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.