2 Samuel 6:1-5,12b-19; Psalm 24; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark6:14-29
When we find ourselves in ahopeless place, a culpable place, a hurt or wounded place, it is the Good News ofGod in Christ that shines light into our darkness. As we enter the story in the Gospel today, wefind Jesus on the scene, changing things up and bringing Good News to thosepossessed of broken spirits and those who were sick, blind, and lame, but HerodAntipas was distraught and a little frightened at what was going on in hislittle "neck of the woods."
HerodAntipas was a 1st-century ruler of Galilee and Perea, and he bore the title oftetrarch ("ruler of a quarter"). Antipas inherited these territories from hisfather Herod the Great and ruled them as a client state of the RomanEmpire. He was responsible for buildingprojects at Sepphoris and Betharamphtha, and more important for theconstruction of his capital Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Named in honor of his patron, the emperorTiberius, the city later became a center of rabbinic learning.[1] Antipas was no unknown, weak, or puppet ruleras is depicted sometimes on film and screen, he was a central figure in the lifeof this region. Despite his power andinfluence, Herod had a great secret. Infact, with his actions at the recent banquet of death, at which John theBaptist was executed, he has added deeds that are even more shameful to his repertoire.
Whywas Herod afraid of Jesus? Deep problemswith his personal relationships seemed to be a pattern for him. Early in his reign, he married the daughterof King Aretas IV of Nabatea. However,on a visit to Rome he stayed with his half-brother Herod Philip I and therefell in love with Philip's wife, Herodias, (granddaughter of Herod the Greatand Mariamne I and his niece), and the two agreed to marry each other, afterHerod Antipas had divorced his wife. This would be Herod’s downfall and eventually lead to a war with Aretas,a defeat, and eventual exile as King. Herod,needless to say, had some issues.
John the Baptizer did not hesitate to pointout Herod’s folly of marrying not only his niece (against Jewish law), but fordivorcing his wife and marrying his brother’s wife (also in conflict withJewish law). I believe that Herod wasdeeply troubled with his own actions, because he liked to hear John speak. Maybe John’s call to repentance gave Herodsome hope that there was light that could shine in his own relationaldarkness. Nevertheless, Herod’s wifebecame a voice that eventually influenced him to silence the accuser, and ofcourse, she had another plan. We knowthe story where there was a seductive dance, a character challenge, and finallyan execution. Herod succumbed to thepressure because he faced the disdain of his friends and the threat to his popularity,had he not carried through with his premature promises. John died because of Herod’s choices.
Herod, like most of us, was wrestling with hisown demons. He was torn between hisadulterous relationship and the offer to pursue repentance and amendment oflife, and because of this tension, he was led to choices that broughtdestruction on others. Herod rejectedthe call to change, to become new, to experience grace and forgiveness. He silenced the voice of Kingdom living,despite how much he considered himself a fan of John. Then, he heard that Jesus was casting outdemons, healing people, and doing deeds of power, and Herod feared, John hadbeen raised from the dead. The messageof God that is calling us to change, despite our resistance, cannot besquelched.
Beinga fan of Jesus may be considered a good thing, but our salvation is not aboutadmiring Jesus, but about how the Gospel makes us more like Jesus, not that wefeel good? C.S. Lewis once said, “I didn’tgo to religion to make me ‘happy,’ I always knew a bottle of Port would dothat. If you want religion to make youfeel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.’ Herod was a fan of John and later of Jesus butwhen John’s message became a little too uncomfortable for him; he silenced thevoice. “Herod feared John, knowing thathe 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.” Herodliked sitting on the sideline, watching John do his work, hearing him preachingrepentance, and calling others to change, but he kept his distance. The message was a little too close to his personalbrokenness.
Youcan silence the messenger, but the message always remains. In today’s reading, John is dead but nowJesus was on the scene and Herod was afraid. Herod faced Jesus later on in the story when Pontius Pilate sent himover for trial. Herod wanted to be a fanof Jesus too, not because of his call to enter the Kingdom of God, his call totransformation and grace, but because he wanted to be perplexed and entertained. “Show us miracle Jesus, dance for me”was his response to the message, not “change me, enter into my darkness andshow light, excise my wounds, and heal me.” The message of the one who “prepared the way,” and the ministry of “Immanuel,God with us” sounded good and it was entertaining, but the cost of letting itsink in was too great, it required a death but not of the messenger. It required Herod to die to his old ways. In order for us to experience the new lifethe Gospel brings, we need to die to who we have been. As difficult as this may sound, discipleshipleads to death.
TheGood News, the Gospel is a balm to the injured, the bandage of hope to thebrokenhearted, the salve of hope and new life. As followers of Jesus, we must face that we havebeen wounded in some deep, profound way. For most of us, there is a hurt that we put away and have kept in a boxfor a long time. Maybe that wound wasone inflicted upon us. May it is a wound,we inflicted on another. Maybe webrought a hurt upon ourselves because of our own choices. Whatever the case may be, each of us carry theburden of injury, and it is painful.
Herodhad wounded others, and he in turn had been wounded by his choices. He needed healing. For whatever reason, sometimes we reject the soothingbalms the Gospel offers us, which could bring healing and restoration. The pain of bringing that all up again thoughmay be too great and so, our wounds remain. Herod listened to John, but from a distance. Herod liked John’s teaching, but he neverallowed the message to get close enough to excise his wounds. Sometimes we wait too long, the wound festers,the damage goes deeper, and the healing may require extensive surgery. Herod waited, and in so doing, he woundedJohn, he silenced him, he killed the healer. It is then, that facing the possible pain ofcleaning out of the wound, cutting out the infection, and enduring the subsequent healing process, may be toomuch for us, because it is a long and arduous process. The reality is, we have to endure pain, and wemay have to endure death so that we might experience resurrection.
Thereis no Easter day without Good Friday. There is no resurrection without death. There is no new life, until we die to the old life. The Good News that God’s love brings about newlife, is a healing balm and it restores us to healthy relationships with Godand each other. The Good News requiresus to let the Great Healer work on the deep wounds of our souls, so thathealing will come. The Good Newsrequires us to die to ourselves, so that we can experience new life. It happens now once, but day after day, weekafter week, year after year. TheBenedictines have a saying, ““We fall and get back up, we fall, and get backup, and we fall and get back up.” We arecalled to die every day, so that we can experience a glimpse of resurrectionevery day.
The tragedy of the story of the beheading ofJohn is obvious. There is another humantragedy in this story and that is Herod’s tragedy. A man finds himself face-to-face with thepossibility of grace, forgiveness, healing and new life, and he chooses deathinstead. For us, following Jesus mayrequire us to let go of something we would rather not, to bring up an old woundthat is still painful, to face a dark part of our lives that remainshidden. If we can offer that up to God,we can experience life afresh. God givesus the strength and courage to die to our brokenness, so that God’s grace canraise us to joy, peace, and reconciliation the Good News of God in Christproclaims.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Antipas
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