Texts: 2 Sam 6:1-5,12b-19; Psalm 24; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29
I’m not a country music fan. Sorry to those of you who are. But recently, I spent the morning on a job with a few of my painters. I was there to install the crown molding, and I had no choice about the music selection. But I have to admit that I heard on WXTU the theme song for my life. It’s a new song by Billy Currington, and the refrain of this song goes like this:
“God is great, beer is good and people are crazy!”
Wow! That is just perfect for me. That might as well be the motto for my life: “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.”
I have no idea what you may think about beer, but I think that those of us gathered here can all agree with the other two phrases: God is great, and people are crazy.
If there are any doubts in your mind about these assertions, well then our Gospel reading today should be of some direct assistance.
If you are tempted to think that people are basically good, and that there is nothing really wrong with the world, then this story of Herod’s birthday might help to cure you of the delusion.
A little context is important to understand what is going on here at Herod’s party.
First, you must understand that Herod is trying to imitate the Greek style and the Romans who are occupying his land. They have recognized Herod as the local king as long as he pays tribute to the Emperor, to Caesar. Herod of course seeks the favor of the imperial authorities. In common parlance in my world, we call this brown-nosing, but people like Herod just call it politics.
Herod gathered a group of powerful men together to celebrate his birthday. Mind you, only men were invited, Roman officials and military leaders and those in the court who flattered Herod enough to be included. Those people are called courtiers. Not even the wife of the king was in attendance. Herodias had to remain in a different room.
These men reclined on pillows around the room and ate and drank as young girls were brought in to dance and entertain them. As we can expect in this kind of setting, the men became drunk and the scene became lewd.
Salome, the daughter of Herodias came and danced, the daughter of an illegal and illegitimate marriage. Herod was drunk and he made a stupid promise. It seems that they were gathered at the same fortress where John the Baptist was being held, supposedly under the king’s protection. Herodias despised John for his gall in criticizing their marriage, and it seems that she could think of little else while gathered there except for her hatred of John. An opportunity presented itself and she went for the kill.
There are so many aspects of this story that are disturbing and loathsome to God: The sexism of the hierarchy that used women as entertainment; the vanity of Herod who sought only wealth and power; the anger of Herodias who carried about murder in her heart until the time came for her evil deed; the pride of Herod, who would rather protect his foolish pride than do what he knew was right. What about the manipulation of the daughter, using her as a pawn in a wicked and evil game? What about the conscience of the guests at the party who did not protest the killing on an innocent man and a prophet? And what about the soldier who carried out the order to kill a man who everyone around knew to be a prophet of the Lord, a righteous and holy man? Did this soldier have a heart, a conscience?
This, my friends, is what happens when wealth and power and pride and greed and revelry become mixed all together in an intoxicating stew. This is a nasty concoction which gives birth to all kinds of evil.
Contrast this with the celebration given by King David when the ark of the covenant was brought up into Jerusalem. Here too there was dancing, but this time it was done by the king himself! Dancing with shame, without any conceited pride before all the people.
Herod’s party brought death and shame; David’s celebration brought blessing and joy.
Both King David and King Herod were involved with a woman with whom they had no right to be: Bathsheba and Herodias.
Both kings had a prophet in their life who called them to repentance and who challenged them to follow God’s commandments: Nathan and John .
Both David and Herod made a series of very bad decisions that resulted in the blood of an innocent man on their hands: Uzziah and the prophet John.
Here in these lessons, 2 earthly kings are brought before us, and two very different kinds of celebrations are recorded. Both have many similarities, but there is a crucial difference.
David, in fact, did repent. David did seek after God and God’s will, returning to the Lord. David did not allow his pride and greed to blind him to the truth.
Herod was like most of those seeking wealth and fame and power in this life: when the prophet spoke, he could hear the truth like a faint knock on the door, but it was inconvenient and cumbersome, and he chose to ignore it.
And here we sit, thousands of years later, and nothing has changed at all. These stories continue to be played out again and again. We all have the choice to be like King David: to listen to the truth, to repent, to allow our lives in this way to be a blessing to others. Or we can follow after the way of King Herod: to seek after fortune and influence and power, to ignore the obvious truth, to push aside those who stand in our way.
I will be honest with you: it is distressing to me to see how our leaders consistently follow the path of Herod. King David is a rarity among human leaders. If you ever doubt that, just take a quick glance at the list of major corporate donors to the political parties and cross-reference that with the list of those who have received billions of our dollars in bailouts.
But even in the midst of all of this turmoil, the apostle Paul reminds us that God has a plan for this crazy human race. Listen to these glorious words of hope:
“In Christ, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and
had believed in him, [you] were marked with the seal of the promised Holy
Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own
people, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:14).
We have an inheritance which no king or politician can take away, which no bank failure or economic recession can diminish. God is great, and we rejoice in the truth that David discovered for himself and passed on to us:
“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and all who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). Amen.
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