In the Face of Evil

Monday of Week 11 – 1 Kings 21:1-26; Ps 50:3-6,11,16; Matthew 5:38-42

Two readings, three images.

First, King Ahab, to whom Naboth did not want to sell his vineyard. Bitter and offended, “he lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and would not eat.” But when Jezebel arranged for Naboth to be stoned on a false pretext, “Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.” A weak, spineless egoist. In this image, those who think they are owed everything and sulk when things are otherwise could probably recognize themselves. And they do not care what price someone else will pay for their whims.

The second image is his wife, Jezebel. Ready to do anything to carry out her plan. Even to kill in order to improve the mood of her sulking husband. But not out of love, of course, only out of calculation. Her husband’s power was, after all, her power too. In this image, those who, in order to strengthen their own position, fulfil every, even the most immoral, whim of their superior could recognize themselves.

The third image is the ideal set before us by Jesus: a person who, in the face of evil, is ready rather to lose – to turn the other cheek, give up his cloak, go an unnecessary distance – than to contribute to the escalation of conflict. A helpless pushover? Yet because of his righteousness, great before God.

The question suggests itself: in which image do I see the most of myself?