Mark 6:14-29
July 12, 2015
Today’s TV shows and movies
really have nothing on the bible, do they?
This is quite a
story, full of scandal,
intrigue, personal conflict and
it ends with a horrible killing of a religious guy.
Shakespeare couldn’t do much better, could he?
King Herod Antipas
liked to listen to John the Baptist,
the outspoken preacher.
 |
| Go On, John the Baptist, Jack Baumgartner, 2012 |
Herod would like to protect him.
But Herod’s wife demanded that King Herod arrest John.
Herod’s wife was mad at John
because John called into question
Herod and Herodias’s marriage.
And it was pretty questionable.
Herodias was
originally Herod’s brother’s wife
which wasn’t too odd in itself at the time
to marry your brother’s wife after the brother had died.
Except that Philip- Herod’s brother, Herodias’ husband-
was still alive and so was Herod’s wife.
Basically, they each abandoned their spouses
and married each other.
A scandal even today, and especially a scandal
because the Kings in Israel were not just
political leaders, but we supposed to be religious leaders
examples of living a life according to God’s laws.
And John,
the preacher wasn’t silent about this
even though Herod Antipas was known to be
pretty ruthless with those who disagreed with him.
Maybe that’s why Herod liked John.
Maybe it was his boldness, his disregard for
Maybe it was his boldness, his disregard for
Herod’s position and his reputation.
Or maybe it was something else.
But
Herodias wasn’t having it.
She made Herod arrest John.
And when she saw the opportunity ---
when her daughter was offered anything
in front of all those officials at Herod’s birthday party,
Anything at all – even ½ of his whole kingdom --
she asked for John the Baptist to be killed,
and not just killed, she asked for his head on a platter.
Beheading
is a particularly horrible method
of murder and capital punishment.
We have become again familiar with
the horror of beheadings these days.
It seems like for a
while beheading was taboo.
Like we were making a progress away from that.
But now, it seems to have come back again.
We don’t have to
excuse that kind of violence,
but we do have to acknowledge that
it’s a part of our mythology and literature
and it’s part of most country’s pasts.
The guillotine was
used as the method of
capital punishment in France last in 1977
and it has been touted as a painless
and humane form of execution.
Even an honorable one.
But it’s more than
just an execution or murder,
it’s a murder that is intended as a
fear tactic for the living.
It’s so horrible, it’s meant to intimidate others.
Beheading someone is basically terrorism
for the those who sympathize with them.
And it’s more than
just that too.
It was normally reserved for those who
defy the leadership and for opposing
leaders who were captured in war.
It’s symbolic, it’s a removing
of the mind and the human voice.
A permanent silencing of the victim.
When Herodias had her
daughter
ask Herod for John the Baptist’s head,
she wanted to silence him permanently
and tell others to shut up permanently.
And here’s where
Herodias was wrong.
She thought that by silencing John,
she could silence the truth.
Like so many others,
She thought that by silencing the prophet,
she could silence the prophecy.
Throughout the ages,
The world and its leaders have attempted
to silence God’s truth and justice
by quieting the messengers.
From Amos and Micah
and St. Stephen
Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Dorothy Day, and Oscar
Romero.
The powers that be have believed that
if the mouthpiece could be imprisoned, or killed, or co-opted
that the message that they brought would go away.
But God’s truth
doesn’t die that easily.
It might be delayed, it might take a turn.
It might not be realized in our time,
But God’s truth will always be there.
in Prague who preached about the corruption of the
church leadership, complained about
the use of indulgences,
believed God’s grace gave salvation,
and demanded the reformation of the church.
In 1415, Jan Hus was
burned at the stake
to shut him up and to show others
what would happen if they did the same.
But almost exactly 100 years later, in 1517
Martin Luther was nailing up his 95
theses to the door of Wittenberg,
which spoke about the corruption of the
church leadership, complained about
the use of indulgences,
believed God’s grace gave salvation
and demanded the reformation of the church.
They can kill the
prophet,
but the prophecy will not die.
John the Baptist was beheaded and yet,
his voice still rings in our ears:
Prepare the way of the Lord.
Christ was still announced.
The lamb of God who takes
away the sins of the world
still came and the people were prepared for him.
And after 2000 years, Herod and Herodias’s
marriage still seems fishy.
If you watch the news at all these days,
sometimes it seems absolutely hopeless even scary.
everything seems out of whack.
Hatred and violence seem to rule
The rich keep getting richer
and the poor are getting poorer
our environment is being destroyed,
basically, the forces of evil seem to be winning,
And whenever there is
a glimmer of hope,
and we find a leader who might shine the light and
gather the people and come up with solutions,
they seems to be put in jail, or corrupted, or bribed,
or discredited, co-opted, or killed and
that hope is gone.
We’ve seen it over and over again.
John’s job was to
talk about Christ’s arrival
and Jesus came into the world
healing and preaching and being God’s voice
He came talking about the kingdom of God,
mercy, generosity, forgiveness, and love.
And the powers that be tried to silence him too.
But he would not stay in the grave.
After three days, he rose again.
The power of forgiveness and love would not die.
And that is the good
news of this grisly story:
They can kill the prophet,
but the prophecy will never die.
Because the Spirit of
God that
as alive in John and in Jesus is still alive in us.
And the Spirit of God will never die.
No comments:
Post a Comment