Eucharistic meditation, April 3

1 Kings 21:9-10: ?Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the people; and seat two sons of Belial before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ?You cursed God and the king.?E Then take him out and stone him to death.?E

Jezebel?s plot involved proclaiming a fast for Israel, and it was during this religious occasion that Naboth was falsely accused and put to death. In this, as in so much else, Naboth is a type of Jesus, the son of the vineyard Owner. Naboth was falsely accused and tried during a religious fast; Jesus was falsely accused and tried during a religious festival.

Israel fasted during times of peril or judgment. Joel prophesied of a great locust plague that would destroy all the green things in Israel. In response, he called on Israel to consecrate a fast, gather together all the people including infants, to compel even the newlyweds to come home from their honeymoons to join together in the fast. It is possible that the fast in Jezreel is a response to some catastrophe, and that Israel gathers in part to identify the Achan in their midst. They gather to fast, and they are on the lookout for a scapegoat.

The scapegoat theme is reinforced when we recall that Israel?s one designated fast day was the day of atonement. On that day, when Israel was called to afflict their souls, the high priest took two goats, laid the sins and uncleannesses of Israel on the head of one and sent it to the wilderness, while he sacrificed the other. On a day of fasting, Israel selected a scapegoat to bear the sins of the people. And that is what Jezebel is doing as well: On this day of fasting, Jezebel enacts a demonic atonement, sending Naboth outside the city to be stoned. Naboth is the scapegoat.

Again in this, Naboth foreshadows Jesus, the scapegoat who is taken outside the gate to be crucified. But for the NT, this is part of the great good news of Jesus. By suffering outside the gate, Jesus sanctified the people through His blood (Heb 13:12). By suffering outside the gate as the sin offering and scapegoat, Jesus gives us the right to eat from ?an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat?E(Heb 13:10). Because Jesus was the scapegoat, our gatherings are not for fasting but for feasting.

If we feast on the victim who was killed outside the gate, whose death atoned once for all for all sins, we are also called to accompany Him there. That is part of the significance of this table. And all who share in this meal are called to imitate Jesus, bear His reproach, endure false accusations and slanders and even judicial murder. This table too is situated outside the camp, outside the city. And all of you who gather here are called to be martyrs, witnesses who suffer with and in Jesus.