Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Ninth Sunday after Pentecost - 07/26/15 Sermon - “Digging yourself deeper!"

Sunday 07/26/15 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Digging yourself deeper!”                      

Old Testament Lesson: 2 Samuel 11:1-15

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21

Gospel Lesson: John 6:1-21

          Friends, brothers and sisters, welcome once again on this our Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. Pentecost, that day so long ago, that the Holy Spirit moved like a mighty fire, like a mighty wind, and the Christian Church was born. In being born, the apostles and the first Christians went forth far and wide, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They went forth changing hearts and minds, building God’s kingdom here on earth.

          This morning though, I want to talk about when we mess up things. You know what I mean, when we put our foot in our mouths. How many of us have ever put our foot in our mouths? Yet what do we do when we mess up? When we really mess up, do we “fess up,” or do we just try to hide the mess up? Do we just cover up one lie with another lie?

I remember watching a movie once, and two boys were horsing around in the kitchen of their house, throwing a ball around. As this ball was flying around to and fro, it suddenly hit momma’s beloved cookie jar on the counter. Well as you can imagine, that ball took that cookie jar right off the counter. That cookie jar shattered into a bunch of pieces.

Now these two boys then realized they had a problem. One was terrified, as momma had gone to the store. He was terrified that when momma got home that he would get punished severely. The other boy was equally as worried.

  Now one option would be to wait until their mother got home, and just own up to what had happened. Let’s be honest though, that’s just not we function sometimes.

So the two boys then began to glue back together the cookie jar, yet you could see the seams in some places where the cookie jar had broken. Well, the cookie jar was dark, so the other boy thought they could just fix those seams with a dark marker, which then made the cookie jar look even sillier. The two boys then tried another thing, and another thing, and when their mother got home, they still tried to weasel out it. They then lied and made excuses. Their mother, as mother do, finally got the truth out of them, and they were punished more severely for lying.

I wonder if this story connects with any of us, from when we were children. I wonder if this type of story has occurred with any of our own children or grandchildren? Sometimes though, we just don’t want to tell the truth, because we don’t want to accept the potential consequences. In fact, I can still remember the scariest six words that I ever heard as a little boy, “Wait until your father gets home!”

It would seem that it would just be easier to “fess up,” then to dig ourselves deeper into sin, or a lie. Sometimes to, isn’t it so obvious that a person is lying? We have seen politicians, presidents, and corporate leaders lie on camera, haven’t we? We have seen them tell the opposite of the truth, and sometimes do it so poorly, that we just knew they were lying. Then some extra piece of information would emerge, and they would then tell another lie to cover up the first lie. A great example of this was the “Watergate Hotel Scandal,” under President Richard Nixon.

So, we live in a world where sometimes people lie, cheat, rob, steal, swindle, and instead of telling the truth, they “dig themselves deeper.” To me, lying is not something that we should be willingly trying to do. It seems that some lie so freely and without worry though. Yet our deceptions and our lies can just work to “dig us deeper” into deception and lies.

Yet some people have said to me, “you know Pastor Paul, sometimes we need to lie.” To one of these people, I said once, “oh really. If this is true, give me an example of when it is good to lie.” He said, “Ok I will. Suppose that your wife comes home with a new a dress. Now Paul this dress is hideous. I mean who ever designed and created this dress should be fired immediately, because it is such an awful looking dress.” This person then said, “Then your wife puts this dress on, and says, ‘how does this dress make me look?” Wow!

I said, “well, I guess I would be honest and tell her that anything she wears is incomparable to her radiant beauty.” Of course I didn’t really directly answer the question. Deception, lies, “digging ourselves deeper.”

Last week, we talked about a small Sheppard boy named David. David was a son of a man named Jesse. God chose David to be the King of Israel, and promised to make his family name a dynasty. Meaning that King David’s family name would rule forever, even leading to one greater than David. Leading to the Messiah, to the savior, to Jesus Christ.

So last week King David was looking pretty good. He was a hero, and God chose him. Yet this week, King David’s power, his favor with God, and his status leads him to sin, corruption, and deception. The ancestor of Jesus Christ, the King of Israel, the one who conquered the Philistine warrior Goliath, the one that God promised to make great, and the one that God promised to make his family rule forever, had a fall from grace this morning.

You see no matter how powerful we become, no matter how beloved we are, we are sinners, and are broken people in need of God’s grace.

