Portion for Reading 1 King 20-22The story of Naboth's vineyard is the culmination of human greed overcoming gratitude for the gifts given by God that should, in turn, be handed on to others. (1 Kings 21: 1-16) The only reason given for King Ahab's desire to possess Naboth's vineyard is that it is next to his own property. That is, it is across his boundary line. He is among those denounced in the oracle of Isaiah who wishes to "join house to house, [an] add field to field.
" That Naboth really cares about this vineyard because it is an ancestral inheritance seems only to fuel Ahab's desire for it. It is otherwise hard to imagine a king taking to his bed in a huge pout over the intrinsic value of one vineyard. Jezebel berates his husband for his behavior. She is not taking him to task for desiring somebody else's vineyard, of course.
She is berating him for not asserting his kingship by taking it. Jezebel takes matters into her own hands. She demonstrates that she understands the dynamics of mimetic violence all too well. The acquisitive mimesis on Ahab's part has the potential to lead to violence. The same goes for the acquisitive mimesis on the part of the people who live in Naboth's town. She assumes, rightly, that there are people sufficiently subject to envy that if Naboth is conspicuously placed in a prominent position, these people will make false accusations in order to get rid of him.
Jezebel also realizes that the occasion for the false charges and the subsequent killing need to be done in a sacred context, so she advises her plotters to proclaim a fast and then appoint Naboth a leader. When the accusations are made, all the tension from mimetic rivalry focuses on Naboth and all the people in the town stone him. With the result that Ahab acquires the vineyard. Ahab, of course, is denounced by the prophet Elijah for what he has done. Ahab then repents and God accepts the repentance. But then Ahab turns around and starts a war with Amon because he believes that Ramoth-gilead belongs to him and he hasn't done anything about it. He ignores the warning of another prophet, Micaiah, and is killed in the battle. (1 Kings 22)
When Jesus uses the vineyard as the central image of some of his parables, he is using an image which has accumulated much weight in the tradition of his people. He can hardly begin a parable by saying: "There was a vineyard" without people thinking of the Torah legislation and of the way the prophets used it to bring home the word of God. Not only that, but some of Jesus' listeners would have been the owners of vineyards or workers in them. For them, the vineyard was not just an illustrative symbol but a reality around which their social tensions actually revolved.
Jesus said: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples." (Jn. 15:5-8) To us who are inclined to kill for the sake of gaining God's substance for ourselves, Jesus responds by offering us God's substance as a gift. He also warns us that there is no other way in which we can have God's substance. We are called to work in God's vineyard. But it is not enough to be a laborer in the vineyard. We are also called to be the vines nourished by the True Vine. Everybody receives the same nourishment from the vine of which we are branches. That means we must wish for all other branches to be nourished as much as the True Vine wishes it. The vineyard of the Lord will not be complete until Ham and all his descendants are welcomed back into our shared inheritance.
Source: Andrew Marr, OSB