2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

The Gospel according to Mark 6:14-29

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him."  But others said, "It is Elijah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old."  But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I Beheaded, has been raised."  For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her.  For John had been telling Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."  And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.  But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee.  When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it."  And he solemnly swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom."  She went out and said to her mother, "What should I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the baptizer."  Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."  The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her.  Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.  When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

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I DON’T KNOW IF ANY OF YOU HAD A CHANCE TO READ THE REVIEW FRIDAY IN THE JOURNAL CONSTITUTION OF THE MEXICAN MOVIE "HEROD’S LAW" WHICH OPENED AT THE MADSTONE. IT WAS GIVEN THE MARK D+ INCIDENTALLY, SO I DIDN’T RUSH OUT TO SEE IT. BUT, IN READING THE REVIEW I FOUND THAT THE LAW READS "DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO UNTO YOU," IN SOME WAYS AN APPROPRIATE LINE FOR THIS GOSPEL READING.

WE HAD BEEN TALKING A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO IN MIKE’S ADULT CHRISTIAN ED CLASS ABOUT THE HERODS. IT WAS ALMOST AS IF WE WERE DESCRIBING THE LIFESTYLE OF SADDAM HUSSEIN AND HIS TWO SONS, WHEN WE LOOKED AT THE LIFE OF HEROD THE GREAT AND HIS SONS HEROD ANTIPAS AND HEROD PHILIP. THE DESTRUCTIVE WAYS OF SEXUAL AND POWER POLITICS WERE THE HALLMARK OF THEIR LIVES. THROUGHOUT THE LONG REIGN OF THE HEROD DYNASTY THERE ARE REPORTS WRITTEN BY THE HISTORIAN JOSEPHUS OF ABUSE TO THE POOR, CORRUPTION, VIOLENCE, AND A LIFE OF LURID BINGES.

HEROD ANTIPAS DIVORCED HIS FIRST WIFE TO MARRY HERODIAS, WHO AT THE TIME WAS STILL MARRIED TO HIS BROTHER PHILIP. THIS WAS AN EXTREME OFFENSE TO GOD AS STATED IN THE JEWISH LAWS OF THE TIME, AS IT WOULD BE TODAY. IN ADDITION TO THIS, HEROD ANTIPAS, LUSTED FOR HERODIAS’S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER, SALOME, AS SHE DANCES IN A PARTICULARLY PLEASING WAY AT HIS BIRTHDAY PARTY. HE OFFERS TO GIVE SALOME A GIFT OF WHATEVER SHE ASKS FOR, "EVEN HALF OF MY KINGDOM" HE SAYS. THE GIRL IS NOT SURPRISINGLY BEWILDERED. NOT KNOWING HOW TO RESPOND, SHE GOES TO HER MOTHER AND SAYS, "WHAT SHALL I ASK FOR?" THE REPLY WAS, "THE HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST." YUK. ONE WONDERS WHAT HERODIAS HAS AGAINST JOHN, BUT IT SEEMS THAT JOHN HAS DISAPPROVED OF THEIR OFFENSIVE MARRIAGE. HE HAS TOLD HEROD THAT HE DISAPPROVES, AND HERODIAS IS AFRAID OF JOHN’S INFLUENCE, AFRAID THAT PERHAPS HEROD ANTIPAS WOULD GET RID OF HER. SHE WAS ENJOYING HER POSITION AS QUEEN AND SO SHE CALLED ON "HEROD’S LAW." "DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO UNTO YOU," QUICKLY, NOT WANTING TO BREAK HIS OATH, HEROD ORDERS THAT THE MURDER BE ACCOMPLISHED, AND JOHN’S HEAD IS PRESENTED TO THEM ON A PLATTER. WHAT A GRUESOME STORY!