So, what did King David do that was so bad then? Well let’s look at the scripture again for this morning from 2 Samuel 11:1-15.

This scripture begins by talking about how it was spring, and that in spring that this is “when kings go off to war” (2 Sam. 11:1a, CEB). Yet while King David was at war with the neighboring Ammonites, he decided to sit this one out, as it were. The scripture says, that “David sent Joab, along with his servants and all the Israelites, and they destroyed the Ammonites, attacking the city of Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem” (2 Sam. 11:1b, CEB).

It was often a custom in ancient times, in some Middle Eastern cultures, that some wars would cease during the winter, and resume in the spring. Now sometimes the king would go and lead his army, but King David stayed in Jerusalem. In fact, King David sent his nephew and the commander of his army Joab, to win the war with Ammonites without him.

While this war was going on then, King David was alone in his palace in Jerusalem. The scripture then says that, “One evening, David got up from his couch and was pacing back and forth on the roof of the palace” (2 Sam. 11:2a, CEB). The scripture than says, “From the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone and inquired about the woman” (2 Sam. 11:2b-3a, CEB).

Now brothers and sisters, this is step one of King David “digging himself deeper.” So the inquiry on this woman came back to King David, and in the report it said, “Isn’t this Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” (2 Sam. 11:3b, CEB). By the way, “Uriah the Hittite” is a soldier in King David’s army, who is at this point fighting in his war against the Ammonites.

I would like to say that King David just said, “oh, that’s who she is,” and that would be end of this story. Yet this is not what happened. In fact, the scripture says, “So David sent messengers to get her. When she came to him, he had sex with her. (Now she had been purifying herself after her month period.)” (2 Sam. 11:4a, CEB). So Bathsheba was bathing, as women were required to do after the monthly cycle, according to the Jewish cleansing laws. When she was bathing, King David saw her.

Afterwards, the scripture says, “They she returned home. The woman conceived and sent word to David. “I’m pregnant,” she said” (2 Sam. 11:4b-5, CEB). Well I don’t know what you all think at this point, but it would seem that the mighty King David is in over his head here.

So does David then just “fess up” and tell the truth? Of course not. Instead, David sends a message to his nephew Joab, who is the leader of his army, and orders Bathsheba’s husband Uriah home from the war. Now I can imagine that Uriah thought that this was an odd request from his king, to pull him out of war to come home. I mean, why would King David do that?

Well when Uriah comes to King David, King David didn’t want to “fess up” to Uriah. So he asked him, “about the welfare of Joab and the army and how the battle was going” (2 Sam. 11:8, CEB). So King David then, would have Uriah believe that he was called all the way home from fighting a war with the Ammonites, just so that his king could get a status update on the war.

King David then tells Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet” (2 Sam. 11:8, CEB). Now during wartime, it was expected that a soldier would not leave there post, unless they were told that they could so. One way to release temporarily or permanently a soldier in ancient Jewish culture, would be to say to that soldier “go wash your feet” (2 Sam. 11:8b, CEB). Essentially, clean yourself up, and go home to have some romantic time with your wife.

Well the scripture says that, “Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. However, Uriah slept at the palace entrance with all his master’s servants. He didn’t go down to his house” (2 Sam. 11:8b-9, CEB). Due to this, King David can’t just tell Uriah that he had made his wife Bathsheba pregnant, which is why he ordered him home in the first place. She hadn’t been pregnant very long, so King David wanted Uriah to think that the child was his.

Well, it appears that King David is “Digging himself deeper.” So then King David was told that Uriah didn’t go home the night previous, and so King David “asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just returned from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?” (2 Sam. 11:10, CEB).

Uriah responded, “The chest and Israel and Judah are all living in tents, “Uriah told David.” And my master Joab and my master’s troops are camping in the open field. How could I go home and eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? I swear on your very life, I will not do that!” (2 Sam. 11:11, CEB). It would seem that Uriah’s sense of duty and honor to his brothers in arms, and his commander Joab, was is the greatest concern.

Well then, what is King David to do? Perhaps he will no “fess up” to Uriah?” Of course not. King David is going to “dig himself deeper” of course.

