The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. George Pejakovich, Assistant to the Dean
Grace Cathedral
07/12/09

Mark 6:14-29

WHEN I WAS THE COMMANDANT OF THE ARMY CHAPLAIN SCHOOL, SOME YEARS AGO, I INVITED THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE ARMY TO COME AND SPEAK TO THE BASIC COURSE FOR CHAPLAINS. THIS WAS THE TRAINING COURSE FOR ALL NEWLY ACCESSIONED CHAPLAINS WHICH TAUGHT THEM HOW TO SERVE AS AN ARMY CHAPLAIN. THE INSPECTOR GENERAL IS THE ARMY’S INTERNAL MORAL AND ETHICAL POLICEMAN. HIS JOB IS TO OBSERVE BOTH THE TRAINING AND THE FUNCTIONING OF THE ARMY TO ENSURE THE HIGHEST ETHICAL AND MORAL STANDARDS ARE CONSISTENTLY PRACTICED. I HAD ASKED LTG GRIFFITH TO SPEAK TO THESE NEW CHAPLAINS ON HOW HE SAW THE ROLE OF THE CHAPLAIN WITHIN THE COMMAND STRUCTURE OF THE ARMY. LTG GRIFFITH WAS A DEEPLY RELIGIOUS MAN WHO LOVED GOD, HIS COUNTRY AND THE ARMY. AS WE SAT IN COMFORTABLE CHAIRS IN MY OFFICE DRINKING COFFEE BEFORE HIS ADDRESS TO THE CLASS, WE TALKED ABOUT POWER, MORALITY AND HUMAN SINFULNESS. GENERAL GRIFFITH WAS WELL VERSED IN HISTORY, SCRIPTURE AND HUMAN NATURE, AND, IN HIS LACONIC SOUTHERN DRAWL, SAID, “NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED IN HUMAN NATURE THROUGHOUT HISTORY. YOU PIN A COUPLE OF STARS ON THE COLLAR OF SOME PEOPLE, AND SUDDENLY THEY THINK THEY ARE A LAW UNTO THEIR SELVES, AND, ODDLY ENOUGH, THINK THEY ARE GOD’S GIFT TO WOMEN.” HIS JOB WAS TO “FERRET OUT” THESE PEOPLE, AND GET RID OF THEM BEFORE THEY COULD HARM OTHERS AND DAMAGE THE MORAL STATURE OF THE ARMY. THE ROLE OF CHAPLAINS, AS HE SAW IT, WAS TO MINISTER TO SOLDIERS AND THEIR FAMILIES, AND ALWAYS SPEAK THE TRUTH TO THOSE IN POWER, EVEN IF, LIKE JOHN THE BAPTIST, IT COST THEM THEIR HEADS.

IN THE GOSPEL FOR TODAY, MARK GIVES US A LITTLE HISTORICAL “FLASH BACK” TO FILL US IN ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF HIS DEATH ON THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. AS WE READ AND HEAR DAILY ABOUT SOME NEW POLITICAL FIGURE FALLING FROM THE PEDESTILE OF POWER BECAUSE OF PRIDE, VENALITY, GREED OR LUST, MARK’S ACCOUNT IS VERY INSTRUCTIVE, BECAUSE IT GIVES US A VERY GOOD PICTURE OF HOW THE KINGDOM OF GOD STANDS IN ETERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD.

HEROD WAS NOT A KING, THOUGH HE CALLED HIMSELF A KING. HE WAS A TETRACH WHO WAS A VASSEL OF THE EMPEROR IN ROME. WHILE IN ROME, RECEIVING HIS COMMISSION, HE MET AND THEN RAN OFF WITH HIS BROTHER’S WIFE HERODIAS, NOT BOTHERING WITH THE FORMALITIES OF DIVORCE, AND TOOK HER AND HER DAUGHTER, SALOME, TO GALILEE. THIS OCCASIONED A MINOR WAR TO WHICH ROME PUT A STOP, BUT LEFT GREAT TENSION IN THE REGION. HEROD THOUGHT THAT HE WAS SO IMPORTANT, AND POWERFUL, THAT HE COULD DO WHATEVER HE WANTED, UNTIL JOHN HELD UP THE TRUTH LIKE A MIRROR IN HIS FACE. LIKE SO MANY OTHERS, HEROD COULD RECOGNIZE THE TRUTH, WHICH BOTH FRIGHTENED AND FASCINATED HIM, BUT THOUGHT HE WAS ABOVE IT ALL. HIS WIFE, HERODIAS, HEARD THE TRUTH AND HATED IT, AND HATED AND WANTED TO KILL THE MESSANGER OF TRUTH.

