Rev. Steven S. Billings
Pentecost 7
Sermon
7-15-2012
Mark 6:14-29
14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said,
"John the Baptist 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." 16 But
when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised."
17 For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for
the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her.
18 For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your
brother's wife." 19 And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put
him to death. But she could not, 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he
was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he
was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. 21 But an opportunity
came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military
commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 For when Herodias's daughter
came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to
the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you." 23 And
he vowed to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my
kingdom." 24 And she went out and said to her mother, "For what should I
ask?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist." 25 And she came in
immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me
at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." 26 And the king was
exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want
to break his word to her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner
with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28
and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave
it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his
body and laid it in a tomb.
Bill Jenkins had issues, and he'd had them since he was a little boy
- ever since Kenny Harper stuck him with the nickname "Stinky." Now, some
thirty years later, he was known to everyone as Stinky Jenkins.
Now, I don't know if you know what it means to a guy to have that
kind of label hung on him, but for Stinky Jenkins, well, it just made him
angry. And every time he heard someone call him by that name he got a
little angrier, to the point where he was always angry.
Being angry had made Bill a scrapper; he was always getting into
fights. He wasn't particularly tall or strong as a child - you don't give
that kind of nickname to a kid who's tall and strong; he'll rip your arm off
and beat you over the head with it! No, quite the opposite - Bill was
small. But he was fast and wiry. Even the tall and strong boys decided
that scuffling with Stinky was something you wanted to avoid, because
whenever Bill Jenkins fought, he usually won.
But once he won too well. It was in the eighth grade. Bill's
closest friend was Donny Chambers. They became good friends because Donny
never called Bill by his nickname. He always said "Jenkins" instead of
"Stinky." Bill thought that was kinda cool, so he liked hanging out with
Donny. They used to love to go "exploring," which meant they'd roll up
their pant legs and wade through the creek, or go down to the river and dig
for mussels. They also loved baseball, so they'd get a few neighborhood
boys together and go down to the park and bat the ball around. They'd take
turns pitching and hitting, making believe they were their favorite
big-leaguers.
One day at the park Bill was pitching. It was just three of them
today. Donny was at the plate and Bill's younger brother Raymond was
running down the balls and tossing them back toward the mound. Usually,
Donny was the better hitter, so he connected with just about everything Bill
threw at him. But not today. Bill had been practicing with the tire swing
in his side yard, so his aim was getting good. He'd also started doing
push-ups every night before bed, so he was getting stronger. So, today, he
was buzzing the balls across the plate and after about the fifth one that
got by Donny, Donny was starting to get a little irritated. Then it turned
into an argument about balls and strikes.
"That was way outside!"
"No, it wasn't."
"It was out by a mile!"
"It was right down the middle! Ha! Whaddyaknow, Donny Chambers
can't hit a fastball!"
As you might guess, this made Donny furious, and then he did
something he never did.
"You think you can throw a fastball, Stinky? Stinky Jenkins never
threw a fastball in his life!"
And then it was on. The two boys ran at each other, arms flying.
And by the time it was over Donny Chambers lay in a crumpled pile, his face
bloodied and already beginning to swell. Bill was so frightened by what he
saw, so ashamed of what he'd done, so fearful of the discovery of what he
was capable of, that the image of his friend never left him.
The angry boy, who never ran from a fight, had lost his nerve.
Guilt and fear replaced anger as his dominant emotions. And this lasted for
years. He felt guilty for what his anger had caused him to do and fearful
that he might do it again.
Every time he saw someone who'd been injured he thought of Donny.
He saw Donny in every stranger's eyes. Every time he heard whispers he was
sure someone was talking about the time he broke the nose and scarred the
face of his best friend, the only true friend he had ever known.
John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for the Messiah.
He did so, faithfully calling the people of Israel to repentance. Herod
Antipas, who ruled Galilee at the time, had married the wife of his
half-brother Philip and John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for
you to have your brother's wife." The truth of this must have struck home
with Herod, because his wife, Herodias, seems to have taken greater offense
at it than Herod. As Mark tells us, she "had a grudge against [John] and
wanted to put him to death."