So at this point, King David says to Uriah, “Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I’ll send you back. So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. The next day David called for him, and he ate and drank, and David got him drunk” (2 Sam. 11:12-13a). You see King David was thinking that if he could get Uriah drunk enough, then he would go home to Bathsheba. If Uriah did this, then King David could just say that it wasn’t his baby at all. “Digging yourself deeper.”

Well sure enough, Uriah sleep outside of the palace in the same place that he had the night before (2 Sam. 11:13b, CEB). Well maybe King David will just “fess up” at this point. Yeah right! “Digging yourself deeper.”

So how is King David going to cover up this web of deceptions then? We here is what is he did. “The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. He wrote in the letter, “Place Uriah at the front the fiercest battle, and then pull back from him so that he will be struck down and die” (2 Sam. 11:14-15). Uriah was killed in that battle. David then made Bathsheba one of his wives, as she of course was devastated by the loss of her husband Uriah.

Now I hope at this point, that you understand why the title of my sermon this morning, is called “Digging yourself deeper?” I mean King David just added layer upon layer of lies, deceit, and wrong doings. In fact the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:8-10 tells King David a message from God. This message is, “I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ (2 Sam. 12:8-10, CEB).

King David then repents to God, begins fasting in sack cloth, but Bathsheba’s son dies. David then loses his new son only a few days after he was born.

So God forgives King David, but not without punishment. I wonder what God would have done if King David had just “fessed up.” For that matter, don’t our own lives just get more complicated and stressful when we lie, deceive, and are dishonest? Don’t we find that in these situations that we are just “digging ourselves deeper?”

Brothers and sisters, friends, if we sin against one another, let us strive to be honest, to repent, and to own up to what we have done. For it we do not, it can get much, much worse. Let us cling to God, and be children of light. Let us seek truth and honesty, and not lies and deception. For lies and deception only prove to “dig us deeper” in a pit of despair and hopelessness. For this is why Christ came, this is why in the gospel of John reading from this morning, Jesus Christ feed the five-thousand (John 6:12, CEB). For Christ came in grace and truth, not in lies and deception. Let us never seek to “dig ourselves deeper.” Amen.

  

Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Eighth Sunday after Pentecost - 07/19/15 Sermon - “I will raise up your descendent--one of your very own children"

Sunday 07/19/15 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “I will raise up your descendent—one of your

very own children”                      

Old Testament Lesson: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 2:11-22

Gospel Lesson: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

          Friends, brothers and sisters, welcome once again on this our Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. Pentecost, that day so long ago that Holy Spirit moved like a mighty fire, like a mighty wind, and the Christian Church was born. In being born, the first Christian Church went forth preaching the life giving gospel of Jesus Christ. For this first Christian Church claimed that Jesus Christ was the savior of the world, a descendant of the great King David. That in Him and through Him, our sins could be forgiven. That we could be made right and upright before almighty God, and that by following Him, that we could transform the world around us, for the better.

          Yet, admittedly, making the claim that Jesus Christ was who the early church proclaimed him to be, was and still is a very high claim. I mean, where did this early Christian Church get these claims about the coming savior from anyway? Well of course they got many of these claims from the lips of Jesus Christ himself, but we are also talking about people that were Jewish.

          By this I mean, in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible, as our Jewish brothers and sisters call it, there were prophets and claims that were made. Some of these claims talked about one who would emerge as a new leader. A leader unlike any leader the world had ever seen before. This leader would be great, and no other leader would ever compare to this leader. For this leader would not only rule on earth, but reign in heaven. This leader would be a descendant of the great King David.

          While Jesus Christ is the messiah, while he is the savior of the world, the early Christian Church though, needed to “connect the dots” from the Old Testament to the New Testament. By this I mean, the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible, among many other things, makes predictions of the coming savior or Messiah. These claim that the early Christian Church made then, these predictions, according to the early the church, all came true in the person and deity of Jesus Christ. The only man to have ever walked the earth, as being fully God and fully human. Having all of God’s power and authority, while still taking on human flesh, to be among us. The only person to ever conquer sin and death. The one who promised that through him, we can have life eternal. This gospel, this hope, and the reality that we can make the world better in the here and the now, is what God came to earth in the form of Jesus Christ for. This is why on the day of Pentecost, and after the day of Pentecost, the early Christian Church preached the gospel of life far and wide. For Jesus is Lord, and in him and through him, all things can be achieved. The early church wanted a hurting and dying world to know this, the way that we want a hurting and dying world to know this, even today.

