The 8th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
Text: Mark 6:14-29
“But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’ For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he 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. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.’ And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’ Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’ The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.”
Well, that’s another fun lesson to preach for the 3rd Sunday in a row. These lessons come around every three years. So, in three years I’m going to be on vacation for the whole month of July!
Last week we heard Jesus say that a prophet is without honor in his own hometown. This week the prophet John the Baptist is killed by Herod. He received is often called ‘the prophets reward’ in scripture.
John was killed because Herod’s wife did not like hearing that it was wrong for her to have married Herod when she was already married to his brother Philip. John’s larger role as prophet had been to announce that the Messiah had come, yet so many wouldn’t believe it.
Who would want to be a spokesman for God when speaking the truth of God could get you run out of town or killed?
The Biblical prophets were almost always reluctant. We remember the calls of Amos, Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Their initial responses to God were basically excuses—I am a herdsman, a dresser of sycamore trees, I am a stutterer, I am only a boy, I am a man of unclean lips. “Anybody but me please.” And they were more often than not, not well-respected, listened to, or treated well.
However, we human beings, created in the image of God, still find ourselves in need of prophets—someone to remind us of God’s desires and expectations for us, someone to call us back to God.
We were created by God to live a certain way, for a certain purpose—-to be in communion with him. When we drift away from that or reject that way and purpose we find that we are never happy. We are always seeking something else other than the very thing that will fulfill us—God. In the process we can cause a lot of pain and suffering to those around us, and sometimes we even go as far as murdering innocent people because their words make us feel guilty about our actions, as with John.
God called the prophets to speak His word to the people so they could repent and return to a godly way of life. But those who reject God simply will not hear it. They usually dismiss the messenger—like we might dismiss an eccentric old uncle.
For example, many people dismissed John the Baptist as crazy. Well, he did come out of the wilderness, so he probably was a little rough looking. He ate locusts and wild honey, and wore a hair shirt and a leather girdle. In that time these would have been understandable reasons to be skeptical about John. He probably looked like a homeless person and with his sense of urgency he probably sounded crazy. Given what we know about John, would you have listened to him?
Unfortunately for them, the biblical prophets were usually only widely acknowledged to be true prophets of God after they were dead.
In our time there are sometimes people who come along claiming to be prophets—television preachers—Pat Robertson comes to mind, those claiming to be ‘prophetic preachers’, and even some political activists. By the measure of scripture, if they are angry we shouldn’t listen to them. By the measure of the Holy Spirit in the Church, if what they proclaim goes against 2,000 years of apostolic teaching and is not widely held by the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church it is probably not from God. If it’s clearly contrary to scripture, it’s not from God.
Being biblically prophetic is not about predicting the future, like Nostradamus That is a secular notion. Being biblically prophetic is about warning the people of God about the inevitable consequences of turning away from him. So we must not be confused about this basic distinction between predicting and warning.
In is currently fashionable to hear the phrase ‘God is doing a new thing.’ This would be to insinuate that God’s Creation or his intent for Creation is not good or complete. This would be to ignore the consequences of The Fall, which has affected all of God’s Creation, not just human will. Biblical prophecy is about our restoration to God, to his beautiful original purpose for us and for Creation. God sends us prophets to bring us back to the original thing that was corrupted by The Fall.
The prophets in scripture came with a sense of urgency because they were sent to save people from sin and death. Urgency and anger are to be carefully distinguished. Urgency and anger are not the same.
God’s prophets came with a sense of sacrificial love, like Jesus. They were sent to God’s wayward people out of God’s own love for them. If the prophet didn’t love you he wouldn’t take the risk. God’s love is a risk for him, the risk that the love will not be received or returned. So it is natural that his prophets would take this same risk out of love.
God has sent his people prophets because he loves us so much that he cannot let us go. When we think of the extent to which he has gone to keep us with him—through sending reluctant, unqualified people as prophets, through Jesus Christ’s cross and resurrection, through the promise and sending of the Holy Spirit to establish his Church, why would we not long to return to him, to receive his mercy and forgiveness, to abide in his grace and peace? Amen.
