Pentecost 7(B) – Mark 6:14-29, Amos 7:7-15, Ephesians 1:3-14
A few weeks ago, after I gave my sermon, someone came up to me and asked how I was doing. While I always got around to the good news, he said, my sermons lately had begun so full of bad news that he wanted to check to make sure my life wasn’t equally dismal. I assure you that after some truly joy-filled moments in these past weeks and with some truly exciting things ahead, I am doing quite well, thank you. But it was one of those rare moments of truly constructive sermon feedback, and because I’m both grateful for it and want to take it to heart, I promised myself my next one would take on a very happy character.
And because God is fond of thwarting my plans, today’s Gospel is the beheading of John the Baptist.
It’s a story with absolutely no good news in it at all, just the senseless, meaningless death of one of the good guys in the Gospel story. What’s more, it’s a reading that really has nothing to do with Jesus at all. Mark is supposed to be telling us the story of the Good News of Jesus Christ, Son of God, and suddenly, just when the story has really gotten going, he takes this comparatively long aside, and goes on for fifteen whole verses about John instead. It seems like it almost doesn’t belong.
Like so much else in the Bible, if we want to know why this grisly passage is even here in the first place, we need to back up a few verses and look at it’s context. If you remember back to last week, Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs and gave them the authority to cast out demons, to heal and proclaim the Good News in His name. Pastor Dan reminded us that we have the same authority, the authority to be disciples, the authority to prepare to hear God’s voice and love God’s Word and do God’s will. When today’s Gospel reading concludes, the disciples come back and report to Jesus about how it went. But in the middle, instead of giving US that same report, Mark chooses to give us the details about John’s death.
It’s a very strange thing, unless we consider that perhaps, those details about John ARE how it goes for the disciples. The message of Jesus and his disciples, and of John too, is to repent and believe in the Good News. Turn away from the ways of the world, and turn toward God instead. Turn away from power, turn away from wealth, turn away from possessions and violence and self-glory and instead find God’s peace and God’s love. It’s a message that’s exciting and beautiful. And easier said than done.
After all, what would it look like if we really took Jesus for His word? If we turned away from our worldly priorities? If we literally sold everything we had and gave the money to the poor? Today’s world doesn’t treat those who eschew its ways any better than Herod and his family did. Beheadings are a lot less frequent, perhaps, but the hunger and indignity of poverty gets the job done just the same.
Perhaps we would say to Mark that it’s just too hard, that we like our stuff, that we like our control, that we just want him to get on with the salvation story so we can get on with our lives. And Mark says to us that when we truly follow Christ, when we are sent out in His name and with His authority, we can’t expect an easy time of it.
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But I’ve promised you some good news, haven’t I? And to find it, we’re going to have to go to the Old Testament and the prophecy of Amos, who had a similar run-in with the ways of the world.
Amos is a brilliant writer, one of the best of the Old Testament (in my opinion). In order to appreciate what he’s doing here, we’re going to have to look at his context too, and go back to the beginning of Chapter 7. (If you learn nothing else from today’s sermon, I trust you’ll remember that when reading scripture, you should always look at the context!)
“The Lord showed me a vision,” Amos says. A swarm of locusts, come to devour everything in Israel. Many interpreters see in this a metaphor for an army, coming to destroy. And Amos protests. “Don’t do this, God! How can little Israel stand it?” And so God changes His mind.
“The Lord showed me another vision,” Amos says. A fire, that boils off the seas and ravages the land. And again, Amos protests. He’s not just Israel’s prophet, but it’s advocate. “Don’t do this, God! How can little Israel stand it?” And God changes His mind.
“The Lord showed me another vision,” Amos says. A plumb line. A sign that the days have been measured, the truth has been weighed, and Israel has come up crooked. And we know what Amos will say. “Don’t do this, God! How can little Israel stand it?”
But Amos never gets the chance. Instead, Amaziah, like Herod and his wife, complains. “You always bring bad news, Amos, and we’re sick of it. Go prophesy to someone else.” Amaziah is the priest at Bethel, the most important temple in all of Northern Israel. He has the support of the king, Jeroboam, in his words. And so, with all the power of the world behind him, he can make Amos stop.
Or so he thinks. But Amos’s answer to him is remarkable. “I’m no prophet,” he says. “Just a shepherd and and dresser of sycamore trees. But God spoke to me, speaks through me, and nothing can stop God’s Word.”
Amos’s news is that nothing can stop God’s Word.
And nothing can, as that old, old story tells us. Israel is enslaved by Egypt, God brings them home. Nothing can stop God’s Word. The people turn away, God remains faithful. Nothing can stop God’s Word. The prophets are torn down, God raises up more. Nothing can stop God’s Word. John, the Baptist is killed, the message goes on. Nothing can stop God’s Word. And God’s own Son is hung on a cross, and God brings him back from the dead. Nothing can stop God’s Word!
Oh, it seems like following Christ is difficult, and it does take work. But in fact, it’s the easiest thing in the world, because Christ is unstoppable. It is the world and it’s priorities and it’s ways that are difficult. It’s when we try to follow them that we get tripped up, because they try to resist what nothing can stop. They refuse to face reality, to see truth, to know God. The world cries out for power, but God is more powerful than anything on earth. The world cries out for possessions, but God made everything and it all belongs to Him. The world cries out for self-glory, but all things work to glorify God. The world cries out, forces battling for control, and we yearn for the smallest bit of control over our lives, but God is in control of all things for His Good. The world cries out for violence, and yet we know that we can be brought to a sudden, breathtaking halt by a manifestation of God’s peace.
Nothing can stop God’s Word. And that Word is that God has blessed us in Christ, God chose us in love, God destined us for adoption, God redeemed us in His blood, God forgave us our trespasses, God lavished on us grace, God revealed to us his mystery, God gave us an inheritance, God marked us with Spirit, and God promised us life.
So turn away, sisters and brothers. Turn away from all those things that tug on you, that call you to selfishness. Turn instead to God, who is all-powerful, and who gave up that power for your sake. Because nothing can stop us from receiving the love of God in Christ Jesus, his holy Word. Amen.