Not
the way to Get Ahead
Mark
6.14-29
May 31, 2009
Dr. Matthew M. Fry
As we continue to experience The Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Give us, we pray, O God, thoughts higher than our own thoughts, prayers better than our own prayers, powers beyond our biological possibilities, that we may spend and be spent in the preaching and hearing of Thy Word. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.
Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in the Gospel of Mark. Listen. Mark 6.14-29.
14 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.’ 15But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’ 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’
17 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. 18For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ 19And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20for 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. 21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22When 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.’ 23And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’ 24She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’ 25Immediately 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.’ 26The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.
The Grass Withers, The Flower Falls, but The Word of The Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.
I have a distinct memory of hearing this story in Sunday School when I was Grammar School aged, I think like 3rd grade. I’m not sure if it was 3rd or 4th grade, but that is about the only detail I have lost from my first hearing of this story. This story, looking at it through the eyes of a parent of a child who will begin 3rd grade in a few short weeks, is an incredibly inappropriate story. It is not a story that is appropriate for children. And, quite honestly, I’m not so sure that it is appropriate for us as adults either. I can remember with detail sitting around our Sunday School table as the teacher read this story to us, told us what it meant, and then asked if we had any questions. It is a vivid memory, because it is a vivid story.
What are we to do with this story? How can we domesticate it in the same manner that we have the story of Noah and the ark, where we make murals and wall paper borders of the cute animals coming in two by two? We pass right over the drowning masses, who might well have been so many as to make it hard for the ark to navigate. I suppose it is a good thing they weren’t going anywhere.
Because we’ve got to domesticate this story, or we will have to face the reality that God doesn’t hold special favors for God’s servants. Follow God’s will, seek Christ’s call, live life by the Holy Spirit, and a servant of God is still vulnerable to the powers of this world, whether they are natural powers, like sickness and death, or whether they are the powers of others who would oppress saints, servants and spiritual prophets and serve their heads on platters because they had too much to drink and the fancies of an attractive person motivated them. In fact, this story seems to suggest that it is more dangerous to be a servant of God who speaks out than to be quiet and stick with the status quo. We’ve simply got to domesticate this story.
So far, the best thing about this passage is the cross reference to Luke’s gospel, knowing that both Elizabeth and Zacchaues were very old when John the Baptist was conceived. It seems likely that they were spared the crushing reality of outliving their child, of knowing that his death came unnaturally and painfully, at the whim of a drunk and power hungry man.
The really difficult part of this story, that must be domesticated, is the witness of John himself. He spoke a word that he believed right into the face of the powers of the world. “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Which is ironic, cause that seems such a small and legalistic kind of a thing to get in such trouble. You know, if John had been smarter, he could have realized that there is a time and place to say things, and you can make your message go so much further if you are smart about what you say, where you say it, and to whom you say it. Come on John, keep your eye on the ball here, let a few of the small ones go, and then you can really get to the big fish.
Now we’re really starting to domesticate the story, aren’t we? It’s more palatable, makes more sense if we blame this on the victim. Then we don’t have to face the fact that if we are to speak the truth about God’s revolutionary love and world changing grace then we might have to pay the price a little bit.
In God’s kingdom, you remember God’s kingdom right? We pray for it every week. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We seem to have lost the ability to pray in this manner except when we recite these words in our weekly drone. We want our will be done. God, I need this, I want that, take care of me and mine. That’s what I want, and you are supposed to hear me and love me, so do it. Some days I wonder if God is in heaven either saying, “I wish they would stop complaining so much,” or saying, “Haven’t they studied history? Or read the Psalms? When did I ever work like that?”
Anyway, in God’s kingdom, for which we pray every week, in God’s kingdom the view does look quite a bit different from our world. That is why we have those beautiful words, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Now, I’m not going to presume to tell you everything about what God’s kingdom looks like, nor what our task is in bringing this world more in line with the vision of that kingdom. I don’t think any one person, nor any one group has cornered that market.
What I will tell you instead is that it is the call of each and every one of us here, each and every one of us who believe in the “Priesthood of all believers” as found in passages such as I Peter 2.9, it is your call as much as mine to find the differences between this world and the kingdom of God, and to point them out to the powers that be, whatever danger may come. Which is not the call to just figure everything out for yourself. See, if you are a priest just because you are a believer, then everyone else who is a believer is a priest too. So it is imperative that we listen to the whole community of voices, cause a diverse theological, political, and ideological group is certainly part of the kingdom of God.
In that 3rd grade Sunday school room all those years ago, I remember that one of my fellow students was a little bit of a smart alek, who would always question the teacher of that class. I’ll call him Mark, after the name of today’s gospel. Mark would ask the questions that I’ve found out few adults today seem to be able to ask. I remember few, if any, of the answers that teacher gave to Mark’s questions, but I sure do remember the questions. Anyway, of this passage, I definitely remember Mark’s question, and have no recollection of the teacher’s answer. His question was this, “Does this passage mean that if we talk about Christian stuff to other people, we’re going to lose our heads? Or does it mean that if we are Christians we out of our minds?”
Amen.