My heartfelt thanks to The Rev. Dr. Delmer Chilton, Sally A. Brown, and Emerson Powery for their insights on the Gospel and Epistle readings.
Oh, the part where I say "For Herod, the hens came home to roost on his birthday...?" I almost wrote, "things came to a head..." Some puns do not need to be made.
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.
This is the Word of the Lord.
You’ve heard the phrase “the apple doesn’t fall far from
the tree?” It might have originated with Herod Antipas. The man in our Gospel
reading today is the son of the Herod who, decades before, when he heard about
the birth of the Messiah, had ordered that all male children less than two
years old be put to death. Antipas grew up in a royal household defined by
intrigue, greed, and murder. That he’d grown up at all was an accomplishment;
the elder Herod had a reputation for being so obsessed with protecting his own
power that he went as far as to have his wife and two of his sons killed.
When his father finally died, Herod Antipas inherited a
portion of his father’s territory, which was split up by Caesar Augustus
between Antipas and three of his brothers. He also inherited his father’s love
of all things Roman, and the conviction that he could have and do anything he
wanted, so long as he made sure Rome was happy.
As an example of this, while visiting Rome, Antipas had stayed
with his brother, Phillip, and had fallen, madly and mutually, in love with
Phillip’s wife, Herodius. So Antipas simply divorced his own wife, forced
Phillip to divorce Herodius, and married her.
For obvious reasons, it was horrifying to the residents of
Galilee – to every Jewish person, really. Thus John the Baptist had been speaking
out against the marriage. Now, I’m sure he wasn’t alone in his open and
passionate criticism of Herod, but John’s popularity among the residents of
Galilee meant that his words carried a lot of weight, and that represented a danger
to Herod Antipas’ authority, and this of course meant that John the Baptist couldn’t
be allowed to speak…
John was arrested and thrown into chains. Herodius made it
clear to Herod that she wanted John killed, but Antipas was, apparently, more scared
of John the Baptist than he was of his wife. After all, though Herod had been
educated in Rome and was steeped in Greek and Roman culture and habits, he was (at
least by birth) a Jew, and he had to have been familiar with the prophets. What
of the rumors were true, and John the Baptist was Elijah, returning to prepare
the way for the coming Messiah? What if this wild-haired man dressed in animal
skins was right, and Herod needed to repent?
I can imagine a sleepless, tormented Herod going down the
stairs under his palace night after night, descending into the dark, stinking
recesses of the dungeon where John was kept under guard, barely fed and living
in filth, and talking softly, out of the earshot of the guards.
And I can imagine him coming back up those stairs later,
head spinning from words he couldn’t comprehend, mulling over concepts he
couldn’t grasp… and night after night, he’d be back, braving the stench and the
rodents to listen to the prophet speak from behind the locked door of his cell.
The Reverend Doctor Delmer Chilton says that Herod Antipas
is a “perplexed seeker, a dabbler in the mysteries of God. He believes just
enough to keep him awake at night but not enough to change his way of living.”
After all, for Herod Antipas to repent certainly meant
giving up Herodias, and may well have included giving up his stranglehold on
power, giving up his comfortable life. There’s very little doubt that, night
after night, Herod was challenged to change, and night after night Herod had
the opportunity to change, and honestly? If Herod had really wanted to change,
he would have. But there was money to be made, parties to be had, and more
power to gain.
I think that, all too often, Dr. Chilton’s description of
the perplexed seeker would fit many Christians, including me. How many of us keep
holy things hidden away in the basement of our lives – not willing to throw
them out, but not really sure what to do with them?
Honestly, many of us live our lives without paying much
attention to the holy. There’s too many other, more immediate things going on,
after all. There’s work to be done, entertainment to be had, television to
watch… and besides, who knows how taking all that stuff seriously might
challenge us to be different? Truth be told, most of us are happy with the way
we are. We don't want to change; if we really wanted to, we would.
For Herod Antipas, the hens came home to roost on his birthday.
There was a party, plenty of guests, and part of the entertainment was a dance
by Herod Antipas’ daughter, who Josephus tells us was named “Salome.”
