+ 8th Sunday after Pentecost – July 14th, 2024 +
Series B: Amos 7:7-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
The death of John the Baptist is a dark, sordid tale. It’s grim and grisly and gritty. It’s the kind of story publishers are afraid to put in most children’s bibles, which is unfortunate. We do our children, and ourselves, a disservice when we hide these stories away in the forbidden section of the Biblical library.
Stories like this need to be heard, not only because they’re true – this happened - but because God is revealing something to us here about who Jesus is. About how he came to rescue us from the kingdom of darkness and death and bring us into his kingdom of light. How he entered the grim and grisly and gritty reality of this fallen world to rescue you. How he looked the enemy of death in the face, spit in his eye, and defeated him like a knight slaying a dragon.
So Mark tells us the story of the death of John the Baptist. And alongside that story, he tells us a tale of two kings and two kingdoms.
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus'[b] name had become known. Some[c] said, “John the Baptist[d] has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”
Calling Herod “king” is generous. Mark gives him a title no one ever gave him in reality. Rome never gave him that honor, though he desired it. He was a tetrarch; a ruler of a fourth of Judea. Mark calls him “king” out of irony. Herod was a king nothing. A puppet of Rome with delusions of grandeur. When Mark gives him the title “king” he’s not puffing him up with flattery, he’s bursting his bubble in mockery.
And Herod deserved every bit of it. He was a weak, paranoid, shallow, fearful, fool of a ruler. Quite the contrast to the true King of this story, Jesus. Who is good. Compassionate. Wise. Merciful. Gracious. The opposite of everything Herod was and more. Jesus is King above all kings, even fake and foolish and tyrannical ones.
Where Herod sought to curry favor with the rich and powerful, inviting them to his birthday feast, King Jesus eats and drinks with sinners and losers and outcasts. Where Herod was a coward and cowed to others, King Jesus is the one before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Jesus is no one’s puppet. Although Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, He brings his good and gracious rule and reign into this fallen world by dying and rising for you.
Where Herod was selfish and tried to save face, letting John die a murderous execution for his sins all so he could retain his honor, King Jesus is selfless and dies in utter humility to pay for our sins and crown us with his honor and glory. Herod was a worldly ruler who lived in opposition to the reign of God in Jesus. But King Jesus lives and dies and rises to bring God’s good and gracious rule and reign to you.
The two kings and their kingdoms could not be more different. The way of Herod’s kingdom is the way of this fallen world. A world that is set in opposition to our Lord Jesus. Where truth is treated ambivalently if it comes up at all. Where pride, lust, greed, selfishness, and even death itself are celebrated. Where there’s no life, only death. Where there’s no hope of resurrection, only the grave. Where the air we breathe is thick with poisonous dragon breath.
Where all we see around us each day is one sordid, grisly, grim tale after another without the hope of a happy ending.
And the tragic and terrifying part about all of that is that deep down, and too often not so deep down, our old Adam loves it. Our sinful flesh is in love with the sinful world. We’re no stronger than Herod when it comes to protecting our honor in front of others. We’re no different than Herodias in our sinful grudges and wicked desires. When the world parades all manner of siren’s songs dancing desires before our eyes and ears, our attention wanders, like Herod’s. Whatever you ask me, I’ll give you, up to half my kingdom.
It might appear, at first, that this story has no happy ending. No good news. It’s even one of the few stories where Jesus isn’t physically present. Doesn’t the story of the kingdoms of this world look that way to us too? Dark. Full of death. No good kings in sight. And yet, that’s not how this story ends.
Yes, John was imprisoned for speaking the truth. He was beheaded for proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins. But John was not alone. He clung to the feet of him whose sandals he – and you and I – are not worthy to untie. For he knew that those feet were the feet that bear good news. The feet that would stomp the serpent under foot. The feet of a crucified and risen King.
John’s hope is ours. Our hope isn’t found in the kingdoms of this world, but in the Kingdom of God come down to you in Jesus. Our hope isn’t found in the hands of foolish and weak kings of this world, the Herods and Caesars and all the rest. Your hope and rescue and redemption are in the nail-scarred hands of King Jesus.
Even as he sat in Herod’s dungeon. Even as his head was brought out during a dinner feast. John knew this. Confessed this. Lived and died in this. John knew that one day Herod’s great fear would come true: John the Baptist really will rise from the dead, and so will you…all because King Jesus died and rose from the dead for him and for you.
John’s hope, like ours, is not in the kings and kingdoms of this world – all they do is bluster for a while, but eventually they die. And our King dies too. But we have a King who knows his way out of the grave.
And that’s good news for John and for us. Even in this frightful tale, John is still the forerunner. Where John goes, Jesus goes. What happens to John happens to Jesus. John was seized and bound by Herod. Jesus was seized and bound and brought before Pilate. Herod wanted to save John but was too weak and cowardly to do so. Pilate tried to save Jesus but washed his hands of it. John was innocent, yet suffered a violent death. The same is true for our Lord Jesus. Even in death, John’s disciples buried him. Though Jesus’ disciples scatter, he is buried by his followers, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
To the world, this looks like utter foolishness. A crucified King? A God who dies a humiliating, weak, shameful, violent, cursed death?
And yet, that’s exactly where Jesus is King. Where he rules and reigns for you. On the cross. Bearing all our weakness and foolishness. Taking on himself all our greed, lust, pride, desires, and death. All of our selfish, self-centered, sins and Sin itself – King Jesus bears it all for you. Dies for you. Is buried for you. Walks out of the grave for you. Ascends to rule in heaven for you.
So that what we confess now by faith we will see with our own eyes. That day when hope becomes not just the thing longed for, but what we see. Our crucified and risen Lord standing next to our graves, and John’s and calling out as he did at Lazarus’ tomb: arise. Walk. Live. Breathe the free, resurrected air. When the kingdoms of this world have all fallen away, but there is still one eternal kingdom and at the center of that eternal city, there’s our King, the Lamb, welcoming you to his feast, as he does today.
Until that day, when we stand with John – whole and healed and restored - in the resurrection of the body…we live like John, clinging to the Word made flesh. To the life-giving water of your baptism. To the words and flesh and blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Until that day, remember and rejoice that Christ is King, crucified. Risen. Ruling and Reigning for you. And one day, returning. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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