Brad
Sullivan
Proper
10, Year B
July
12, 2015
Saint
Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX
Mark
6:14-29
Hooray for getting to talk about
beheading this morning. I know it’s my
personal favorite topic first thing on a Sunday morning. Earlier in the week, Kristin asked me about
mock enthusiasm if I was looking forward to preaching about the beheading of
John the Baptist. “Is that the Gospel
for this Sunday?” I asked. “Yup, it’s great, isn’t it?” She replied.
“Oy,” I think was my response.
There is grace in this story, however.
We just have to find it. So here
we go.
Herod was basically a puppet
king. Rome was the true ruler over
Israel, even though Israel had some amount of self-rule beneath the umbrella of
Rome. Herod was king of Israel, but only
because Rome didn’t want to devote the resources to rule them directly. I can imagine Herod feeling rather powerless
as this puppet king. He felt powerless
and so he stared being reckless and dangerous.
He promised up to half of his kingdom to his step daughter, but half of
kingdom was not really his to give. Rome
had the authority, not Herod.
Despite this fact, despite being a
puppet king, Herod did have the ability to rule his people well. He had the influence in Rome to bring about
some good. While we don’t know exactly
how he ruled, it seems that instead of ruling for his people, he generally sought
more and more power for himself. He
wanted to be great and mighty in the eyes of others. Feared.
Admired for his wealth and influence.
He wanted his ego stroked.
So, in his powerless desire for
power, he started being reckless. He
gave himself a birthday party and began feeling powerful like he wanted. Surrounded by the powerful people beneath
him, his courtiers, officers, and rulers of Galilee, he began to feel great and
mighty in their eyes. His step daughter
danced, and they were all pleased. He
looked like a great king, or at least he thought he looked like a great king in
their eyes.
Drunk on his supposed power, he got
brazen and did something stupid. He
offered his step daughter more than he either could or wanted to give. Expecting a relatively small request from the
young girl, he makes a grand gesture, again looking powerful. The plan was to look mighty and beneficent
through his grandiosity in offering and generosity in giving.
Then, of
course, he got caught in his rash offer and was left with a choice. Have a good man killed, a man whom he feared
and respected, or give up his ruse of power and do the right thing. Herod could have backed down from his rash
oath he made to give his step daughter half of his kingdom.
He could have said, “I’m sorry, but
the power and authority of my kingship went to my head. I cannot give half of the kingdom. Without Rome, it is not mine to give. I am not powerful as I want to be as
king. We will talk later about what gift
I can give, but the head of this man, I cannot give. As for you, my courtiers, officers, and
leaders of Galilee, we know we don’t have the power of a sovereign nation, but
let us work together to be the best rulers we can be for the sake of our
people.”
That might be a little too 21st
century to have actually come out of Herod’s mouth, but he could have admitted
that he messed up, admitted that even the party he threw was a bit of a farce,
and then sought to take the power that he and his officers did have and use it
for the good of the people.
I don’t know that any of them
really had the character to do that, I do believe Herod regretted his decision
and would like to have learned from it.
The point, however, is not what could have been, but what could yet be
based on the decisions we make.
We all have power, even in small
amounts. We all have some way to effect
change in our lives or in the lives of those around us. Sometimes we also feel powerless to effect the
change we would like to. I’m guessing in
those times when we’ve felt powerless, we, like Herod have sometimes done the
wrong thing, maybe not full on beheading, but the wrong thing nonetheless. We’ve likely regretted it.
Here’s
where graced comes in. Last week, we
heard Paul talking about weakness, and God being strong when we are week. We heard about God’s grace being sufficient
for us when we are weak. When we are
weak and feel powerless, God’s grace is sufficient for us. We find with God’s grace that we don’t need
the power we wished we had. With God’s
grace, we find that what power we do have is sufficient. We may need to change our goals or recognize
our area of influence to affect the world is smaller than we would like, but
with God’s grace, we realize it isn’t our world, and what power we have to
affect change is sufficient.
When we
mess up and regret it, we find God’s grace is sufficient for our
forgiveness. God’s grace is sufficient
for us to make amends. God’s grace is
sufficient for us to admit that we’ve done wrong, talk openheartedly to those
around us, and seek together to live God’s kingdom.
Herod was a fool in offering his
step daughter half of his kingdom. I’m
guessing we’ve all been fools as one point or another. God’s grace was sufficient for him to get out
of that by admitting that he acted rashly and repenting of it, like King David
did. God’s grace is sufficient for us to
admit when we acted as fools, repent, feel kinda dumb, and then accept the love
and forgiveness of God and others.
We’re God’s children, Paul reminds
us. We are beloved of God. We’ve got a lot of darkness within us, enough
even to do the stupid things Herod did. We’d
be fools to think otherwise. Even with
that darkness within us, we are still God’s children, beloved of God. We mess up, regret it, and there is God’s
grace, unexpected, undeserved, offering us love, forgiveness, and guidance to start
life anew. Amen.
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