Mark 6:14-29
“Hard Stories”
July 11, 2021
Aren’t the Gospels supposed to be about the Good News?
We usually focus our attention on the people whose lives are changed for the better because of Jesus.
From the moment Jesus is born we hear of shepherds who come away “praising God and saying wonderful things about him” (Luke 2:20) and magi who were “thrilled and excited to see the star” (Matthew 2:10)pointing them toward the child born to be king of the Jews, so much so that after visiting mother and child and leaving their gifts they knew from a dream not to follow the dangerous path home.
Change for the better because of Jesus and the salvation he had to offer made life better for those sisters Mary and Martha, that Samaritan woman at the well, tree-climbing Zacchaeus, Jairus and his sick daughter and so many others.
Every one of these folks said yes to the Good News that Jesus had to offer.
What about the ones who say no to Jesus and his offer of salvation?
There was the rich guy who couldn’t bear to part with his money.
There were folks who couldn’t get past where and who Jesus came from.
The Pharisees and Sadducees – not Jesus fans.
Herod starts out fascinated by John the Baptist and the stories about Jesus that John had to share but he can’t handle the truth.
When John calls him to task for marrying his brother’s wife, he throws John in prison.
When Herod’s birthday party gets wild, and his stepdaughter’s dancing is a hit, he drunkenly promises her anything she wants.
She seeks her mom’s advice and that request becomes one that means a brutal death for John, all so that Herod will not look bad in front of his guests.
John was put to death in order that Herod wouldn’t appear weak.
What lesson are we to get from this violent and tragic story?
This chapter of Mark’s began with Jesus sending his disciples out into the world to preach and heal.
Next week we will have more of Jesus’ lessons for the disciples but sandwiched here in between is this awful story and for what purpose?
We hear that Herod enjoyed listening to John, maybe found him and his stories of salvation that Jesus was bringing to bear fascinating, but he obviously never took them to heart.
He may have been curious but he never committed. Jesus wanted more and John was bearing that message. The more that Jesus wanted was not an audience but disciples.
When we hear this story what we are hearing is a story of the world’s brokenness demonstrated in Herod’s abuse of power.
So many parts of our world are in desperate need of healing – the racism, violence, greed, dehumanization and fear – are all what we as Jesus followers are meant to face off with the Gospel lessons of healing, justice, gentleness, reconciliation, joy and love.
The good news Jesus came bearing was badly needed in a world where cruelty, injustice, and tragedies were all around.
We still are surrounded by these wrongs and this message of redemption that the way Jesus offers is still needed.
We can’t afford to just be hearers of the good news Jesus offers – after all Herod heard plenty about Jesus – we must be doers.
Passively acknowledging our identity as Christians is not enough.
That may mean not caring so much about what people will think of us if we stick our neck out for a just cause. If I worry too much about my reputation and too little about the truth, maybe I have more in common with Herod than I would like to admit.
Herod started in a good place by first being curious but the problem is he never integrated what he heard about Jesus into who he was – a man who could have made a huge difference in the world.
Telling stories of faith and hope and love, even when surrounded by incredible pain and suffering, are how we keep the power of Jesus’ message going.
It is what we do when we lift up scripture – the stories that warm our hearts and push us to be our best selves as well as those that offer a cautionary tale.
So much begins with a story.
What is your story of the power of God’s love in your life and the world?
What are the stories of cruelty and heartlessness that you reject and vow to learn from and to do better having heard them?
I am sometimes asked how a good and gracious God could allow so much hurt and suffering to happen in the world.
It is then that I am reminded, that like John the Baptist who shared the Jesus story and Herod who heard it and chose to ignore it, we have choices as human beings.
Ours is not a God who jumps in and upends the course of human history.
That is for us to do, in God’s name.
When in doubt about whether a decision I am making is one in which God is considered and held close, I remind myself that if it isn’t love that’s speaking and acting through me, it isn’t God.
Herod never accepted that level of love and in turn could not act from that place.
We always have that choice, and it won’t always be easy.
May the loving way prevail.
Let us raise then in prayer, these words offered this week from our Green Mountain District Superintendent, the Rev. Jill Colley Robinson:
Holy God,
may the ceaseless winds that blow over this holy ground
carry our prayer to you.
Ours is a prayer in awe of your stunning power to renew and transform.
You take the horrific things that we do to each other—
the things you do not want for us—
and tenderly, tenaciously bring about life again,
and again,
and again.
Help us to speak about and listen for all that is good and sacred.
Help us to avoid acting out of crippling grief,
or under social pressure,
or in fulfillment of promises we should have never made.
Help us to drink deeply from your ocean depths,
and to eat fully at your feast of forgiveness.
Help us to learn from our stories, and to write new ones.
You can make all things beautiful again.
Please do—through us, despite us, near us.
Please do.
Amen.