This Week : Sunday 15 July 2018 – Inspire
This Week : Sunday 15 July 2018 – Inspire

This Week : Sunday 15 July 2018 – Inspire

Bible Reading: Mark 6:14

Dear Friends,

This week’s scene in Mark 6: 14-29 begins with Herod getting word of Jesus’ deeds of power. Interestingly, we don’t quite know what it was that Herod heard, only that Jesus’ fame is spreading. We hear of Herod’s guilty conscience earlier; now we learn more about where his guilt came from. All in all, it’s actually a minor twist in tightly woven story of dynastic struggle that rivals anything. Herod, is the name used by eight different rulers of the Herodian dynasty who live in the generations just before, during, and after Jesus’ ministry. Today’s story revolves around Herod Antipas, one of the sons of Herod the Great.

He has married Herodias, the former wife of his younger brother (also named Herod), because this marriage gives him a stronger claim to his father’s throne. But the form of Herodias’ divorce from her former husband and her marriage to Herod Antipas was criticized by many, including John the Baptist. This is embarrassing and politically dangerous to both Herod and Herodias, and so Herod has John arrested and locks him up. But then a funny thing happens. Herod can’t bring himself to eliminate this threat to his power. He is afraid of John, Mark reports, because he knows John is righteous and holy and, as it turns out, he likes listening to John.

Herodias, however, shares neither her new husband’s fear of, nor affinity for John. An opportunity for Herodias to act arises when Herod throws a banquet for some of his courtiers and local leaders, and her daughter (also named Herodias I know this gets confusing!) dances for and entrances her stepfather. Herod, caught up in a moment of exuberance, promises to give her anything, up to half his kingdom. When Herodias’ daughter asks her counsel, she prompts her daughter to ask for John’s head on a platter and Herod, afraid to renege on a promise made before all these VIPs, consents.

While it’s always tempting to look for “the moral of the story” in biblical accounts, it’s rarely satisfying. The Bible wasn’t written to teach children to behave or help you get ahead in business. It’s a book that tells the truth, the truth about humanity in all of it’s glory and shame, and the even greater truth of God’s love for humanity and passionate commitment to redeem and save us, even from ourselves.

So if you want to find a moral it’s probably this: as in the soap operas today, so also in the political dramas of years gone by: the powerful are used to getting what they want; are willing to do most anything to keep or advance what they have; and those who stand up to them, advocate for the oppressed, or dare to inspire people to imagine that life can be different usually get trampled. That’s what happens to John. And, as we’ll see, Jesus’ clash with this same Herod isn’t all that far off.

It’s not much of a moral, I know. But at least it’s true. And, more importantly, it’s not the end of the story.

Solomzi

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