Tucked away in our three-year cycle of Sunday scripture readings is a doozy that we will proclaim together this Sunday from Mark's Gospel:
Mark 6: 14-29
K
ing Herod heard of Jesus and his disciples, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him." But others said, "It is Elijah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." 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.
Mark's story of only 372 words has it all.
Political ambition, scandal, seduction and murder swirl around the potential of the Word Before the Powers to shatter all this evil and transform it all.
A drunken party dare leads to the sudden murder of John the Baptist. At his birthday party (!), Herod rashly decides to use up what little political power he has to confirm the power of darkness and death just to keep the dinner guests entertained.
It's so full of tragedy. It's bursting with what could have been a very different story. Herod almost gets it. He likes John the Baptist. He's curious about Jesus too. He's interested in the promises of new life that John is crying out about - but in a scene that foreshadows Pilate before Jesus, his fear of everyone and everything else closes in on Herod and gets the best of him.
Of course that impulse is alive and well in all of us. As our Eucharistic prayer says it, we rebel against that promise of new life again and again. And yet, like a mother with her children God never forgets us, never gives up on us.
God runs out to meet us again and again and again.
See you Sunday as we brave this wild Gospel story together and listen for a word from the Lord!
David
