two households

 Two households, not alike in dignity,

 In far Tiberias, where we lay our scene,

 From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

 Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

(Romeo and Juliet, Ii, 1-4, alt.)

A birthday party. A banquet. A feast. Everybody there you want to impress: sophisticated, urbane, and powerful. Prominent citizens of Galilee, military heroes, court officials: they’re all there. And the evening is going well…

It’s a bit of a bacchanalia, it seems; at least a symposium (Greco-Roman drinking party). An evening of worldly entertainment. And wine. And women! The queen’s daughter herself comes in dancing. (Who sent her in?)

But the light of the party turns dark…

“Give me the head on a platter of John the Baptist.”

And, so: he does.

And so doing he eliminates a dangerous enemy, a fascinating threat.

Only to face in Jesus the equivalent of John come back alive. For his message is not dead. And the repentance, and forgiveness, and righteousness, and the kingdom, that he proclaimed, seems more sure than ever to come.

Word has spread. Jesus – John’s cousin – and his disciples are going about the towns, preaching repentance, healing the sick – casting out demons!

Turn from your sins, O people of God. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

(Herod remembers. John said: Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; (Matthew 3:10/Luke 3:9) Perhaps he was right!)

The signs are there. And it is not Herod’s kingdom that will come in.

Ten years later in exile in Gaul, how will Herod be doing? Will it have been worth it? The wife – the daughter – the head??

In opposition to the kingdom and family of Herod is another family, another king.

Not another king like Caesar; the king of heaven. Not just any family; the family of God.

And so the opposite forces gather.

Two kingdoms. Two families. Not alike.

This is not the first betrayal of a prophet, of a messenger bearing the word of God. Amos went to the disobedient king Jeroboam of Israel, as Elijah would have done; he gave his message and was chastised for it.

Go earn your bread in Judah, go away from this king, he was told.

But he replied. I am no professional, no bearer of the words that kings want to hear; I was an arborist and a shepherd.

The Lord chose me, showed me a vision, and sent me.

This message I have given – this vision – will come to pass.

Not popular words. Not shaped to be popular.

And so Amos delivered the message, as John would, as Jesus would, as his disciples do. The judgment is coming.

The true king is on his way. He is sending out his messengers. Though the powers of the world may oppose them, as they did before – as they opposed Amos, Elijah, John, Jesus, and all the holy martyrs – God promises his people that the Word of the Lord effects what it promises.

And that’s what they are afraid of… that is what the kings like Herod and Jeroboam fear: that the word of the Lord will come true.

The kingdom of the times is powerful, even attractive.

But we belong to another family, another kingdom.

Our brothers and sisters, all over the world, are those whom God has chosen, blessed, destined, redeemed, enlightened, inspired, made heirs, sealed as his own.

The letter to the Ephesians tells us: We are the people of God’s own choosing, not ours; of his calling, his blessing, his redeeming, his inspiring; of his legacy.

There is much to rejoice in – in Christ. We are blessed.

This is the day the Lord has made – has made us his own.

You are in his family, his kingdom; you are his people forever. Have a blessed day.

Almighty God,

send down upon your Church

the riches of your Spirit,

and kindle in all who bear the good news

your countless gifts of grace;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(A collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity, Common Worship, Church of England.

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/)

BProper10, Amos 7:7-15, Psalm 85:8-13, Ephesians 1:3-14, Mark 6:14-29,

Dancing before the Lord

David dances before the Lord. The whole people of God dance with all their might.

He is leaping and dancing before the Lord,
as he brings the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem,
to the tent he had pitched for it there.

He gives thanks, blesses the people, and distributes food among all of them.

The ark, the symbol of the presence of God,
has a new dwelling-place, on the holy hill,
in the midst of the people.

There is a king in Israel, and he rejoices at the presence of the glory of God.

Centuries later, another king appears, a son of David, the Messiah. Christ.

As we pick up the story this week, in the good news according to Mark,

Jesus has gone out among the villages teaching and preaching that the kingdom of God is at hand.

And then we have this disturbing interlude, told as something that had already happened.

News of this new teacher, Jesus, came to Herod Antipas, the Rome-appointed ruler of Galilee. And he feared that it was his old nemesis, John the Baptist, come back to life.

John had denounced Herod for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife. And Herod had imprisoned John, but kept him alive, and listened to him, and found it amusing. Then, a change came – an opening for those who wanted to see the prophet silenced, permanently.

On Herod’s birthday all the movers and shakers of Galilee were gathered in his palace, and the daughter of Herodias danced before them. With the horrific result we have heard. Herod, wanting to reward her for her charming performance, said “ask me for anything.”

He thought to offer her half his kingdom, as much as that, making her (as Ryan Marsh has pointed out) her mother’s equal, and yet she and her mother working together tied him in a knot. The mother coached and the girl made the request: bring me John’s head on a platter.

Herod was dismayed, but the show must go on. He had given his word, right? No matter that he was a client of Rome, which always insisted on at least the pretence of a trial.

He went ahead, and John was beheaded. Herod sacrificed the life of the prophet to keep his grasp on his position, to keep up the façade of power in front of these watching guests, the power brokers of Galilee.

John’s disciples heard the news of his death, and they came, took his body away, and placed it in a tomb.

(This whole episode foreshadows the fate of the Messiah, an event that has yet to come.)

The forerunner, John the Baptist, had run his course. John was the last and greatest of the old prophets – for he was the one to go before, to prepare the way of the coming King, the Messiah. Now he is gone.

The old way is over. Someone greater than any prophet has come into the world.

(As Herbert O’Driscoll has pointed out, this is a sea-change.)

The new has come: the son of David, the promised child, the Messiah.

Jesus, Messiah.

And now the Lord dwells among his people, not in a tent, not in a temple, but as a human being, as one of them.

Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:5c-11)

This is the one who has come to the world. And he will take bread, this son of David, and after giving thanks break it and distribute it to the people. They will eat and be filled.

And he himself will be the bread, bread from heaven, bread for the world.

And he calls us to be his body in the world, so that we too become bread for the world.

So rejoice in the Lord, live in hope, and act to bring God’s good news to the world.

As Marty Haugen sings, in his new song, "Bread for the World" –

Rejoice, give thanks for abundant grace, food on our tables and peace within this place. How rich, how wide is our God's embrace! And thru' this great sustaining love

We are bread for the world, bread for the world, bread for a hungry world. May we be bread for the world, bread for the world, bread for a hungry world.

Hope burns anew, thru' the world's despair, when eyes are opened and hearts are moved to care, when we can listen and learn to share, then we might fin'lly turn and see

We are bread for the world, bread for the world, bread for a hungry world. May we be bread for the world, bread for the world, bread for a hungry world.

Act strong in faith, for God's Reign is near; stand up with courage, speak out and do not fear! Now is the time that the world must hear the tasks that God has called us to;

We are bread for the world, bread for the world, bread for a hungry world. May we be bread for the world, bread for the world, bread for a hungry world.

Almighty God,
send down upon your Church
the riches of your Spirit,
and kindle in all who bear the good news
your countless gifts of grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.



SOURCES

Ryan Marsh, Church of the Beloved (www.belovedschurch.org) conversation.

Herbert O’Driscoll, The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, Volume 3 (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001) 54.

(“Bread for the World” - lyrics and music: Marty Haugen. From http://www.breadblog.org/ July 11, 2009.)

(Adapted from a collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity, Common Worship, Church of England. http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/)

Readings for Year B, Proper 10, Revised Common Lectionary:
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19, Psalm 24, Ephesians 1:3-14, Mark 6:14-29.

8 o’clock in the morning
July 12, 2009

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