Rev Hugh Perry
Readings
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
This reading from 2nd Samuel records the arrival of the Ark in Jerusalem which establishes the city as both a religious and political capital that brings both northern and southern tribes together. Jerusalem had been captured from the Jebusites and was therefore on neutral ground having not been part of either the northern or southern kingdoms.
Maurice Andrew sees David dancing before the Ark as capturing people’s imagination and notes its reference in Shirley Murray’s hymn, ‘Sing a happy alleluia’ ‘Sara laughed at God’s good timing, Mary sang and David danced’.[1]
Saul’s daughter reproaches David for his exhibitionism and this apparently gives us the reason why she had no children so, although the house of Saul is still a factor, its possibility of continuing into the dynasty is blocked.[2]
Mark 6:14-29
The first part of this reading flows on from the sending out of the twelve and our reading begins where we are told that King Herod heard of it. We also get some of the things people were saying about Jesus and the movement his mission had become. A resurrection of John the Baptist—a continuation of John’s mission of repentance and baptism while others said it was Elijah returning from heaven with the implication that he was the forerunner of the Messiah. Still others said that it was a new prophet. Herod’s comment was that John, he had executed, had been raised.’ In other words the unrest and insurrection that I thought I got rid of by executing John has started up all over again.’
Then we get a description of John’s arrest and execution which focuses on the legitimacy of Herod’s marriage which was also a suggestion about Herod’s legitimacy to rule. [3]
Sermon
David had not only secured the throne but had brought Judea and Israel into one Kingdom. He had captured Jerusalem and made that his capital. As it had never been part of Judea or Israel it was a neutral city that gave no benefit to the tribes of Judea or Israel. It was like Australia building Canberra as a capital city independent of any State capital.
Today’s reading is about demonstrating that David had divine approval for his reign. The Ark was the symbol of divine presence during the Exodus and, having that in the capital city, was a demonstration that he had divine approval of his reign.
Remember that King Charles coronation was a religious service. That not only confirmed him King but also head of the Church of England. In recognition of his authority within the commonwealth and the reality that Britain is now both a multi racial and multi faith nation, representatives of different faiths were also involved. There was even an ex all black captain there, no doubt representing New Zealand’s national religion. More significantly the moderator of the Church of Scotland presented the King with a Bible and told him that was the only authority needed confirming the reformation principle of the authority of scripture over church hierarchy.
I am sure I was not the only Presbyterian whose heart was strangely warmed at that moment. It’s not just Methodists that can have that experience.
By contrast our Gospel reading involves a time when the authority of the Israeli monarchy was severely limited by Imperial Rome. Various religious leaders, including John the Baptist, were criticising Herod’s authority. The issue quoted in our reading is one of the scriptural marriage laws. I suspect there was a feeling that if their king really ruled on God’s behalf then he would be able to get rid of the Romans and more particularly Roman taxes.
Tax cuts always make good headlines.
In fact, the Rev Dr Bill Loader suggests this story from Mark’s Gospel ‘sounds like a bizarre story, lifted from the ‘popular press of the day’.
Loader goes on to say that it cast a shadow over what is to come. That indeed was what Mark was intending.
Reading on we would discover that fickle, exploitative political powers will perform another convenient execution. We will wonder if someone can be so callously executed and come to life again.
We are invited by this Gospel to ask ourselves if we see the risen Christ wherever such powers are confronted. Do we confront such injustice as individuals or collectively with our society?
Or does the entertainment value of such a story overwhelm us? It is a story that would easily fit among contemporary television drama crafted to rivet us to the screen so we forget to not watch the commercials.
Significantly this episode is the place where secular history confirms the religious text. John the Baptist is the only gospel figure mentioned outside the Bible.
His story is briefly narrated by the Jewish historian Josephus. In that brief reference Josephus suggests that Herod’s concern was that John represented a source of unrest and subversion. Josephus was probably correct.[4]
Governments do not like to be criticised or have their ideology questioned. Democratic leaders blame the press. ‘Look here sunshine! They cry.
However totalitarian rulers tend to be quite brutal in their response.
But all governments are fearful of people who inspire mass dissension. Even when mass movements focus on opposing apartheid, limiting nuclear weapons, scrimping on school lunches or trying to rewrite the Treaty of Waitangi, those in power become fearful.
Of course, recent polls demonstrate such fear is not unfounded of course.
Mass movements can, and have, changed governments in democracies. Mass movements kicked the British out of India, abolished apartheid in South Africa and succeeded in gaining the vote for women in New Zealand. Mass movements succeeded in making New Zealand nuclear free. History tells us that, in absolute monarchies and totalitarian states, mass movements have precipitated violent revolution.
However, it is the opening three verses of our gospel reading that are probably the most significant and challenging for us.
