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University Christian Church – Austin                                                C. Kutz-Marks

The Wages of Courage

July 15, 2012

Mark 6:14-29

This is just a horrible story. The foolish murder of a good man whose only "crime" was speaking out about immorality in high places.

John the Baptist is a fascinating character. He was, unusual, to say the least. A man of the wilderness, dressed in homespun - camels' hair with a wide leather belt around his waist. A diet of locusts & wild honey. Hair and beard uncut. Fierce, burning eyes. [i]

His message was a call to repentance and righteous living before God. His was the voice like the prophet Isaiah said would be crying in the wilderness, saying "Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. "

It would have been good if the whole world responded simply and unanimously to John's call, but we know that has never been the case. John the Baptist spoke out once too often. His preaching was bold enough to breach the palace walls, falling on the ears of a government that did not want to hear; challenging a sinful king who refused to be confronted. Herod had him arrested.

First, a word here about this king Herod. The New Testament speaks of several Herods. The man we meet in our lesson was NOT Herod the Great, the one who was king when Jesus was born, the one responsible for the massacre of the baby boys in Bethlehem following the visit of the Wise Men. THIS man was Herod Antipas, one of Herod the Great's sons, one of the lucky ones as it turns out, because Herod the Daddy was totally paranoid, insanely suspicious and, near the end of his life became well-known for murdering, not only the innocents in Bethlehem, but his own offspring as well. (The word on the street was that it was safer to be Herod's pig than Herod's son.)   Another who survived was Herod Philip, Antipas' half-brother. Another half-brother was Aristobulus[ii]. Aristobulus had a daughter named Herodias. She married her uncle, Herod Philip. They, in turn, had a daughter whom we know as Salome. Clear so far?

Now things get sticky and we find a near-eastern version of some steamy soap opera. On a visit to Rome, Herod Antipas met his brother Philip's wife, Herodias.

Now, Herodias was a deceitful and ambitious woman who saw in her brother-in-law, Herod Antipas, a ticket to power and influence. So the two of them deserted Philip and headed back to Galilee. Now as seamy as this seems, this was all OK as far as Roman law was concerned,…….but not Jewish law, and Galilee was a Jewish land.

Enter John the Baptist, prophet par excellence. Not one to mince words, he courageously thundered against this incestuous relationship of Herod Antipas and Herodias…And he did it quite publicly saying, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

Herodias was incensed, angry enough to want this wild-eyed prophet dead. But, as much as Herod wanted to please his new wife, he wouldn’t consent to killing John. As the text says, "For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he [Herod] heard him [John], he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him." Hmm.

Nonetheless, Herodias would find a way. It came at Herod’s Birthday party. All the high hats of town and country were at the palace. Wine, women and song, and plenty of each. Now Herod and Herodias’ daughter dances.[iii] Again, let us call her name Salome as the Flavius Josephus the historian names her. Mark here names her Herodias, the same as her mother, which is confusing, and Matthew’s version of the episode avoids her name altogether, so let’s stick with Salome, which, ironically, comes from the Hebrew root word for “peace.”

The story says of Salome, "she pleased Herod and his guests." Probably half in a bag, Herod says to her, "Ask me for whatever you wish and I will give you." The king's good ol' boys, by now three sheets to the wind themselves, hear the promise and start laughing and cheering and clapping and yelling "More, More!" Salome does not know what to do. Herod ups the ante: "Whatever you ask me, I will give you; even half of my kingdom."

“Whatever you ask…”?

The powerful of the world promise, “Whatever you ask….”?

Knowing this is far too important a decision to make on her own, Salome runs out of the room to find her mother "What should I ask for?"

Palaces, vineyards, houses on the Sea of Galillee….
But Herodias knew what she wanted more than anything…, she blurts out..

"The head of John the Baptizer."

Dutifully, fatefully, Salome goes back to Herod. "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."

Did you ever make a promise that you regretted? Maybe it was in the heat of passion- as our poor fellow here – or in the midst of an argument… or when you were sorely disappointed???…

As the text says, "The king (Herod) was deeply grieved." But a promise is a promise, and in front of all the guys, at that.

So for John the Baptist, his reward, the wages of his courage, are death.

So chalk up another victory for evil. There seem to be lots of those, don't there? Not only back then but day to day throughout history on down to the present moment. Countless millions have suffered horribly, violently and senselessly. In the name of religion, in the name of racial purity, in the name of greed or lust or anger and often for no reason at all. Evil wins again.

What can we say when evil wins? Perhaps the answer is in the way Mark's gospel record is presented. As you students of the Bible know, Mark's first reference to John's arrest is right in the beginning of the book - chapter 1. We hear nothing more about it until we encounter it in our lesson for the day, and it is presented in retrospect. We get the sordid details only because Herod is worried about what he is hearing concerning Jesus. Something powerful is happening, and everyone is talking about it. No one quite understands it - some are saying Jesus is Elijah reincarnate. That would mean the Messiah was about to arrive, because Jewish scripture said Elijah would come back to announce the coming of the conquering Messiah. Others were saying it was John the Baptist come back to life, and Herod is convinced of it - his tormentor has returned.

Mark well may have inserted this story here precisely for Christians of his day or of our day who see so much wrong with this world and start wondering about God. Are you there, God? Don’t you care, God?

If you want the answer to those questions, ask and answer a couple of other questions. First, whom is Mark's gospel all about? Jesus, of course. As Mark goes through Jesus' story, does Mark indicate any difficulties, any stumbling blocks, any apparent victories for the other side, any moments when it appears that evil wins? Certainly. Jesus’ constant conflicts with the religious establishment, the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, the miserable death…. to name a few. But is that the end of the story?

No! It ends with the resurrection, and some very dumbfounded disciples.

Does evil finally win?

No way!.

Now ask those questions again. Are you there, God? Do you care, God?

And return to our lesson - right out of the pages of an ancient world's National Enquirer, a sordid story of the excesses of the rich and famous. But it is surrounded by the ministry of Jesus. Mark's message, in telling it right here and right now is that nothing in this world, not even the palaces of the powerful, are beyond the reach and impact of the gospel.

The message of our faith says that evil does not have the last word. Herod does not win.

Herodias does not win.

Hitler does not win.

EVIL DOES NOT WIN!

 With joy we can shout out that God's world will not end with either the whimper of a starving child or the blast of a nuclear weapon. It ends with the a reigning Messiah, Jesus Christ… and the fulfillment of the promise…so masterfully musically announced,

"The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, And he shall reign forever and ever."  HALLELUJAH! Amen!