“A True Messiah for a Herodian Age”
Original sermon given July 14, 2024, written and delivered by Pastor Jeffrey Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
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“A True Messiah for a Herodian Age”
Mark 6.14-29
Mark 6.14-29
In the name of the Living God and the risen Christ. Amen.
A wicked king, a manipulative mother, a provocative dance, a beheaded prophet. This is not the type of story you expect to hear in Church. And in fact, the more you dig into the details and history behind this account, the worse it gets. This royal family puts the fun into dysfunctional. Take King Herod, for example. He actually woos his sister-in-law, Herodias, away from his brother, while living under the same roof! And, she is technically also his niece! So, get this: while living at his brother’s palace, he’s stolen his brother’s wife and married his niece (This guy totally gets voted off the Island).
Then there’s Herodias. She’s committed adultery with her brother-in-law; and now sends her daughter from her first marriage out to dance seductively in front of her new husband, and all his party guests. So successful is the girl at this assignment, she gets whatever she wants from her step-dad/uncle Herod. The manipulative mother, Herodias, gets the girl to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
Can you imagine such a mother? Putting her daughter up to this and using her in this way? Yeah, I’m going to vote Herodias, the mother, off the Island, too).
So this is kind-of depressing, isn’t it? It might remind us of the disintegration of family life, morals, and the corruption of power in our own world. It seems to be a statement that truth and decency lose in the end, while manipulation and immorality and violence win. It seems to hold up, right in our faces, lust and pride and power, not beauty, truth, justice and light—which appear entombed in the end with a dead John the Baptist—whose only crime, by the way, was to speak truth to power.
So why would St. Mark want us to know this, and why is it included in a book which we call “a gospel”—a story of good news? The point of this story is to point to a greater story, and more lasting narrative—and that is the account of Jesus’ own imprisonment, death, burial and resurrection. The gospel writer, St. Mark, inserts this account here not just to keep the plot moving along. No, but as a foreshadowing of what will happen to John’s own cousin, Jesus of Nazareth.
The cross of Jesus shadows-over the whole gospel narrative. Jesus, too, will speak-out against authority, corruption, and the abuse of power. Jesus too, will not be heard by this world. Jesus, too, will be brought before this same Herod Antipas—who will see him as an amusing curiosity, but do nothing to save him. Jesus, too will be unjustly and brutally killed by a sick and sin-infested world. In the story of John’s Martyrdom, we are asked to anticipate, also, the story of Jesus.
But with this difference: with Jesus, death is not the end. It is only the beginning. Unlike his cousin, John, Jesus’ disciples will have more to tell then just an unjust, tragic end. Jesus’ death will be given full meaning in his resurrection from the dead—his conquering over sin and Satan. On Easter morning the Lord showed his ultimate power over the worst that the world could throw at him. Even the depths of sin, death and hell could not keep Christ down. In the death and resurrection of Christ, we see our justification complete—that though we have to live in this messed-up world, and though our hearts and minds and bodies still struggle with sin, in Christ we are given the ultimate victory. In the unjust, tragic death of Christ, our sins are paid for; in the power of his resurrection, we have the promise of eternal life and ultimate victory—no matter what happens or how bad it gets.
So maybe you feel your story is a tad messed-up, too—maybe even a little bit like the one of Herod and Herodias: a broken family, perhaps; a sad account of manipulation and injustice, possibly. And maybe you feel like it’ll all end up dead in a tomb, hopes and dreams buried. But I’m here to say that there’s a bigger picture, another story also happening. It overshadows even the worst of the worst that we live through in our own Herodian age. And it’s broader, more beautiful and more powerful than the current chapter we’re in right now.
This is the story of Jesus Messiah, true God and true man, who breaks into the darkest days to bring life and light. He did not stay dead, like John; but rose victorious from the grave after three days. And by being baptized into his name, and trusting in his name, alone, our own stories are changed eternally.
Now, we might be tempted to see St. John the Baptist as the most tragic character in this account: imprisoned, weakened, bound, beheaded. But let me put it this way: contrast for a minute Herod and John. Who was really bound, and who truly free? Herod’s own lust, pride, and impetuousness drove him to execute a man he knew was righteous, innocent and wise. John stuck with God’s truth no matter what it cost him. Who really imprisoned? Herod couldn’t see past his own selfish reign and present expediencies. John held to the eternal, unassailable things of the Spirit. Who really alive? Herod’s own concern was himself, while John sought first God’s kingdom and righteousness.
Only those who are bound to Christ are truly free, my friends. Only those who walk by the Spirit are never imprisoned. [1]Only those who have the life of Christ in them are truly alive.
The Lord Jesus said it himself, a couple of chapters along from John’s death: “for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
May we, indeed, follow in John’s way, and not Herod’s. And may our own stories be overshadowed by that of Christ’s—here in time and finally in eternity.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
[1] I follow Tertullian’s insights, On Martydom, ACCS II, 84