has been stoned to death, as you suggested.”
There is irony in this vicious rumour-mongering - or is it just not the norm? - when Jezebel suggested to her accomplices that they accuse Naboth of cursing God and the king. Jezebel did not believe in or worship the God of Israel, and in fact wanted to deny that Elohim existed and had any power. Yet she was quite ready to use the name of someone else’s God to incite violence. She tried to make her rumours holy and isn’t it amazing how most of us are willing to believe first the worst?
This is a dog’s world, Mondo Cane, but as quiet as Jezebel tried to keep it all - Ahab conveniently assumed ownership of Naboth’s abandoned vineyard - God knows. Just as with David and Uriah, a prophet receives a Word of the Lord and is sent to the king. Elijah is sent and Ahab is not surprised to be found out. Compared to David, Ahab’s sentence is much worse. When Naboth was stoned to death for blasphemy outside the city, he was considered ultimately unclean and was not buried and the dogs came to lick up his blood. Such a fate would now be Jezebel’s, most infamously.
These stories are not told for shock-exploitation, but as rough-edged parables to remind us how we can be led astray and lead others astray due to our own personal desires. There is a still “More” excellent way.
That familiar event of Jesus at supper with some Pharisees - his enemies, in fact - and a woman comes inside and anoints his feet with ointment and wipes his feet with her tears. The Pharisees are affronted, “Some prophet he is if he didn’t know what kind of a woman she is!” No name, but under their breath, Jezebel.
Jesus presents the case study or parable about the two men forgiven of different amounts, and asks the Pharisees to judge who is more grateful. The one with the larger debt, that’s logical, they reply. By the way, Jesus observes, she treated me with affection and hospitality that you were lacking. Perhaps you have not been forgiven enough. Jesus then turns to the woman and declares, “Your sins are forgiven.” Almost as much blasphemy as Naboth was supposed to have uttered. No human being can forgive sins, they think out loud, only God can do that. Does he think he’s God? The evangelist Luke doesn’t go there for the time being. Instead, Jesus says one more thing to the woman, more to the point than his previous statement, “Your faith has saved you already; go in peace.” That was no rumour.
“More than the greatest love the world has known, This is the love I give to you alone ... Longer than always is a long long time, but far beyond forever you’re gonna be mine.”
Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan