Please read this passage before reading the homily.
What is so special about ancestral homes? When I was seven, we moved across town to a new house. The old house was eventually replaced by a more modern one. Sometimes we drive by the that old location with the new house on it, but it only holds memories for the oldest kids of the family.
All of us, however, can relate to the new house, with its three bedrooms and closets and the French doors between the dining room and living room. That house has its stories and its secrets; it nurtured our growth and development. Its back yard is the cemetery for our pet dog and the garden beyond it gave us food for many meals. That Dad was able to buy it and not rent it meant that he could establish himself and the family financially even into his old age.
Naboth had a vineyard, his ancestral heritage, something had nourished his boyhood and welcomed his own children. For him, it was also a source for income and enabled him to live beyond poverty. The memories and the practical benefits of owning property and a house would lead Naboth to say no to an offer to sell or trade, even with the king.
Enter the queen at this point, with her scheming plans to murder and confiscate. Her crime was not only against the sacredness of life, but it also attacked the basic social structures. She took lives and deprived a family of its place in society.
Our society has a history of redlining people out of affordable housing, of denying certain segments of our population good and affordable housing. The decisions our government made a hundred years ago have adversely affected the ability of many to break from poverty. These people are the Naboths of our population.
The story of Naboth will continue in verses 17-29, where we shall hear the results of the queen and king’s crimes. What will the result of our sins against property, we do not yet know. We can say that the king and queen should have repented and made things right, but we must set our sights on reversing our social decisions that have kept many citizens in poverty as second-class people.
We have these stories in Scripture so that we can see ourselves in them and make the necessary corrections in our lives.