IT QUITE SURPRISES ME THAT MARK, WHEN WRITING THIS GOSPEL, HAS INCLUDED THIS REPORT AT THIS POINT IN THE GOSPEL. THE PASSAGE JUST BEFORE THIS (WE HEARD IT LAST SUNDAY) DESCRIBES THE OCCASION WHEN JESUS IS SENDING OUT HIS DISCIPLES, TWO BY TWO, TO HEAL AND CAST OUT DEMONS. PERHAPS MARK MEANS TO REINFORCE THE IDEA CONNECTING JOHN’S DEATH WITH THE BEGINNING OF JESUS’ PREACHING MINISTRY. REMEMBER, IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE GOSPEL MARK WRITES, "NOW AFTER JOHN WAS ARRESTED, JESUS CAME TO GALILEE PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD." OR MAYBE IT WAS TO HIGHLIGHT’S JESUS WARNING TO HIS DISCIPLES OF THE DANGERS THAT MIGHT LIE AHEAD SHOULD THEY OFFEND THE LOCAL HIERARCHY. THE INTERESTING THOUGH FOR ME IN THIS PASSAGE IS THAT BRIEF NOTE OF WHAT IS GOING ON WITH HEROD, HIS GUILT, HIS MEMORY OF WHAT HAD OCCURRED AND THEN HIS CONNECTION WITH WHAT JESUS WAS UP TO IN THAT TIME.

RECALLING THE FIRST SENTENCE IN OUR PASSAGE TODAY, WE LEARN "KING HEROD HEARD THE DEEDS OF POWER FOR JESUS’ NAME HAD BECOME KNOWN." AS FOLKS TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE DEEDS OF THIS UNKNOWN PERSON, SOME EXPLAINED HIS POWER SAYING HE WAS JOHN THE BAPTIST RAISED FROM THE DEAD. OTHER SAID ELIJAH OR ONE OF THE PROPHETS FROM EARLIER TIMES. CLEARLY THE POSSIBILITY THAT IT MIGHT BE THE REINCARNATED JOHN, GAVE HEROD PAUSE. HE HAD APPARENTLY LIKED JOHN THE BAPTIST, ALTHOUGH WHEN HE LISTENED TO HIM HE WAS PERPLEXED. HE KNEW THAT JOHN WAS A RIGHTEOUS AND HOLY MAN, AND YET UNDER PRESSURE, AND PERHAPS WITHOUT WANTING TO, HE HAD ALLOWED HIM TO BE KILLED.

DOES THAT SOUND LIKE SOMETHING WE REMEMBER FROM THE GOSPELS ABOUT PILATE, ABOUT HIS ATTEMPT TO RELEASE JESUS FROM THE JUDGMENT OF THE CROWDS? IT SEEMS CLEAR TO ME THAT MARK INCLUDES THIS REPORT, AT THIS TIME, IN ORDER TO LINK THE MINISTRY AND FATE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST WITH THE COMING FATE OF JESUS OF NAZARETH.

I THINK OF JESUS AND JOHN AS SUCH DIFFERENT PEOPLE - JOHN STEPPING FORTH FROM THE WILDERNESS, RAGGED, ROUGH, AND LOUD...CRYING "PREPARING THE WAY OF THE LORD." HIS SIMPLE DRESS AND STRANGE DIET TELL US THAT HE HAD REJECTED THE CORRUPT SOCIETY OF THE TIMES AND RETREATED. THEN THE TIME CAME FOR HIM TO COME FORTH AND BEGIN HIS RADICAL TEACHING, CALLING PEOPLE TO REPENT, ANNOUNCING THE COMING OF SOMEONE GREATER THAN HE. PEOPLE WERE AMAZED AT HIS PROPHETIC VOICE, AT HIS WILLINGNESS TO SPEAK UP AGAINST INJUSTICE. HE DID HOWEVER TAKE A BACK SEAT TO HIS COUSIN JESUS AFTER THE BAPTISM. JESUS BY CONTRAST EMERGED NOT AS A PROPHET AS MUCH AS A TEACHER, A GENTLE PROCAIMER OF THE COMING OF GOD’S KINGDOM. HE QUIETLY BEGINS HIS MINISTRY OF HEALING, TEACHING, AND CASTING OUT DEMONS. HIS SPIRITUAL POWER AND ABILITY TO HEAL THE SICK ARE QUICKLY RECOGNIZED BY THE PEOPLE.

AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, I THINK MARK WANTS US, HIS READERS, TO SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THESE TWO MEN. JOHN’S DECLARATION ANTICIPATES JESUS’ APPEARANCE ON THE SCENE JUST AS THE HORRIBLE DEATH OF JOHN FORESHADOWS THE DEATH OF JESUS. THE LIVES OF TWO MEN, HOLY AND DEVOUT IN SERVICE TO GOD, ARE COMMITTED TO DEATH BY TWO VERY POWERFUL POLITICAL LEADERS. HEROD AND PILATE ARE BOTH AWARE THAT THEY ARE FACE TO FACE WITH SPIRITUAL POWER THAT IS PERHAPS AS GREAT AS THEIR POLITICAL POWER, AND I WONDER IF THEY SENSED THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN THAT MOMENT OF HESITATION WHICH EACH EXPERIENCES AS THEY GIVE IN TO THE PRESSURE BEHIND THEM. AND YET THEY DECLINE TO CONFESS IT, AND DEATH RESULTS.

CHRISTIANS IN THIS WORLD OFTEN FIND THEMSELVES IN OPPOSITION TO THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT OR OTHER AGENTS OF AUTHORITY. BUT HOW OFTEN DO WE STAND UP TO THEM AS JOHN AND JESUS DID. I RECOGNIZE IN MYSELF THE TENDENCY TO EITHER THINK THAT NOTHING I COULD DO WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE, OR I FEAR RETRIBUTION. AND YET AS I LOOK BACK AT HISTORY, I FIND THAT THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF THOSE TWO MEN CAN EXPECT VINDICATION BY GOD. HISTORY BASICALLY FAVORS THOSE WHO COURAGEOUSLY WITNESS TO GOD’S WILL WHEN FACING THE AUTHORITIES OF THE WORLD.

THE OTHER DAY I READ THE WORDS OF THAT BISHOP IN EL SALVADOR, OSCAR ROMERO, WHO SAID IN A SERMON, "IN THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST...ONE MUST NOT LOVE ONESELF SO MUCH AS TO AVOID GETTING INVOLVED IN THE RISKS OF LIFE THAT HISTORY DEMANDS OF US...THE EXPERIENCES OF A NEW EARTH MUST NOT WEAKEN BUT RATHER STIMULATE OUR CONCERNS FOR THIS OLD EARTH. MAY WE GIVE OURSELVES LIKE CHRIST, NOT FOR SELF, BUT TO GIVE JUSTICE TO OUR PEOPLE." A FEW MINUTES LATER, AFTER FINISHING THAT SERMON, A GANG OF MEN WALKED INTO HIS CHURCH AND SHOT HIM. IT IS DANGEROUS TO BE A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST.

NEXT WEEK IN OUR GOSPEL READING WE WILL PICK UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF LAST WEEK. THE DISCIPLES RETURN TO REPORT TO JESUS ABOUT WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. THE TWO READINGS THAT SURROUND TODAY’S REPORT OF JOHN’S DEATH FOCUS ON THE CALLING OF THE 12 MEN TO MISSION, TO TRAVEL LIGHT, TO DEPEND ON THE HOSPITALITY OF OTHERS. IT SEEMS MARK HAS SET THE LUSTFUL, EXTRAVAGANT LIFE OF HEROD ANTIPAS AND THE VINDICTIVENESS OF HERODIAS AGAINST THE SIMPLE HEALING POWER OF JESUS AND THE DISCIPLES.

AS WE CONSIDER THIS CONTRAST, AND THE CALL TO WITNESS, MAY WE EXPERIENCE GOD’S PRESENCE IN OUR LIVES SUSTAINING US AS WE UNDERTAKE TO DO GOD’S WORK OF ACTING TO PROMOTE JUSTICE, SEARCH FOR TRUTH, AND LIVE WITH GODLY LOVE FOR ALL PEOPLE.

The Priest Associate - The Rev. Ruth Healy

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