The Ven. Richard I. Cluett
July 16. 2006
Proper 10 - 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19, Mark 6:14-29
I have been a priest for 36 years and have never been faced with preaching on this passage about the death of John the Baptist. Most parish clergy who are solo in a parish take their vacation from mid-July to mid-August. Now I see why. The church lectionary saves passages such as this for mid-summer so that, as important as it may be, both clergy and congregation have a good chance of being spared having to face it. If I had looked ahead when preparing the preaching schedule, you most likely would have found Canon Atkinson in this pulpit on this Sunday to take on this passage.
But here we are, priest and parishioner, on this Sunday so let’s gird our loins and see what God might be trying to say to us today in this sordid tale from so long ago.
And sordid is a good word here. It defines something as “involving ignoble actions and motives; arousing moral distaste and contempt.”
And indeed the death of John the Baptist does just that. It involves the basest of human motives, the grossest of human morals, the beastliest of human behaviors – and the horrible death of a holy man and a strong and true prophet of the Most High God.
But, how dare he confront the king with the truth about his actions. No wonder they put him in prison. How dare he publicly oppose the wishes of the king? How dare he oppose the actions and policies of the legal government? How dare he speak out, so loudly, in opposition to behaviors offensive to God? How dare he…! "He will pay!”
Joanna Adams wrote, “You can put your ear to the ground and listen as hard as you can, but you will not detect a single note of authentic joy or hope anywhere in the vicinity” of this story. I am not sure that I agree entirely, but it does feel that way, and you don’t find Jesus in this story either.
Mark has placed this story in his narrative right after we have heard of all the successes of the miracles stories, the disciples have been sent out to spread the Good News, and then we get this story. John’s death had happened in the past, mark could have placed it anywhere, but here it is close to the beginning. It sort of casts a pall over the whole enterprise, doesn’t it?
This new reign of God will come at some cost, some great cost to some. Didn’t Jesus warn his disciples that it wouldn’t be easy; that there would be costs to their being his disciples? Going out as lambs among wolves.
Some of you are old enough to remember what the Sergeant on the old TV show, Hill Street Blues, said when he sent his squad out into the streets at the beginning on each and every show, "Be careful, you can get hurt out there."
The world is a dangerous place. It is especially so for those who would be true to what they know of God and of God’s way. There is a reason the early church met underground, literally, and in secret. It was dangerous to live God’s way.
It has been so for anyone who would counter the evils of the world with the ways of God. The church calendar is full of people who paid the ultimate cost of discipleship, the cost of living counter to “the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God” that we regularly renounce in our Baptismal Covenant.
What are some of the things we hear about the ways of the world that are counter to God’s ways? Dog eat dog. The rat race. The one with the most toys wins. The first shall be first. My way or the highway. Be number 1! We could go on ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
The people of God, the followers of Jesus are to live in direct opposition to that kind of world. And it can be dangerous today, too. Dangerous to confront behaviors that hurt, be they in a classroom, or on a street corner, or in a boardroom or a government office.
Throughout my adult life I have been very attentive to matters of inclusivity, and diversity. I recently saw this story told by Brian Stoffgren that lays out the discipleship issue pretty clearly. It comes from the civil rights era of the 1950’s.
There were two brothers in Georgia. One decided that in opposition to the dominant culture of the day, he was going to support and participate in the formation of a multi-ethnic, multi-racial inclusive community. The other worked as an attorney for a prominent law firm. Both were faithful Christians and attended church regularly.
As the community formed and social pressures eventually forced them into court proceedings, the one brother asked his attorney brother to help them with the legal work. The brother refused, saying that he could lose his job. The one increased the pressure to help with a reminder that he was a Christian. The lawyer responded, "I will follow Jesus to his cross, but it is his cross. I have no need to be crucified." To this his brother replied, "Then you are an admirer of Jesus, but not his disciple."
Perhaps you will remember this poem about the rise of Nazism written by Pastor Martin Niemoller.
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
I remember what a holy woman by the name of Verna Dozier taught in her book, The Dream of God. “The clear message of Jesus in the Gospels is to follow Him. But early on, the institutional church found this task too daunting, and decided it would just worship Him instead!”
The message of this gospel today is that we, too, must “Stand up for Jesus”.
We who believe, who know, who have seen, and have been touched by the power of Christ in our own lives; we are to stand up for Jesus, stand up for what is right and of God, stand up when those in power betray their calling, stand up when others can’t. Each of us can come up with our own list of reasons why we need to Stand Up.
For most of us the cost will be, perhaps, only some social isolation – but, then, we already know that we are always surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and the community of believers, and the whole host of heaven – and no matter what happens, God reigns.
If we stand up, God reigns. If we speak out, God reigns. If we should fall, God reigns. But, at the very least, we will know who reigns and rules our own heart, and soul, and mind, our strength – the Most High God reigns! For ever and ever. Amen.