Our reading opened by saying ‘King Herod heard of it’ (Mark 6:14a) and we must ask ‘heard of what?
The answer is in a previous episode where Jesus sends out the twelve. The passage then goes on to inform us that Jesus had become known, and people were speculating about his identity.
He seemed to have superpowers. So was he, John the Baptist, come back to life? That question allows Mark to foreshadow Jesus’ resurrection and the amazing possibilities of the emerging church.
Others suggested that it was Elijah. We should remember that Elijah did not die but was carried up to heaven in a whirlwind. Presumably he was therefore able to return, just as Dorothy came back to Kansas in the Wizard of Oz.
It was one of the myths of Jesus’ time that Elijah would return to announce the arrival of the Messiah. That is why Mark alluded to Elijah in his description of John the Baptist in chapter one.
Mark is reminding us that we should be getting the understanding that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.
The final option is that Jesus is one of the prophets and this was a challenge to the temple authority because, they decreed that the age of the prophets was over and God now spoke to the people through temple authority.
Not surprisingly Herod has little patience with such speculation and declares ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised’. Mark is obviously giving us a preview of the empty tomb where the young man dressed in a white robe says to the women ‘do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.’ (Mark 16:6)
However, Herod is most likely saying ‘The problem I thought I had got rid of by executing John the Baptist has started up all over again.’
That thought has two messages for us. Firstly, it gives us an understanding of how the Jesus movement began with John the Baptist, was continued and developed by Jesus, then passed on to his disciples.
Those disciples, continued Jesus’ mission and expanded it to eventually include us.
Mark tells of the beginning of that succession.
‘Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news’. (Mark 1:14,15)
More importantly Herod’s reaction reminds us that a very small number of people living out their Christian calling of empathy, love and justice can achieve extraordinary results.
Even the words from a large politician from a very small nation can shake world views and reverberate through history.
I only had to type the words ‘I can smell’ into goggle and up came a whole page of reports of the 1985 Oxford Union debate. In that encounter David Lange said to United States televangelist Jerry Falwell ‘hold your breath just for a moment. I can smell the uranium on it as you lean toward me!’[5]
The thunderous applause was reignited when in the same debate when Willy Jackson, on a different campaign, told the British audience, ‘I can smell the colonialism on your breath.
If the British Museum isn’t packing the significant tohunga at the moment, I imagine they soon will be.
Of course, we are not all outstanding orators, but neither were Jesus’ disciples.
They were ordinary people and Jesus had sent them out on a training mission into their neighbourhoods. They made such an impact that king Herod heard about it and saw it as a threat.
If we look at that episode, it will remind us what they were sent out to do, and what they achieved. They only stayed where they were welcome and people would listen to them. They cast out many demons and anointed the sick with oil and cured them.
We get very worried when we use the words like demons. We start thinking of Stephen King and scary late night television. We are also concerned about the way curing people by anointing with oil suggests alternative medicine.
However, if we think of demons and evil spirits as metaphors for addictions, bad habits, bereavement, disappointment and depression that make people less than their true selves, then there is plenty we can do just by being kind and attentive.
A Jewish acquaintance of mine in Auckland was very sick and her brother travelled from Wellington to make their mothers chicken soup for her.
Family chicken soup recipes aside we don’t expect people to get better because we just anoint them with oil. But we can give people a ride to the doctors or pick up their prescription from the chemist. We can make sure they are coping with household chores. Furthermore, you don’t have to be Jewish to make chicken soup and a casserole may be just as good.
We can all do in our time what the disciples did in their time, caring for neighbours with whatever we have.
Certainly, some people have skills that others don’t, and some make a bigger impact than others.
Dr Murray Laugesen did amazing things as a Presbyterian missionary in India, but his greatest work was as a public servant drafting Aotearoa’s smoke-free legislation.
But ordinary people doing ordinary things can make a difference. Even just talking to people makes a difference because we are all woven together in interlocking relationships that allow ideas to flow. Ideas that both disturb and inspire.
With the threat of global warming and the news of violence and wars it is easy to get discouraged about the future and the future of the church.
But that despondent demon is easily cast out by just thinking about that small group of redundant peasant farmers and fisherman that Jesus sent out into their neighbourhoods.
We are similarly called to send transforming ripples of hope into our world. The promise of the Risen Christ is that we too can make a difference.
[1] Shirley Murray , Alleluia Aotearoa, ( Christchurch: New Zealand Hymnbook Trust, 1993), p.118.
[2] Maurice Andrew The Old Testament in Aotearoa New Zealand (Wellington: DEFT 1999), p.224.
[3] Morna D Hooker The Gospel According To Mark (London: A&C Black1991), p.160.
[4] http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkPentecost7.html
[5] http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/people/david-lange