Mark 6:14-29
October 1, 2000
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
This is a strange passage in the Bible. Herodias plans a devious and murderous plot to have John the Baptist destroyed. She didn’t mind using her daughter’s body and her husband’s vanity to spring the fatal trap.
Herod believed John to be a good and holy man. It says Herod liked to listen to John. Yet because Herod had married his brother’s wife, John denounced the marriage as unlawful. This enraged Herodias, who wanted nothing more than to silence John. At his wife’s instigation, Herod bound John and threw him in the dungeon.
But imprisonment of John wasn’t enough. Herodias tricked her husband into giving her John’s head on the platter. Herod was a despicable character who betrayed his better self to maintain domestic tranquillity and to save face in front of his drinking friends.
Both Herod and Herodias were people you don’t want to invite home for dinner. No wonder we don’t name our kids, Herod or Herodias!
The question for us today is, “What’s a bad story like this doing in a nice place like this?”
This seems like an out-of-place, slightly erotic, quite gruesome account of how King Herod, after he had blown out the candles on his birthday cake, snuffed out the life of John the Baptist.
Mark’s Purpose
Although the Red Sox are not going anywhere this October, baseball fever in the Bay Area is going bonkers. The Giants and the As are going to the playoffs. When you are sitting in the ballpark as the teams change fields, they have all these fan activities going on—on the big scoreboard screens. You get the chance to guess how many fans came to the game that day. You cheer these different color baseball caps going around a racing track—go blue or red or yellow! It really doesn’t matter who wins these video games because it doesn’t affect the real score of the baseball game. We were just killing a little time waiting.
So maybe Mark is doing the same thing. Maybe Mark is saying, “While the disciples are out doing ministry and we are waiting for their return, let’s hear a good story. Ever heard the story about the day Herod beheaded John the Baptist?”
I don’t think so. Mark knew exactly what he was doing when he included this story of Herod, Herodias, and John the Baptist. Mark sandwiched the story of John’s death in between the sending and returning of the disciples’ ministry. These two stories have everything in the world to do with each other.
Mark wants us to know that when the disciples go out to do the work of the kingdom, the world will respond with resistance—even violence. Right before this passage, Jesus called the twelve and began sending them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. And then immediately after our passage for this morning, Mark reports that the apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.
So why would such a bad story like this one doing in a nice place of healing the sick, casting out demons, and proclaiming the good news? In this weekend of celebrating the rededication of our church home, why would a bad story like this one doing in a day of joy and happiness?
The reason is that when the church rises up to be the church, the world rises up to be the world. So when the disciples went out to preach, Mark reminds us that John the Baptist preached the kingdom too, and the world snuffed him out.
So when the disciples go out to cast out demons and to heal, Mark reminds us that John the Baptist sought to heal the demons that raged in King Herod, and it cost him his life.
Mark wants us to know that when the church rises up to be the church, the world rises up to be the world.
World’s Blessings
We may be saying to ourselves, “All of this sounds pretty strange, Pastor! This is not our experience.” When we do the work of the church, the world rises up to call us blessed.
When we preach the gospel, the world invites us to join the Rotary and serve on the board of the YMCA. When we reach out to heal, the world puts us on the hospital board.
According to Mark, at first Herod didn’t want to harm John. He just wanted to keep him quiet. Herod didn’t understand why John didn’t approve of his lifestyle, but as long as he could keep him in chains, Herod heard John gladly. But when it came down to the end, for Herod to choose between the little conscience he might had or losing face in front of his friends, John had to go. You see, when the church rises up to be the church, the world rises up to be the world.
When you come to church on Sunday morning, you almost can guess 100% right every time, what the sermon might be on. It might sound something like this:
“In the gospel of Christ, one must not love oneself so much as to avoid getting
involved in the risks of life that history demands of us. May we give ourselves like Christ, not for self, but to give justice and peace to our people.”
Sounds like many sermons you have heard, right?
It’s just the church going about its business being the church, right? The only thing is, I left out part of it. The part I left out is that right after the preacher said, “May we give ourselves like Christ, not for self, but to give justice and peace to our people,” a shot rang out in the sanctuary and the preacher, Archbishop Romero of El Salvador, was dead. Mark wants us to know that when the church rises up to be the church, the world rises up to be the world.
Being the Church
When the missionaries started this mission 120 years ago, it was no easy task. Many of them labored long hours to befriend and earn the trust of the early Chinese. The Chinese language, dress, religious beliefs, and habits were so different from the western American ways that they wonder where to begin. Some of the missionaries were probably ridiculed for wasting their time on the “Orientals.” “They are not worth it” they said. When the church rises up to be the church, the world rises up to be the world.
