Homily
for Tuesday
11th Week
of Ordinary Time
June 18, 2024
1 Kings 21: 17-29
Christian Brothers, St.
Joseph’s Residence, N.R.
Elijah confronts Ahab & Jezebel (Thomas Matthews Rook)
Yesterday
and today we’ve read the story of Naboth from the town of Jezreel. Naboth adheres firmly to the covenant between
God and Israel. His ancestral land is
God’s gift, the sign of the covenant. He
can’t alienate that land, not even for the king.
His
story is similar to the story of David and Bathsheba, in which the king covets
something that isn’t his and murders to acquire it. David had his prophet, Nathan, to confront
him with his sin and provoke repentance.
The responsorial psalm (51) echoes that sin and repentance.
Ahab,
too, repents. But there are differences
between him and David. David was
fundamentally good, a man at the Lord’s service, whereas Ahab “gave himself up
to the doing of evil” (1 Kgs 21:25). His
repentance follows Elijah’s pronouncement of doom, but David’s followed the
exposure of his guilt, preceding his punishment. According to Ps 51, David pleaded for
forgiveness and cleansing, but Ahab doesn’t explicitly confess his guilt even
tho he does some penance. Nor, according
to the account, does he repent of his idolatry or of his wife’s complicity in
evil.
Catholics
are famous for our sense of guilt, even to the point of confessing things that
aren’t sinful: “Father, I missed Mass
because I was sick.” “Father, I was
tired and didn’t say all of my prayers.”
But blessed are they who recognize genuine sin in their hearts, words,
actions, and failure to act and who repent—at least out of fear of God’s wrath;
but better, out of remorse at offending the Creator who has so richly blessed
us, the Redeemer who’s given his life for us.
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