          With all of this said, my sermon this morning will focus most closely on our scripture for this morning from 2 Samuel 7:1-14a. In this scripture, there is a prophecy about the Messiah, the Christ that would come one day.

          You see, throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, like I said a moment ago, we have prophets, predictions, and prophecies of the one who would come to save Israel, and all people.

          The story in 2 Samuel for this morning, picks up with King David and Nathan, a prophet of God that serves in King David’s royal court. This scripture specifically picks up with King David saying in 2 Samuel 7:2, “Look! I’m living in a cedar palace, but God’s chest is housed in a tent!” (2 Sam. 7:2b, CEB). This chest, this Ark of the Covenant, which held the actual tablets that Moses himself brought down from Mount Sinai, which contained the 10-commandments given to Moses from God.

          Yet while King David is living in a great cedar palace, the Ark of the Covenant was housed in a mere tent. King David therefore, planned to build a cedar temple to house the Ark of the Covenant.

          The scripture then says though, “But that very night the LORD’S word came to Nathan: Go to my servant David and tell him: This is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build the temple for me to live in” (2 Sam. 7:4-5, CEB). The scriptures then says, as God is speaking through Nathan, “In fact, I haven’t lived in a temple from the day I brought Israel out of Egypt until now. Instead, I have been traveling around in a tent and in a dwelling” (2 Sam. 7:6, CEB). God then says, “Throughout my traveling around with the Israelites, did I ever ask any of Israel’s tribal leaders I appointed to shepherd my people: Why haven’t you built me a cedar temple?” (2 Sam. 7:7, CEB).

          Then what the prophet Nathan tells King David, will change the world forever. For he tells King David, “So then, say this to my servant David: This is what the LORD of heavenly forces says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be leader over my people Israel” (2 Sam. 7:8, CEB). You see David was a farm boy, a shepherd. He wasn’t anyone of any great significance. In fact, God sent Samuel, who was a leader and a prophet to choose David in 1 Samuel in the Bible. It says in 1 Samuel 16:1b that God said to Samuel, “I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons” (1 Sam. 16:1b, NRSV).

          Samuel didn’t know ahead of time either, that it would be David. In fact David’s father Jesse, had many sons. Yet God chose David. David wasn’t the biggest or the strongest. In fact, 1 Samuel 16:12. It says of Samuel picking David, ^“He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one” (1 Sam. 16:12, NRSV). Now to be ruddy, or “reddish,” could have meant David’s cheek, his hair, both, or something else. Yet David wasn’t the biggest, or the strongest.

          So one day, David, one of Jesse sons, a small ruddy kid, has just been picked to be the King of Israel. In the scripture today from 2 Samuel, the now King of Israel, David, is lamenting over the fact that he has not build a cedar temple for the Ark of the Covenant, for the 10-commandments that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. Yet God tells the prophet Nathan to tell the great King David to build no such cedar temple for the Ark of the Covenant.

          Then the prophet Nathan continues on to tell King David that the LORD said to tell David, “I’ve been with you wherever you’ve gone, and I’ve eliminated all your enemies before you” (2 Sam. 7:9a, CEB). Then Nathan tells King David that the LORD told me to tell you, “Now I will make your name great—like the name of the greatest people on earth. I’m going to provide a place for my people Israel, and plant them so that they may live there and no longer be disturbed” (2 Sam. 7:9a-10, CEB).

Then in 2 Samuel 7:11b, is what I would argue as one of the most important scriptures all of the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible. God says to King David in 2 Samuel 7:11b-12, “And the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make a dynasty for you. When the time comes for you to die and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your descendent—one of your very own children—to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Sam. 7:11b-12, CEB).

          God then finishes the scripture from 2 Samuel for this morning by saying, “He we build a temple for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me.”

          King David’s son Solomon will go on to rebuild the temple that was first destroyed in Jerusalem. David is promised by almighty God, a dynasty. This means that his family will continue to rule, “forever” (2 Sam. 13b, CEB).

          So God took one of Jesse’s sons, a shepherd boy named David. He took David, made him king of all of Israel, promised to make him great, to establish a dynasty of rule for his decedents. He promises that David’s son Solomon will rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and that David’s family line, his lineage, would rule “forever” (2 Sam. 13b, CEB).

