July 11, 2021 - 7th Sunday after Pentecost - The Beheading of John the Baptist - One Sin Leads to Another

In Sunday School for me the story of Salome was centered on the decadent immorality of a drunken Herod making rash promises to his daughter after she danced The Dance of the Seven Veils for him.  Many salacious aspects of the story were routinely emphasized at the time. These particulars overshadowed John the Baptizer's part in the story and set it apart from many others even before we had any imagination to fully understand the material. 

Today this salaciousness became secondary. Instead Mark's larger story is primarily about advocating for social justice through truth-telling. John the Baptizer actively speaks against the injustice of the marriage of Herod and his brother's wife rather than being silent.  He does not withdraw from a fight with authority, or promote any violence in his stand against Herod's political domination. He calls out how the king and queen have transgressed the law and is put in prison as a result.

The beheading follows as Herodias' response to John's call for her repentance. She obviously lacks true consciousness of her sin and, as a result, this turns into a cautionary story. Not accepting John's truth-telling and the explicit challenge to royal authority, leads the queen to plant a desire in her daughter that magnifies the original sin to new, even more sinful, action with barbaric results.

Mark starts with Herod hearing speculation about a connection with the beheading and Jesus and together with others who say “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” Herod says, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." He seems to understand that the beheading was not an end to what will happen. So he cannot connect with Elijah or a past prophet that was dead. Something new is going to come come from this.

And, certainly, this does go beyond the queen's initial grudge and spreads, like widening ripples from a disturbance in a pool. There is corporate blame to be shared by her, her daughter, Herod, and the people of the court. Everyone shares this guilt, including those who are hearing the story. Few people will instantly understand that Herod is under no obligation by his promise to order the execution. 

Mark tells us the king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he does not want to refuse his daughter. This leads to the question of who truly had the power (and when could a different judgement have been made) to stop what inevitably happened?

Herod offered power, and the trappings around it, in his promise to his daughter. However, when a king's morality is considered, this should fall beyond his promise's limit of "half the kingdom". And Mark's story implicates the listener. Do we, in our understanding, think Herod was bound to his promise given this request? Perhaps we need to accept and change something within ourselves to learn how to right the wrongs of this story.

Systemic weaknesses that are exploited by Herodias are woven into the story as well. She cannot silence John on her own, but she uses the opportunity presented by her daughter and Herod to silence a person who could easily be termed a political dissident. She knows if she uses this particular channel, that her wish that would otherwise be disregarded will now be granted. So, what are the systemic weaknesses intended for goodness/joy/delight that can be manipulated for evil means? And how can accountability to one another be promoted to use our systems for good rather than what happens here? 

The listener strongly implicated  by the way this story is told. Mark normally tends to focus on momentum and forward movement, with transitions like "and then" and "immediately." Whereas in Mark 6:14-29, the text walks it backwards. How could Jesus be John the Baptizer, resurrected? Well, because John the Baptizer was executed. How was he executed? Well, you have to know this, and then before that there was this, but there was also this.... 

It reads like a narrator explaining a soap opera story line to a new viewer. Mark tells this in reverse to demonstrate how anyone can, and normally will, misunderstand what Herod is truly promising and how Herodias manipulates that misunderstanding. 

Pastor Janell spoke of King Herod not accepting an invitation to God's love through community. This is true and is compounded by a lack of imagination. What would repentance for an unlawful royal marriage look like if Herod and the queen had indeed wanted to make a change 

Biblical stories often offer hard, difficult to accept truths. We prefer to value what the world considers tangible property as worth more than less tangible character traits. Scripture rarely agrees with that valuation and yet the temptation to operate "practically" in life blinds us to many paths of righteousness. This is why decision-making at church can often run counter to what could be discerned as the way of God.

This story does not reach an end. As people of God we want to know moire about who our God is and what God requires of us. Today I know John the Baptizer is still calling for repentance, for the change God seeks in our lives, and for God's law to be followed in what we do.

This is no holier-than-thou spiel. I am often tempted more than not. I fall short of truth that the Gospel constantly and consistently speaks to our hearts. I find myself, more often than not, mired in the ways of this world and any calls to repent or change my life are way too easy to resist. 

Like Herod when he heard John, I find myself greatly perplexed; and still I want to listen to him. I take this cautionary tale to heart.

Lord help me. Lord help us.