I am sure that when the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire devastated the entire city including our church, some probably felt that rebuilding wasn’t worth it. They were discouraged and dismayed by the challenges ahead. They may have heard that the cost would be prohibited. When the church rises up to be the church, the world rises up to be the world.
And just a few years ago, when it seems like the retrofit task was huge and overwhelming. And the younger leaders and members were feeling called to start a new church outside of Chinatown. And the future started looking grim and hopeless. Many were wondering whether their faith in this historic mission would withstand the awesome challenges ahead even though you still felt that God’s mission was not done yet. You see, when the church rises up to be the church, the world rise up to be the world.
And now after one year since the demolition of the inside of our church, we are worshipping in our new sanctuary. But before we got to today, there were many struggles and problems. We saw our costs escalate higher. We discovered unforeseen problems. And for a time, we wondered if we would ever be completed. The vote to stay in Chinatown is to continue the Baptist witness of Jesus Christ. But we encountered many challenges. When the church rises to be the church, the world rise up to be the world.
Christ Rises
But in Mark’s gospel, he wants us to know something else as well. He wants us to learn the hard truth that when the church rises up to be the church, the world rises up to be the world, he also wants us to know that when the world rises up to be the world, Jesus Christ rises from the dead.
You cannot nail down Jesus. When Herod heard the name of Jesus, he thought that he had nailed down John the Baptist. Somebody has been raised from the dead!
When the world is being the world, Jesus Christ is being Lord. Martin Luther said it best when he wrote,
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever.
So go out this day to be the church. Don’t take two coats, a bag of money, an insurance policy, or anything else you think may protect you as you do God’s work in the world. Nothing can spare you from the evil intent of the Herods in the world. So take only the gospel and your confident faith that, when all is said and done, all the Herods in the world will say, “Somebody has been raised from the dead. The power we thought was nailed down is loosed again in the world.”
God is Alive
Let me close with a true story. Some years ago, a church leader was resisting oppression in his country. He had served a two-year term as a political prisoner. What was his crime? Preaching and teaching the kingdom of God.
He told of the conditions in the prison were so grim that he began to lose hope. Day after day, he found his faith ebbing away. He stopped studying the Bible, he stopped praying, and he stopped hoping and believing. Every few weeks, the government would march him back into the courtroom to give him the opportunity to renounce his political and theological views. Finally after mouths of deprivation, he had decided to give in—to recant.
When they brought him into court, he was surprised to see his wife and several members of his church sitting in the gallery. He had not seen her for months, and the tears welled up in his eyes. The judge told him to stand up and called him to renounce his “traitorous” views. He stood wearily, ready to recant, when suddenly he heard his wife and his Christian friends saying with one voce, “God is alive! God is alive!”
It was all they were able to say, for quickly they were removed from the court. But it was enough. He sat down without betraying his faith, renewed in his confidence that God is, indeed, alive.
The reason why Mark put this story about Herod and John the Baptist in-between the sending out and the returning of the disciples for ministry is to remind us that as followers of Christ, we will face resistance—even violence. The reason why we are hearing this awful story on the day of our rededication is to remind us that as followers of Christ, we wil; face resistance—even violence. Doing God’s work is no guarantee that we will be loved and respected. In fact, it is almost certain that the more faithful we are, the more we will be treated like Jesus himself—despised and rejected.
When the church rises up to be the church, be assured that the world rises up to be the world. But when the world rises up to be the world, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
Paul wrote in Romans 8,
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am
convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present,
nor things to come, now powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Rededication of Ourselves
Today is a special day of rededicating ourselves in following Jesus Christ. We are not here to receive the recognition from the world. We are not here because we want to belong to the nicest and newest retrofitted and renovated church home in Chinatown thinking that that would give us personal status. We are not here to put our church membership on our resume so that we can say that we belong.
Rather, we are here to be reminded that God is alive and therefore to rededicate ourselves for Christian service. We are here to announce to all the Herods in the world, all the opponents of God’s will that when you think you have put the agent of God’s purposes to death, there is likely to be a resurrection.
As the church of Jesus Christ, we step out from our comfort zones and familiar surroundings to be the church that rises up to be the church. And be assured that when the world rises up to be the world, we will rise up in our faith in Jesus Christ and proclaim that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
God is alive! God is indeed alive!
Let us pray.
Gracious Lord, remind us that when we step out in faith and action, the world will resist and try to stop us. Help us to believe that you are indeed alive and will prevail against all powers and principalities. Bless us today.
Amen.