          So why then, is all of this significant to Jesus Christ? What connection does Jesus Christ have with the great King David? Well let me re-read 2 Samuel 7:11b-12, that says, “And the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make a dynasty for you. When the time comes for you to die and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your descendant—one of your very own children—to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Sam. 7:11b-12, CEB). Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is a decedent of King David, God promises that his reign will be “forever” (2 Sam. 13b, CEB).

          In looking at the gospel of Luke, when the Angel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary in Luke 1:32, the Angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will carry the Christ Child. The Angel Gabriel said of this Christ Child, this Jesus, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33, NRSV). For he will rule “forever” (2 Sam. 13b, CEB). 

          So God promised King David that his family, that his dynasty, would rule forever and ever. He promised King David that his son King Solomon, would rebuild the great temple in Jerusalem, and that his family’s throne would rule forever.

          My friends, my brothers and sisters, I believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise that God made to King David. That he is the one who has come to fulfill the house of David. That he is the promised Messiah, the one that was born in Bethlehem, the City of David.

          This is why the first part of the first chapter of the gospel of Matthew, it shows a lineage, proving that Jesus was a decedent of the great King David. For God promised David that his family’s reign would be forever, and this promise of the coming Messiah, I believe has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul said it best however, in Romans 15:12, as the Apostle Paul is quoting the great Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Paul writes, and again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.” Jesus is related to King David, whose father was Jesse. Jesus is the Messiah, the fulfillment of God’s promise to King David, as Jesus comes from “The root of Jesse” (Rom. 15:12a, NRSV).

Yet the fulfillment of the promise to King David, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, becomes a promise not just for Israel, not just for some, but for the entire world. For everyone. For all of us here today.

As Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus or the Ephesians from this morning, he said, “Christ is our peace. He made both Jew and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us” (Eph. 2:14, CEB).

The Apostle Paul then goes on to say, “As God’s household, you are built on a foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, the Lion of Judah, the decedent of the great King David, the in whom God promised that his lineage would rule forever and ever, has come.

In looking at the gospel reading from Mark from this morning, it says in Mark 6:34 as Jesus sees a large crowd, “When Jesus arrived and saw a lard crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34a, CEB).

Brothers and sisters, friends, Samuel went to Jesse, looking for a boy among his sons, to shepherd the people of Israel. God then promised a boy named David, that he would make his name great, promised him that his family lineage will rule forever, and promised him that one day one of his decedents would be the savior, the messiah. Jesus Christ, I believe is that decedent, that is the Messiah, the promised one.  A son of the Great King David, who went on to die for the sins of humanity. Friends, brothers and sisters, God keeps him promises.

Brothers and sisters, friends, I want to tell you a short story called “Jesus is Gonna Win.” This story was taken Reported by Bernard Travaieille in Illustrations Unlimited. Here is how it goes: “While a student at theological college in the United States Bernard Travaieille was playing basketball with some friends. They were using the court at a nearby school, where a friendly old janitor would patiently wait until they had finished their game before locking up. One day Bernard noticed the janitor was reading the bible. In fact he discovered the old janitor was reading the Book of Revelation.”

“Bernard was surprised. It was a difficult book to interpret even for highly trained bible students! “Do you understand it?” asked Bernard. “Oh yes, I understand it” the janitor replied. Now Bernard was really intrigued. Here was this book that baffled scholars, that was the focus of every conspiracy theory known to humanity, and this old man, a janitor with little formal education, claimed to understand it! “You understand the Book of Revelation?! What do you think it means?” asked Bernard. The old man looked up at him and very quietly said, “It means that Jesus is gonna win.”

Friends, brothers and sisters, this morning God tells David, that he will be great. That he will rule Israel, and that his family will rule forever. That one day a savior, a messiah would come, a decedent of David, and this descendant would conquer sin and death. This morning then, not only does this mean that God says that great King David wins, even more, “It means that Jesus is gonna win.” Amen.

         

Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Seventh Sunday after Pentecost - 07/12/15 Sermon - “Bring me his head on a silver platter!"

Sunday 07/12/15 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Bring me his head on a silver platter!”                      

