Mark 6:14-34
July 14
David A. Davis
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Our scripture lesson this morning is the gospel lesson from the Revised Common Lectionary. Preachers up and down Nassau Street and in congregations of various denominations all over will likely be reading the gospel lesson and perhaps preaching on it. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 6 tells of King Herod ordering the beheading of John the Baptist. I have never preached on Herod’s daughter asking for the head of John the Baptist on the platter. The behavior and violence is just too disturbing. I chose the text many weeks ago as we planned our summer preaching schedule. I didn’t know how relevant it would be to our lives until last night. I have told students in the preaching classroom down the street that you should never underestimate the interpretative power, the bible as a living word, when you bring the world to bare on an unsuspecting biblical text. This morning, as a preacher I am living with that lesson again. So as not to bury the lead, I have decided very early this morning to offer the takeaway from this sermon effort right up front rather have you wait for it. The powers and principalities of this world, the evil of the world, humanity’s sinful lust for violence and hate could never crush Jesus’ compassion
Mark 6:14-34
The death of John the Baptist is a gruesome, scandalous story in pretty much every way. His death at the hands of King Herod is also described by the ancient historian Josephus. Not all of the details match the account in the gospels but there is historic corroboration beyond the pages of the New Testament nonetheless. Every detail of this story is troubling. Herod takes his brother’s wife and marries her. Herod arrests John the Baptist because John had told him the marriage is wrong. Herodias is angry enough to want to kill John. At his own birthday party, the king has his daughter dance before him and his guests. One can likely assume that that dancing scene was more vial than can be imagined. The king was so pleased he told his daughter he would grant her anything she desired. After checking with her mother, his daughter asks for John’s head on a platter.
Some scholars argue that Herod’s evil act in murdering John the Baptist was a literary foreshadowing of the crucifixion of Jesus. Others suggest it was more of political act of exerting power and sending a message to others rather than simply the result of John calling out the marriage. Whatever the interpretation, it is difficult to find anything redemptive in the story; any gospel word, any good news. Like Pharaoh ordering the death of all the male children, like the slaughter of the innocents in Matthew’s telling of the birth of Jesus, the story just sits there waiting for bible readers to ignore or skip over it or never preach on it.
Some may remember me describing a painting by Salvador Dali. I was with a group of colleagues getting a guided tour of the Dali museum in Sarasota, Fl. At one point, we were standing before a few different very large works of art that pretty much went from floor to ceiling. The docent told us about one of paintings entitled “Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln.” That is the actual title Dali gave the piece. It is a portrait of a nude woman looking out at the sea with various objects both abstract and recognizable. Bright colors. Sharp distinctions. There was a cross and a small portrait of Lincoln. After looking at it up close and not making much sense, the guide invited us to go to the other side of the gallery and take a look at it from a distance. On the far wall there was actually a platform built for distant viewing of “Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln. She told those of wearing glasses or contacts to either take off the glasses or to squint a bit. As we all did, amid the fuzziness of our glance, a sort of “ah ha” rippled through the group as all of us suddenly say that huge painting transform into huge portrait of Abraham Lincoln. With his brilliant skill, Dali painted an optical illusion. The canvas was transformed not before our eyes, but in our eyes. But you had to stand back and take it in from a distance.
That may be the best way to read the 6th chapter of the gospel of Mark; at a distance. No, the brutality and violence and abusive behavior isn’t transformed in your eyes. It remains part of the gospel story. A shocking reminder of the dark depth of the human condition etched here and other places on the bible’s page. A zoom out to include what frames the death of John the Baptist can reveal the bright shining depth of the Savior’s love precisely in the midst of such brokenness. The chapter begins as Jesus is rejected in his hometown where, as Mark puts it, “he could no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a fee sick people and cured them.” He then goes from village to village teaching. He calls the twelve and sends them out. After telling of Herod’s family and the conspiracy to kill John the Baptist, the story line returns to Jesus and his disciples. As they tell Jesus all they had done and taught, the reader infers they all now know about John the Baptist. Jesus tries to take them off to a deserted place for some rest and refreshment. But the crowds could see there they were headed in the boat on the lake. They rushed along the shoreline to meet Jesus and the 12 when they arrived. “As Jesus went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep with a shepherd.” The rest of the 6th chapter we did not read records one of the versions of feeding the five thousand. Jesus walks on the water to calm the fears of the disciples trying to row against “an adverse wind.” Then one more crowd of people suffering that were healed just by touching the “fringe of Jesus cloak.”
