Year B - Proper 10 - July 15, 2018

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year B - Proper 10 - July 15, 2018

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

The Beheading of John the Baptist by Caravaggio 1608

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer and say “Thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven” do we really mean it? Do we really mean for God’s WILL to be done? Or is it just some random prayer that we make? We say it because Jesus taught us to say it… we have always said it… but do we really really mean it?

If we look deeply into this week’s difficult and challenging lessons, we can see that they are about a clash… A clash of the will of the Kingdom’s of this world, and of God’s divine will for us to have hope in Christ.

In our Old Testament Lesson the prophet Amos has been chosen by God to straighten out the mess that Israel has got itself into… It was so crooked and messed-up, that the scripture records Amos’ vision of God holding up a Plumb-line in order to measure just how off everything is. The Kingdom of Israel under the leadership of King Jeroboam is not upright. It’s a mess and not in line with God’s will. It is teetering and wobbling, unstable. Sure to fall and fail. They’ve been focused on the wrong things, destroying the relationship that they have with God and with each other.

So, God sends Amos. But when Amos prophesied, Amaziah, the high priest, told Jeroboam that Amos was conspiring against the kingdom. They didn’t listen to Amos, and Jeroboam had Amos kicked out of Judah. Sounds like a pretty tough time to be a prophet. 

The Kingdom of Israel was so messed up and King Jeroboam wouldn’t listen to wisdom or reason and did exactly what he wanted to do. Not God’s will be done, but Jeroboam’s will be done.

In our Gospel lesson, Herod seems to follow his own will too. King Herod, (a puppet of the Roman Emperor), has had John the Baptist arrested because John, a mighty prophet in his own right, spoke out against Herod’s unlawful marriage to Herodias, his brother Phillip’s wife.

But the scripture also says that while his was locked up, Herod protected John, because Herod thought John was a righteous and holy man. His wife, Herodias, on the other hand, feared John and wanted him dead.

King Herod’s stepdaughter (and niece I might add) Salome, unnamed in the Gospel, was the young daughter of Herodias, and she danced for Herod on his birthday. King Herod was so pleased with her that he granted her whatever she asked for. He even said that she could even have ½ of his kingdom.

Salome didn’t know what to ask for, so she went to her mother, Herodias. Herodias seized the opportunity to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Salome went back and told Herod… and Herod was deeply grieved, but he didn't want to appear weak, so he granted her wish.

He didn’t have the guts to say, NO, there is no reason to kill this man. For Herod, this was the beginning of the end. Trying not to appear weak, he followed his own will, and what he did is what inevitably made him weak. This started the whole process that brought him down.

These stories are about the Kings and principalities of this world doing what they think suits them best, and the consequences of doing just that. However, they are also a stories about how these Kings used others to further their own agendas. Amaziah used King Jeroboam to oust Amos because he was so worried about Amos changing things and Jeroboam was so paranoid about the conspiracy theory, that he had Amos exiled.

And then we have the tangled web of tragedy in the Gospel story where Herod used Herodias to further his own political agenda. And Herodias using Salome to bring about the death of John the Baptist, and Salome using John to please her mother. But make no mistake about it, the blame lies not with Herodias or Salome but with Herod. Herod was certainly hesitant and deeply grieved about what he was asked to do, because he was protecting John and thought him to be holy and righteous, but instead of having to face embarrassment, he took an innocent life.

Are we not all like Jeroboam sometimes, when we are fearful of what we don’t understand, we decide to do something that isn’t in the larger plan, because we consider it to be the safe route? Then only to take the risk after we see what profit is to be gained!…

And are we not all like Herod sometimes, when we do something to save face, and make a decision that profits us even though it’s not right or fair to others? Or, as one of my colleagues suggested to me, perhaps one question we need to ask ourselves is, "whose head do we call for?"

St. Paul says to the Church in Ephesus, “In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.”

My friends, we are believers in Jesus Christ, and in Christ we have been redeemed and sealed as God’s own people. We make up Christ body, and are subjects in God’s divine kingdom. 

When we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,” God shows us and others the way to salvation in Christ Jesus. We then attempt to use the good gifts that God has given us to build up God’s kingdom and to follow God’s will, because it is God’s divine will to gather all things in heaven and on Earth unto God.

But being faithful to God’s will for us is difficult. We struggle every day against the Kingdoms and principalities and the forces of this world that do not want us to live a holy and righteous life. We need to be constantly assured and reminded that, when we are following God’s will, what we are doing makes a difference not only in our own lives, but in the lives of others.

So, like John, if we suffer (and possibly die) for being faithful to God’s will, then kingdoms and principalities of this world do not have the last word. We need to remember that Herod may have taken John's head, but he couldn't take his life.

Our hope is in Jesus Christ, and our just reward is eternal life with our God. The important thing that we have to remember is, regardless of how difficult our life may be, we need to be faithful and follow God’s will for our life. Sometimes it means hearing things we don’t want to listen to and sometimes it means risking who we think we are to become who God wants us to be.

“Thy Kingdom Come, O Lord… thy will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven”

RCL Year B (Proper 10) - July 12, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 10) - July 12, 2009

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14

Mark 6:14-29

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer and say “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven” do we really mean it? Do we really mean for God’s WILL to be done? Or is it just some random prayer that we make? We say it, because we have always said it… but do we really really mean it?