Old Testament Lesson: 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14

Gospel Lesson: Mark 6:14-29

          Brothers and sisters, friends, welcome on this Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. Pentecost, that day so long ago that the Holy Spirit moved like a mighty fire, like a mighty wind, and the disciples and the early Christians were filled with the love and the power of God. On this day, the Christian Church was born, and the disciples and others went forth preaching the gospel, changing the world, and caring for the poor and unfortunate. Today nearly two-thousand years later, we continue with the church they founded, upon the gospel of Jesus Christ.

          This morning though, I want to talk about the good people, or even the saints that are or have been in our lives. We all can say that we do currently or have known great people. That we all have known some people who were down to earth, holy, pure, and loving. How many of us here can say that we know or have known people in our lives like this?

          Perhaps one of these people for you was or is your mother. Perhaps this person was or is your father or grandfather. Perhaps this person was or is a relative, a friend, a neighbor and or etc.

Further, how many of us here this morning, can also say that when we have been through some hard times in our lives, that these saintly people were there for us? How many of us can remember the tough times when these people were by our sides? Further, how many of us can remember not always treating these people the best when we were stressed, struggling, or having a hard time?

          How many of these people have put up with our struggles, our problems, and our issues, and yet continue to love us, care for us, and help us? How many of us have gotten mad when some of these people challenged what we believed, how we were living, or what life choices we were making? How many of us would get mad and frustrated at these people for telling us, who know everything, what we should do different?

          You see my friends, my brothers and sisters, we all have or had good people, saints in our lives that have loved us, that have served us, and that have encouraged and challenged us to be better. Yet sometimes when these people speak truths to us, we get mad don’t we? We often don’t want to be corrected, or for people to tell us what we doing wrong. For when these people do this, they expose our brokenness, our sin, and they scandalize who we claim to be.

          Yet this very same thing happened to Jesus Christ, and this morning happened to John the Baptist. This morning, John the Baptist is killed. In fact, his head is cut off, as King Herod Antipas “ordered a guard to bring John’s head” (Mark 6:27a, CEB).

          After this, John the Baptist’s head was presented “on a plate” (Mark 6:25b, CEB). Now as terrible as this is, people don’t generally ask someone to bring someone’s head “on a plate,” or on a silver platter, for nothing (Mark 6:25b, CEB). This was John the Baptist though, what could he have done to warrant King Herod Antipas ordering his head “on a plate” (Mark 6:25b, CEB)? What has caused us to get angry with, or give a hard time to the people who love us?

          I mean after all King Herod Antipas himself says in Mark 6:20, speaking of John the Baptist, that he “respected John. He regarded him as a righteous and holy person, so he protected him” (Mark 6:20a). Why would King Herod Antipas kill someone like this then? Why have we or why do we get angry with the holy and the righteous people in our lives?

          Well, when we look at the gospel of Mark reading more closely this morning, we hear that King Herod Antipas is beginning to hear all sorts of things about Jesus Christ (Mark 6:14, CEB). In seeking to sort out for themselves who Jesus Christ was, Mark 6:14b-16 said regarding Jesus that “Some were saying, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and this is why miraculous powers are at work through him.” Others were saying, “He is Elijah.” Still others were saying, “He is a prophet like one of the ancient prophets.” But when Herod heard these rumors, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised to life” (Mark 6:14b-16, CEB).

          Herod said these things about who people were claiming Jesus Christ to be, “because Herod himself had arranged to have John arrested and put in prison because of Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother Philip” (Mark 6:17a, CEB). Also, all this talk of Jesus Christ, and how some said that Jesus was “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead,” made King Herod Antipas think of John the Baptist more (Mark 6:14b, CEB). Maybe as this talk was going on, King Herod Antipas thought, “That’s right! I have that nice, holy, and righteous man named John the Baptist, in my prison.”

          Well, as I just read, the gospel says that King Herod Antipas himself had arranged to have John arrested and put in prison because of Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother Herod Philip” (Mark 6:17a, CEB). Well the real question is then, is what was Herodias’s issue with John the Baptist? I mean Herodias was married to King Herod Antipas’s brother Herod Philip. Yet King Herod Antipas thought that it would be good idea to marry his brother Herod Philip’s wife Herodias. Now, according to some historical sources, Herod Philip was Herodias uncle, as was King Herod Antipas.

          So was this a divorce between Herodias and Herod Philip, or was it something else? Some sources suggest that Herodias had an affair with King Herod Antipas, leading to their marriage, and some have suggested other reasons.