To look at the beheading of John the Baptist from a distance is to diagram or chart a chapter that bookends evil and death with who Jesus was and what Jesus did. Despite being rejected by those who knew him best, the grief that had to have filled his heart after John’s death, and being confronted not for the first or last time by the world’s depravity, Jesus had compassion…..still. Jesus’ compassion opens the chapter and ends the chapter despite the adverse wind of human sin that blows out of control everywhere and every time. The good news to see is that the compassion of Jesus never wanes. Never. Not in the wilderness when he was tempted in every way. Not when he was repeatedly questioned by the powers of religion and accused of heresy. Not when he himself was mocked and tortured. Not when they nailed him to the tree and left him there to die. His compassion didn’t, doesn’t, will not cease.
None of us ever would expect that someone touch the fringe of our clothes would be healed. No one gathered for worship this morning will be walking on water and calming the storm anytime soon. Nassau Church participates in Loaves and Fishes at St. Mary’s Cathedral in the city of Trenton but we’re not serving 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish and sending the leftovers home with our guests. It was Jesus and the disciples who went from village to village casting out demons and anointing with oil many who were sick and curing them. Mark Chapter 6 is plenty full of the miraculous powers of Jesus the Christ. Does having compassion really have to be one of those miracles? Is it really that high of a bar? Is it too much to ask? To have compassion?
The powers and principalities of this world, the evil of the world, humanity’s sinful lust for violence and hate could never crush Jesus’ compassion and through the power of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit, and love of Christ, the world won’t crush ours either. The followers of Jesus can’t allow themselves to become numb to the world’s suffering due to disaster fatigue that builds with every hurricane, every fire, every floor. Those who take the name of Jesus can’t gloss over 70 more Palestinian deaths in Gaza yesterday or fall prey to thinking the amount of suffering and death in Ukraine is just a matter for foreign policy. I did two memorial services this week and there were to more deaths in our congregation as well. The body of Christ cannot let our compassion be snuffed out even when the world’s apocalyptic spirit is on the loose and run amok.
I attended the Presbyterian General Assembly in Salt Lake City a few weeks ago. There were 12 committees that met virtually for three days before the 500 or so commissioners then travel to have four days of plenary meetings in person. During committees some people became frustrated with the technology when in almost every case it was operator error or someone not taking the training that was available for weeks. Presbyterian Facebook and other forms of social media lit up with people using failed technology as the reason the General Assembly should be held in the old traditional way of everything in person. I will spare you the details and decisions of those of us responsible for planning the Assembly. I will also say one of the best things I have ever done for my spiritual health is to stay off Presbyterian Facebook and social media. Some of my colleagues on the staff and planning committee can’t help themselves and would share ridiculous things some Presbyterians were saying about Presbyterians. At one point over lunch, a staff member from the Office of the General Assembly said to me, “I just don’t understand why we don’t at least start with giving each other the benefit of the doubt”. Or in other words, can’t we just start with some compassion and grace? You and I and the disciples of Jesus are called by Christ himself to lead with compassion and grace. Politicians and pundits and media looking for clicks will never learn that words matter and inflammatory rhetoric can lead to despicable violence, but you and I can’t let them conquer our compassion. You and I are called by Christ to lead with compassion and grace.
Last night as I watched the news coverage, I couldn’t help but think about our worship service here in this room on September 16, 2001. I wasn’t scheduled to preach but we switched that and I preached from Psalm 137. “By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down and there we wept.” The title of the sermon was “Sit and Weep.” It feels sort of like we are at the rivers of Babylon again. Thue Wednesday evening after that Tuesday we had a prayer vigil and there were so many people it looked like Easter morning in here. The opening hymn was “God of Grace and God of Glory”.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour
Cure thy children’s warring madness, bend our pride to thy control,
Shame our wanton selfish gladness, rich in things and poor in soul
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, lest we miss thy kingdom’s goal
Lest me miss thy kingdom’s goal
Soon after I chose to preach on the murder of John the Baptist those weeks ago, Noel Werner selected our hymns. Our final hymn this morning is “God of grace and God of Glory”
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage…and it would help Lord, if you included more compassion too.