If we look deeply into this week’s difficult and challenging lessons, we can see that they are about a clash… A clash of the will of the Kingdom’s of this world, and God’s divine will for us to have hope in Christ.

In our Old Testament lesson, David, the King of Israel was moving the Ark of the Covenant… The Ark that contained the laws given to Moses by the living God. This was the symbol of God’s divine presence among them, and David was moving it to the capital city. Now this was a grand procession with dancing and trumpets and castanets and cymbals. The scripture says that he was going from the house of Abinadab to the city of David, the Capital City.

What the portion of the lectionary reading left out, is that when they arrived at the threshing floor at a place called Nacon… probably the most level place that they had been… an oxen, who was pulling the cart, shook the cart and the ark began to fall. Uzzah, the son of Abinadab, was driving the cart and he reached out and touched the ark to steady it. Uzzah was immediately was struck down dead.

This scared David. And David feared God and was unwilling to bring the ark into the city of David, so he took the Ark to the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite. The scripture says that the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months; And the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. David got word of the blessing of Obed-edom’s household and decided to take the Ark back and bring it into the city of David.

God’s will was not convenient for David, and David was scared and upset. After this incident, King David feared God and didn’t trust God after he saw Uzzah die. David put God on hold, and didn’t continue on with the grand procession… David knew that God told the people to offer sacrifices, but the people thought the sacrifices were the most important thing. They would rather offer sacrifice than nurture a relationship with God. As long as they got that done, they thought that it didn’t matter so much what else they did. And people do the same thing today.

People think just as long as they confess their sins and do penance periodically that all will be well. There are even members of the church that act in a similar fashion. They think, as long as they come to church on Sunday and get their card punched, it doesn’t matter what else they do throughout the week… It was only after he heard that Obed-edoms house was blessed, and it was safe, that David continued on with his praise and sacrifices to God.

In our Gospel lesson, Herod follows his own will also. King Herod, (a puppet of the Roman Emperor), had John the Baptist arrested because he spoke out against Herod’s unlawful marriage to Herodias, his brother Phillip’s wife. But the scripture also says that while his was locked up, Herod protected John, because Herod thought John was a righteous and holy man. His wife, Herodias, on the other hand, feared John and wanted him dead.

King Herod’s stepdaughter (and niece) Salome, unnamed in the Gospel, was the daughter of Herodias, and danced for Herod on his birthday. King Herod was so pleased with her that he granted her whatever she asked for. He even said that she could even have ½ of his kingdom.

Salome didn’t know what to ask for, so she went to her mother, Herodias, – who seized the opportunity to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Salome went back and told Herod… and Herod was deeply grieved, but didn't want to appear weak, so he granted her wish.

He didn’t have the guts to say, NO, there is no reason to kill this man. For Herod, this was the beginning of the end… Trying not to appear weak, he followed his own will, and what he did what inevitably made him weak. This started the whole process that brought him down.

These stories are about the Kings of this world doing what they think suits them best, and the consequences of doing just that… However, they are also a stories about how these Kings used others to further their own agendas. David used the house of Obed-edom as a place to stash the Ark of the God he feared, until he found out that the house of Obed-edom was blessed. Then David wanted the Ark back to continue with the original plan and bring the Ark it into the city of David.

And then we have the tangled web of the tragedy in the Gospel story where Herod used Herodias to further his own political agenda. And Herodias using Salome to bring about the death of John the Baptist, and Salome using John to please her mother. But make no mistake about it, the blame lies not with Herodias or Salome but with Herod. Herod was certainly hesitant and deeply grieved about what he was asked to do, because he was protecting John and thought him to be holy and righteous, but instead of having to face embarrassment, he took an innocent life.

Are we not all like David sometimes, when we are fearful of what we don’t understand, and decide to do something that isn’t in the larger plan, because we consider it to be more safe? Then only to take the risk after we see what profit is to be gained!…

And Are we not all like Herod sometimes, when we do something to save face, and make a decision that profits us even thought it’s not right or fair to others? Or, as one of my colleagues suggested to me, perhaps one question to ask ourselves is, "whose head do we call for?"

St. Paul says to the Church in Ephesus, “In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.”

We are believers in Jesus Christ, and in Christ we have been redeemed and sealed as God’s own people. We are members of Christ body, and subjects in God’s divine kingdom. When we pray, “Thy will be done,” God shows us and others the way to salvation in Christ Jesus. We use the good gifts that God has given us to build up God’s kingdom and to follow God’s will…, because it is God’s divine will is to gather all things in heaven and on Earth unto God.

But being faithful to God’s will for us is difficult… We struggle every day against the forces of this world that do not want us to live a holy and righteous life. But we need to be assured that what we are doing makes a difference not only in our lives, but in the lives of others.

So, like John, if we suffer or die for being faithful to God’s will, the kingdoms and principalities of this world do not have the last word. Our hope is in Jesus Christ, and our just reward will be eternal life with the God of our salvation. The important thing that we have to remember is… regardless of how difficult it is, we need to be faithful and follow God’s will for our life… Herod may have taken John's head, but he couldn't take his life.

Thank you to the Rev. Doris Westfall, the Rev. Don McCann, the Rev. Fred Clarkson, the Rev. Susan Bane, and the Rev. John Milholland, friends and colleagues, who helped me struggle with this difficult text.