Now, I’ve heard this dance portrayed as not much more than
a striptease. You may have heard Salome’s dance referred to as “the dance of
the seven veils,” but I want to suggest something far less risqué. The word
used to describe Herod’s daughter here in our reading is the same Greek word
that is used for the little girl we spoke about a few weeks ago, the one that
Jesus raised from the dead. Perhaps Salome just did a very darling little
performance, and everyone thought it was precious.
Whatever the case, though, Herod resorted to utter
hyperbole to thank Salome for her performance. “Whatever you ask me, I will
give you, even half of my kingdom.”
And of course we know what happens next… but what if it
hadn’t gone that way? What if, even before that birthday party, Herod Antipas
had put aside his confusion and gone with what John was saying? What if at that
party, when Salome told him what she desired, he’d ignored the complete loss of
reputation, the rage of his wife, the shame of of going back on his word, and
had spared John’s life?
I don’t want to make Herod a sympathetic figure here,
because there’s ample historical evidence to prove that the man was,
consistently, a slimeball. But I have to wonder how often we ourselves are
confronted with choices – not life-or-death decisions that end up with someone’s
head on a platter, but choices that are, in their own way, no less important:
whether to follow the call of God or to stick with the safe, the familiar, the
socially acceptable?
And what do I mean when I use phrases like “the call of
God?” Is this merely a change of habits, making it a point to do good things
and engage in regular Bible study and meditation? Well, make no mistake, these
kinds of things are important, even vital, to our faith journey. But there’s
more to the story than simply changing our actions. Paul touches on it in our
Epistle reading today, I think. Hear the Word of God from the first chapter of
the book of Ephesians, verses three through fourteen:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be
holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his
children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to
the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom
and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time,
to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ
we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the
purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so
that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the
praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of
the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward
redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.”
Christians, we are not merely members of a group that picks
Sunday morning for our get-togethers, we are the adopted children of the living
God! We have been lavished with priceless gifts like redemption, forgiveness,
and a spiritual inheritance of which the gift of the Holy Spirit is the seal!
God chose us “in Christ,” and thus every experience is
reframed, from our most bracing joys and cherished achievements to our frustrations,
our temptations, our most anguished regrets, and our most wounding losses. “In
Christ” we are joined to the power and presence of God. “In Christ” we are knit
to others who will cry over our dead with us, even as they help us sing hymns
of resurrection.
At the same time, being “in Christ” is no sentimental
togetherness. “In Christ,” our community has to reckon with the fact that we
will be perceived at times as more of a threat than a blessing. Part of the “in
Christ” community’s calling is to be a truth-telling, truth-living reflection
of the God who has called it into being.
No, we may not be able to avoid trouble, to escape pain or
danger or suffering. Frankly, I wish I could be one of those kinds of preachers
who say if you pray this way or think that way or give your money to this or
that ministry, God will give you a Cadillac and plenty of money and you’ll never
be sick.
But I do know this: God’s plan for “the fullness of time” –
gathering all things to God’s self – means that, whatever the wild and
boundless Spirit of God leads us to and leads us through, we can be assured of
two things: First, we never, ever go alone! We have the indwelling Holy Spirit,
the very presence of God with us each step of the way, and we have one another,
the Body of Christ, the community of believers to guide, encourage and support
us in even our darkest hours.
And second, we know where this faith journey leads. Our
inheritance awaits us, most assuredly, in the now-and-coming Kingdom of God!
From the first epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter four, verses sixteen and
seventeen: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with
a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of
God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After
that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”
It’s funny, isn’t it? Last week, the residents of Jesus’
home town were offended by what Jesus had to say, and they turned away. This
week, we read that Herod Antipas was perplexed by what John had to say, and
ended up choosing to save face and mollify his wife. At the same time, throughout
the Gospels, the disciples struggled to comprehend Jesus’ words and actions
again and again.
The difference between all of them is that the disciples
took a chance. When Jesus sent them out two by two, when he told them to fish
for tax money or go find a guy carrying a jug of water, when he said to distribute
a handful of food to a crowd of thousands, when he told them to cast their net
on the other side of the boat, they did it! And on Pentecost they felt the wind
of the Holy Spirit and caught the breeze. It took them places they never
imagined, and may never have chosen to go, but in the end it was all worth it!
Because we are “in Christ,” and because Christ has died,
and because Christ is risen, and because Christ will come again, we may not
know where our faith journey goes… but we most certainly know where it leads!
And for this we say, Thanks Be To God!
