"Dangerous Dance of Discipleship"

You know it is going to be an interesting week of sermon preparation when you open a commentary on the Gospel lesson and read this, “The story of the beheading of John the Baptist is hardly a text one would spontaneously choose for a sermon.”

No kidding.

This tawdry tale of an adulterous king, a seductive dance by a young girl, a woman who seeks revenge, and the beheading of a great prophet make today’s scandals of clandestine trips to a soul mate in Argentina, and parental payouts to former mistresses look tame, indeed.

One wonders why this story filled with graphic, gory detail is included in scripture, and even more why it is included in the lectionary readings for Sundays.

John the Baptist is the last in the line of the great prophets who precede Jesus. He is not only Jesus’ cousin, but the one who prepares the way for the Messiah. John’s baptism of Jesus is the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

One reason Mark includes this story of John’s death in such detail is that the interplay between John and Herod foreshadows what will occur between Jesus himself and Pontius Pilate.

Both John and Jesus suffer at the hands of cowardly political figures. Herod and Pilate are both prompted by others to make arrests of men they would rather leave alone.

Herod has arrested John at the urging of his wife, Herodias, who had been his brother’s wife. Herodias wants to quiet John’s criticism of this adulterous and morally corrupt relationship. Herod caves in to his wife’s demands, even though he knows that John is a righteous and holy man.

Likewise, Pilate approves the arrest of Jesus after badgering by the temple authorities, even though he does not believe Jesus has done any wrong.

Herod and Pilate both bow to pressure to kill what they know are innocent men. Left to themselves, each would have freed their political prisoners. But neither one has the moral courage to stand up for what they know is right.

But the story of John’s death does more than foreshadow what is to come for Jesus. To fully understand the importance of this story, we have to look at its placement in Mark’s Gospel.

Mark often uses the technique of “bracketing,” inserting one seemingly unrelated story between two that are related. That technique can be lost in the lectionary, when we read only one piece of a story each week.

The story of Herod and John the Baptist is inserted between two stories about the disciples. Last Sunday we heard the first – Jesus sending the twelve disciples out two by two, and giving them authority to preach and teach and heal in his name.

Immediately after today’s Gospel reading, we hear the reports of the disciples as they come back to Jesus, excitedly telling him of their success in following his orders.

By sandwiching John’s death between these two stories, Mark is sending us a message about the nature and cost of discipleship.

Even when healing and preaching is taking place, apparently with great success, the threat of political and religious opposition is never far away, Mark warns.

Truth telling is a perilous venture in a world of Herods and Pilates.

The disciples, of course, eventually experienced this themselves. We don’t know what happened to all of them, but we do know that a significant number did not die of natural causes or old age.

In our own time we don’t normally think of theology and religion as dangerous enterprises that could result in our heads being served up on a platter, or by being nailed to the cross. But we have our own recent history of disciples whose lives have been ended by violence.

There is German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, put to death because of his opposition to Hitler.

There is American prophet Martin Luther King, assassinated in the prime of life for challenging a system that treated many of God’s children as less than human.

There is El Salvadoran Bishop Oscar Romero, shot and killed as he celebrated the Eucharist because of his criticism of his government and advocacy for the poor of his country.

All three of these modern-day martyrs followed in the footsteps of John the Baptist and Jesus by boldly proclaiming the gospel, even when it challenged the authority of the powers that be.

John the Baptist’s message may at first seem different from our modern-day martyrs or even Jesus. John challenged Herod on what at first glance seems like an issue of personal morality.

Herod had married his brother’s wife. Now in those days it was common for a man to marry the widow of his brother. In a way that was part of the social fabric that ensured the widow and her children would be cared for, and that the brother’s legacy would endure.

But from this story we can infer that Herod’s brother was still alive when Herod claimed his wife.

But I think this story is about more than John challenging what was certainly a bad moral decision on Herod’s part. John was also challenging what was behind that decision, and what made it possible – a power that knows no limits.

One article I read this week says what is ultimately challenged here “is the tendency of the powerful to put themselves in place of God and play by their own rules.”

That was the kind of challenge laid down by Bonhoeffer, King, and Romero. Each of these modern-day martyrs challenged the authority of governments and systems that declared that some human lives were of less value than others, that declared that those in authority had the God-like power to determine who was of worth and who wasn’t.

Barbara Harris, the first woman bishop in the Episcopal Church, laid down a similar challenge in a sermon this week at a Eucharist at our church’s General Convention in California.

“Yet again we gather at convention to debate and resolve who should and shouldn’t, who can and can’t receive God’s blessing,” she said. “What right does anyone have to draw lines beyond which God’s grace, care and favor do not extend?”

The relationship between the bearers of the Gospel and the powers and principalities are relevant to disciples of Jesus in every age, including our own.

Do we dare challenge the Herods of our day – whether they be in the halls of government, the corridors of business power, or even within the structure of our own church?

The question for us is whether we can muster the courage to truly proclaim the Gospel, to dare to point out who is really God and who is not.

The prayer that our prayer book designates for General Convention is one that speaks to all who would be disciples of Jesus, no matter what the circumstance or cost.

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Readings

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord. When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.

Ephesians 1:3-14

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.

Mark 6:14-29

King Herod heard of the deeds of power, 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.

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