Have you ever been invited to a birthday party like this one?
King Herod’s birthday bash is a party complete with a seductive dance that finally leads to the execution of John the Baptist. At the end of this reading, in the usual fashion proscribed by the Book of Common Prayer, the minister will proclaim, perhaps with a slight choke, that this was The Gospel of the Lord. The Good News from God.
Where does one go from here? That was the question that ran through my mind all week as I pondered writing a good news message to you for this appointed Gospel reading.
Well, firstly let me say that I’m not going to preach to you on the ills of too much partying. I know that would never go over in any congregation where I have preached. Besides Jesus was the chief cornerstone at just about every party mentioned in the Gospels and probably many that aren’t mentioned there.
Secondly, in this Gospel, King Herod’s stepdaughter tricks the King into giving her the head of John the Baptist as a gift for her mother, the King’s new wife. Herod really doesn’t want to do this, but the great King now finds himself powerless; after all, each of his guests heard him make this promise to his daughter. Next time you think peer pressure is something that only Junior High schoolers have to face, remember poor old Herod.
I’m certain that John’s Disciples and certainly Jesus must have been in great grief over this. Is there really any Good News in this reading from the sixth chapter of Mark? Did you read any?
Well, there isn’t any, unless you read it between the lines, and I mean literally between the lines!
Today’s Gospel falls right smack between Jesus sending the disciples out two by two, and their return with all the news of their accomplishments which we will read next week in our Gospel. I do not believe this was an editorial accident on Mark’s part.
By inserting the gory details of Herod and his entourage in between the hopeful sending out and the joyous return of the disciples, Mark is letting all of us know, in no uncertain terms, that when the church rises up to be the church, the world will still rise up to be the world. It’s as if Mark is saying, Don’t forget, you are the church IN the world. You are part of the world even with its evil, pain, and grief. And even when we’re not at our best, the world needs to hear that there is still hope, that they are loved and accepted.
Even those of us who are called to do the proclaiming still need to be shouted at from the desert on occasion. We all need that plumb line that Amos speaks about in the first reading appointed for this week. . . that standard against which we measure our behavior.
My dear friends in Christ, it’s so easy to let the Herod story dominate the rest of the good news these days. It’s so easy to become a doubting cynic. It’s so easy to lose all hope.
The kind of fear that Herod used to keep him in power, and the kind of fear that eventually rendered him powerless, is the same kind of fear launched against all of us every day.
As we approach another presidential election, we will see this kind of fear used to garner our votes. Just tell the unemployed that some migrant worker in Central California with a green card is the reason they’re out of work or scare the elderly into believing that the reason their Social Security is in jeopardy because of a new health care provision, or tell someone whose been hit hard by economic realities that it’s the mother of three children receiving food stamps who is to blame.
Unfortunately, the weakest and the most vulnerable among us are the ones hit the hardest by the use of such fear as an ugly weapon.
But St. Mark has a message for us:
That kind of fear mongering eventually trips over its own feet. It got the best of Herod, and if we read on in this 6th chapter of Mark, we will find that the disciples came back from the fearful world of wolves like unscathed sheep. . . full of joy and hope.
Mark tells us that they gathered around Jesus like children wanting to show their parents their latest work of art. Do you see the powerful and necessary message here for all of us in the Christian Church? Yes, the Kingdom of God is here and now just as Jesus said, but it’s not always obvious.
Maybe we can begin to see why Jesus so often says of the kingdom, . . . it’s for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. We so often have to read between the lines.
A lot of Christians these days, especially as we navigate through a major cultural shift in our part of the world with regard to the Church, are feeling defeated and discouraged. If you find yourselves feeling like that sometimes, then our Gospel this week, sandwiched in here in the sixth chapter of Mark, is just for you!
We stand with St. Mark on THIS SIDE of the triumphal return of those disciples. We also stand on this side of the Resurrection! Christianity without hope is absolutely a contradiction in terms. Christianity without promise, potential and possibility is non-sequitur.
The great philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard once told a parable about a community of ducks waddling off to duck church to hear the duck preacher. The duck preacher spoke
eloquently and passionately about how God has given the ducks a special gift: WINGS with which to fly. With these wings, the preacher assures them, there is nowhere you ducks cannot go; there is no God-given task you ducks cannot accomplish. With your wings you can soar into the very presence of God! Shouts of Amen! were quacked throughout the duck congregation and wings were lifted in praise.
But at the conclusion of the service, the ducks left the gathering place, commenting on what a wonderfully uplifting message they just heard. . . and they quietly waddled all the way back home.
We need, like St. Mark, to acknowledge that the Herod story sandwiches itself into our story from time to time. But when it does, I think we are called to spread our wings and drop the waddle.
I’m generally not fond of sports metaphors but this one rang true for me this week as I mulled over this Gospel:
Nowhere did God ever promise us we would be ahead at half time. . . only that we would eventually win the game!
And may the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Thank you?
I meant “Thank you!” — a positive exclamation!
Thank you. I shall try to remember to fly rather than waddle this week!
Thank you as always–I don’t think I have ever said this to you. I frequently take away a a germ of where I want to go in a sermon from your reflection. what is often the most fun is finding something from a previous sermon to the reading of the week. I laughed out loud at Kierkegaard’s parable and will use it this week but I will add, in parentheses, (and the preacher All waddle home). It is so easy to forget to whom we preach.