          Some scholars have also suggested that John the Baptist was not killed by King Herod Antipas because Herodias pressured him into it, but because John the Baptist was stirring up the people too much. Whatever the reason was, Herodias sure didn’t like John the Baptist. I would tend to think though, that John the Baptist would not have been so fierce with King Herod Antipas about having this marriage and perhaps affair, if it was a lesser issue. After all, Mark 6:18-19 says, “but John told Herod, “It’s against the law for you to marry your brother’s wife! So Herodias had it in for John. She was wanted to kill him, but she couldn’t” (Mark 6:18-19, CEB).

          So John the Baptist, much like many people in our lives, both past and present was trying to do the right thing. He was trying to tell King Herod Antipas how to live better, but sometimes when we speak up, we get shut up, don’t we? This is what happened to John the Baptist.

          Well as the story of this gospel lesson plays out this morning, King Herod Antipas was having a massive birthday feast. At this feast were, “high-ranking officials and military officers and Galilee’s leading residents” (Mark 6:21b, CEB). The gospel then says that, “Herod’s daughter Herodias came in and danced, thrilling Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the young woman, “Ask me whatever you wish, and I will give it to you” (Mark 6:22, CEB).

          Well Kingdom Herod Antipas’s daughter Herodias then left he banquet hall to consult her mother Herodias, and her mother told her to ask the king for John the Baptist’s “head on a silver platter” (Mark 6:24-25, CEB). King Herod Antipas then did as he was asked, and John the Baptist’s remaining body was put in a tomb by his disciples (Mark 6:28-29, CEB).

          You see my friends, my brothers and sisters, this morning King Herod Antipas knowingly kills a holy and a righteous man. How do we treat the holy and the righteous people in our lives? Further, how we become more like John the Baptist? Even more, how can we become like Jesus Christ?

          To preach the gospel then, to speak truth to power, and to speak hope in despair, is often a threatening thing to some people. I mean what if one day, someone asks for our heads “on a silver platter?”

          One of my Bible Commentaries that I read to prepare my sermons every Sunday, called the “Africa Bible Commentary,” said it best. It said, “We are in dire need of fearless modern prophets father than praise singers who revel in high places, for sycophancy is rife.”

          This means in the modern day, we must preach the gospel, we must live it, and me structure out lives around it, as to make a better and a more just world. In doing so, someone might very well ask for you “head on a silver platter.”

I want to share a story with you about noticing the John the Baptists in our lives. This story is called “The Messiah is Among You.” Here is how the story goes: “There was once an old stone monastery tucked away in the middle of a picturesque forest. For many years people would make the significant detour required to seek out this monastery. The peaceful spirit of the place was healing for the soul.”

“In recent years however fewer and fewer people were making their way to the monastery. The monks had grown jealous and petty in their relationships with one another, and the animosity was felt by those who visited.”

“The Abbot of the monastery was distressed by what was happening, and poured out his heart to his good friend Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a wise old Jewish rabbi. Having heard the Abbot’s tale of woe he asked if he could offer a suggestion. “Please do” responded the Abbot. “Anything you can offer.”

“Jeremiah said that he had received a vision, an important vision, and the vision was this: the messiah was among the ranks of the monks. The Abbot was flabbergasted. One among his own was the Messiah! Who could it be? He knew it wasn’t himself, but who? He raced back to the monastery and shared his exciting news with his fellow monks.”

“The monks grew silent as they looked into each other’s faces. Was this one the Messiah? From that day on the mood in the monastery changed. Joseph and Ivan started talking again, neither wanting to be guilty of slighting the Messiah. Pierre and Naibu left behind their frosty anger and sought out each other’s forgiveness. The monks began serving each other, looking out for opportunities to assist, seeking healing and forgiveness where offence had been given.”

“As one traveler, then another, found their way to the monastery word soon spread about the remarkable spirit of the place. People once again took the journey to the monastery and found themselves renewed and transformed. All because those monks knew the Messiah was among them.”

          Brothers and sisters, friends, let us never ask for someone’s “head on a silver platter.” After all, you could have just condemned John the Baptist, or another saint that is among us. Even if someone did succeed in getting our heads “on a silver platter” though, they cannot stop God’s love, the gospel, or the truth of God. For when we show love, compassion, and forgiveness, we are changed from the inside out. Meaning, let us never seek to ask for someone’s “head on a silver platter.” Amen.