"Off with their heads!!" Apologies to Lewis Carroll

Part of reredos in "the Baptistry" in Florence, Italy 

The Gospel lesson coming up for this Sunday is from Mark.  You might remember it…  Mark tells us that Herod was afraid of Jesus – in part because some folks thought he was John the Baptist come back from the dead.  That would definitely upset Herod because JtheB had called Herod out for taking is brother’s wife.  Herod in order to silence John had thrown him into prison and then, at the request of his neice and wife, had beheaded him.  Pretty grizzly way to die.  I am reminded of the images of the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette’s head rolling off into the basket below the guillotine.  Awful awful images that can turn my stomach and I suspect yours too.  I would much prefer not to have such a text of terror for the Sunday Gospel reading.  But here it is in all of its blood and gore. 

This story is John’s “passion narrative” and it underscores and heralds the passion narrative of Jesus.  John, like Jesus, was headed for this place of execution from the moment he accepted God’s call to him to be a prophet.  John like Jesus turned the common societal values and the standards upside down and called for a radical change in the way their followers lived their lives and in their relationship to God and to each other.   John rejected the clothing, the housing, the standard of living, the food – he rejected everything about the established ways of being a Jew in 1^st century Palestine and he called the people to a place of repentance, of simplicity, of renewed passion and vigor for God.  John was humble, contrite, honest, forthright, and faithful – all of the things that Herod was not.  John drew the multitudes to himself, a charismatic man who commanded awe and attention.  Herod Antipas was a man, appointed to rule not for his leadership skills, but for his birthright as one of the descendants of another equally notorious Herod. 

If I go much further here I’m gonna get preachy and I hope there are folks reading this who are not regular church goers.  So here’s my point….  We think that we Christians have moved on past these days of evil deeds.  But the reality is that human beings can be just as insipid today as they were in the 1^st Century. 

 Mark gives us the impression that Herod is a reluctant executioner.  Mark tells us that this ruler who was schooled in Hellenistic ways, not strictly following the Jewish code of Law but having been exposed to the teachings all of his life, liked to listen to John, Herod even seems to admire him and on some level I believe that he heard in John the prophetic words of a man of God.  But Herod was caught in between his faith and his folly – because Herod did not want to give up the pleasures of his desire for beautiful women, including his niece, and he did not want to raise the ire of his wife.  So Herod turned his back on what he knew to the right and just and did what was expedient – he did what would get him the worldly pleasures he desired and not rock the boat. 

Such temptation is the familiar bedfellow of each one of us.  How easy it is to turn our back on someone in need because they do not quite meet our expectation of what is socially acceptable.  Or how easy it is to withhold that charitable donation because we really need to get the roof replaced on our house.  Or how easy it is to pocket that $5 left on the counter by mistake, to lie to  friend, or to take one’s anger out on a child, because everyone else does it and the person I am hurting has no way to get back at me.  Or how easy it is to spend the weekend with that wonderful friend from the office because my spouse will not find out and what he or she does not know will not hurt them.  How easy it is to cheat on a test, or shoplift, or use drugs, or drive after just a few beers – because there is not really a victim of my sin – at least not one I can see at the moment.  How different are we really from Herod and how many John the Baptists have our white lies and harmless sins beheaded.  How many are hurt or injured by our giving in to our own avarice.  How many have turned away from Christ because we failed to be a faithful witness to God’s love in our words and actions. 

Today we are living in a society where cheating on your taxes, bullying people who are disabled or at risk, using foul language in public places, and perhaps the worst of all…. being silent in the face of injustice is the "norm" because we don’t want to rock the boat or put ourselves at risk.  At the march in New Orleans my daughter carried a sign that said “Silence is Violence”.  Indeed…  It is time to step outside our safety net and challenge our neighbor who sneers or jeers at compassion, kindness, hospitality, and generosity.  If we cannot then we might as well just dance with the Herodians, because we are just as complicit as they are.