AT HIS BIRTHDAY FEAST, HEROD WAS IN HIS ELEMENT, SURROUNDED BY ALL HIS LACKYS AND SYCOPHANTS, WHO SURVIVED BY TELLING HEROD HOW GREAT HE WAS. THE JEWS DID NOT CELEBRATE BIRTHDAYS, BELIEVEING THEM TO BE A PAGAN CUSTOM MARKING ASTROLOGICAL INFLUENCE. NOT MUCH DIFFERENT FROM WHEN SOMEONE ASKS YOU “WHAT’S YOUR SIGN?” WHEN SALOME DANCED FOR HEROD AND HIS GUESTS, HE WAS SO OVERCOME WITH DRUNKEN LUST THAT HE PROMISED TO GIVE HER ANYTHING FOR WHICH SHE ASKED, EVEN HALF OF HIS KINGDOM. THIS WAS A PROMISE HE COULD NOT KEEP, BECAUSE THE KINGDOM WAS NOT HIS. THE GIRL RAN TO HER MOTHER TO GET HER ADVICE, AND HERODIAS SEIZED THE MOMENT, AND DEMONSTRATED HOW EASY IT IS TO TURN THE HEART TO EVIL. ASK FOR “THE HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST,” HERODIAS TOLD HER DAUGHTER, AND. SALOME, WITH ALL THE EYES OF HEROD’S COURT ON HER DID JUST THAT. HEROD WAS TRAPPED. IF HE REFUSED, HE WOULD LOOK LIKE A FOOL BEFORE HIS COURT, AND HIS POWER WOULD BE WEAKENED, SO HIS PRIDE, LUST, AND ARROGANCE MADE HIM DO THAT WHICH HE DID NOT WANT TO DO. THE HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS SERVED TO SALOME ON A PLATTER, AND TRUTH WAS SILENCED; OR SO HEROD AND HERODIAS THOUGHT.

NOW WHEN HEROD HEARD ABOUT THIS MAN JESUS, WHO BEGAN HIS MINISTRY AFTER THE DEATH OF JOHN, HE WAS VERY CONCERNED, BECAUSE WHAT JESUS WAS DOING WAS VERY UPSETTING. HE WAS ACTING AS IF HE WERE THE MESSIAH, HEALING THE SICK, CASTING OUT DEAMONS, PERFORMING MIRACLES, AND PREACHING THE MESSAGE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEING AT HAND. IF THIS JESUS WAS WHO HE SEEMED TO BE THEN HEROD’S KINGDOM AND ALL HIS POWER AND AUTHORITY WAS AT RISK. THOSE WHO WANTED TO HANG ON TO THEIR POWER SCRAMBLED FOR EVERY POSSIBLE EXPLAINATION OF WHO THIS JESUS COULD BE OTHER THAN THE MESSIAH. THEY COULD CONSIDER EVERY EXPLAINATION BUT THE TRUTH; HE WAS A PROPHET LIKE THOSE OF ANCIENT ISRAEL, OR EVEN JOHN THE BAPTIST RESSURECTED – ANYTHING BUT THE TRUTH THAT JESUS WAS THE PROMISED MESSIAH. EVEN HEROD WOULD RATHER BELIEVE THAT JESUS WAS JOHN THE BAPTIST RESSURECTED THAN CONSIDER THE POSSIBLITY THAT HE WAS WHO HE APPEARED TO BE.

MARK TELLS US ALL THIS TO EXPLAIN WHY THE MORE THAT JESUS SEEMS TO BE THE MESSIAH, THE GREATER THE OPPOSITION TO HIM GROWS IN THE MINDS OF THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL LEADERS OF JUDAH. THEY DO NOT WANT TO HEAR OR KNOW THE TRUTH, BECAUSE THE TRUTH ABOUT WHO JESUS IS CHALLENGES ALL THEIR ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WHO AND WHAT THEY ARE. IF JESUS IS TRULY THE MESSIAH, THEN ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD MUST BE MEASURED AGAINST THE STANDARDS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND ALL THE ACTIONS OF MANKIND MUST BE MEASURED AGAINST THE STANDARDS OF GOD’S JUSTICE AND MERCY. NO ONE IN POWER, WHO THINKS HIS OR HER POSITION IS ABOVE JUDGMENT, EVER WANTS TO HEAR THE TRUTH THAT THIS WORLD, AND EVERYTHING IN IT, BELONGS TO GOD AND GOD ALONE. THE KINGDOM OF GOD STANDS IN ETERNAL OPPOSTION TO ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD.

WE ARE CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WHOSE CITIZENSHIP WAS PURCHASED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF GOD. WE LIVE IN THIS WORLD, BUT ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD. THE VALUES AND MORALITY OF THIS WORLD ARE NOT OURS, BECAUSE OUR ALLEGIENCE IS TO THE ONE TRUE GOD AND KING WHO CAME TO CLAIM US IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS. WE LIVE NOT FOR OURSELVES, BUT FOR OUR HEAVENLY FATHER WHO CLAIMED US AS HIS ADOPTED SONS AND DAUGHTERS THROUGH THE BLOOD OF HIS BELOVED SON, AND HE HAS MARKED US WITH THE SEAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, SO THAT WE WOULD BE DIFFERENT FROM THE WORLD AROUND US. POWER, PRESTIGE, AND PRIDE MEAN NOTHING TO US, BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH ARE TO BE GATHERED UP INTO GOD HIMSELF. WE ARE THE MESSENGERS OF THE TRUTH OF GOD, THE TRUTH WHICH WE BEAR IN OUR OWN BODIES AND LIVES, AND THE TRUTH WHICH WE PROCLIM TO THE WORLD BY OUR WORDS, OUR DEEDS, AND OUR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER. TO THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE, WE MUST ALWAYS SPEAK THE TRUTH; THAT THIS WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT BELONGS TO GOD, AND ALL THINGS MUST BE JUDGED AGAINST THE STANDARD OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND HIS LOVE AND MERCY. THIS IS OUR MESSAGE TO THE WORLD WHICH WE MUST ALWAYS PROCLAIM TO THOSE IN POWER, EVEN IF IT COSTS US OUR HEADS.
AMEN