Today's gospel tells us of the treachery by which John was beheaded
and to some extent the affect that had on Herod, for as Jesus came
performing miracles, and sending out his disciples who were performing
miracles, what was Herod's first thought? Not: "Oh, no, here comes another
one!" but "here's John - whom I beheaded - raised from the dead!"
Guilt is a funny thing. It made King Herod believe in the power of
resurrection, even if that only meant condemnation for him. Can you imagine
what he expected? If John was bold in condemning his king before . . .
imagine how he's going to be now that he knows I have absolutely no power
over him whatsoever! I mean, what's the worst you can do to a guy? Kill
him. And what if that doesn't work? I guess you'd know you were in for
real trouble.
What we have here is a material world analog for a spiritual world
event. Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God and calling His people to
repentance. Satan had taken possession of this world and Jesus was telling
him that he could not keep it. So the devil stirred his bride - the leaders
of the Jews - who grumbled against Jesus and wanted Him put to death.
Imagine, now, Satan's surprise when Jesus arose, victorious over
death. Imagine his sense of defeat when people started coming to faith in
Jesus and were removed from the kingdom of the devil and welcomed into the
family of God. Oh, yes, Satan knew he was in real trouble.
What's the only thing you have left when you know you're defeated?
If you know you're going down and there's nothing you can do to stop it,
what do you do? Take as many people with you as you can! Scorch the earth!
Cause as much destruction as possible. Don't leave anything useful behind.
Look, the devil knows he's beaten; he knows he loses in the end.
But he wants to take us down with him. And he'll get as many of us as he
can. And his techniques are insidious. He uses our own emotions against
us. Look at the fun he had with Herod. He used sexual attraction to induce
him to take his brother's wife. He used anger to turn the heart of Herodias
against John the Baptist. And then, after John was slain, he used Herod's
guilt to reduce him to a mere shadow of what could have been true greatness.
Rather than standing tall among his people as their noble leader, he had to
slink around in shadows because of the public nature of his sin. Everyone
knew about his adultery. Everyone knew John called him out on it. And
everyone knew he had him killed for it. How bold do you think he felt in
his role as King?
In Revelation 12 Satan is called the accuser. That's one the
greatest weapons in his arsenal. He brings to mind all the sins we've
committed and plagues us with their memory. "Remember when you said this?"
"Remember when you did that?" "How can you call yourself a Christian? How
can you speak out against the sins of others when you know you're no better
than anyone else? In fact, you're worse, aren't you." And the feelings of
shame keep us from being the bold witnesses God has called us to be.
How do you respond to these accusations? Tradition has it that
Herod spent much of his time in parties and was inebriated most of the time.
Could it be that his guilt was too much to bear? He died in exile after his
nephew (and brother-in-law), Agrippa, manipulated the kingdom away from him.
How much stronger might he have been had he listened to John and lived the
life of repentance? Guilt is a funny thing.
You know, Herod Antipas didn't only have the blood of John the
Baptist on his hands. Three years later he would be visited by another
prisoner, whom he mocked and sent away to His death. This one, however,
actually would rise from the dead! Jesus had been sent to Herod by Pontius
Pilate, who hoped to escape having to make a ruling in His case. But Herod
abdicated his opportunity - again - to do the right thing.
You see, Herod was nothing like that great king of old, King David.
David wasn't perfect - far from it. Just read the books of 2nd Samuel and
1st Kings and you'll see how many times David did things wrong - sometimes
horribly wrong. But when confronted with his sin he responded: "I have
sinned against the Lord," to which the prophet replied: "the Lord has put
away your sin." What a beautiful example of repentance and forgiveness!
Beloved, there's always going to be things in your life that the
devil will use against you, to accuse you, to shame you, to defeat you.
Because he's defeated. And though he has no hope of victory, it gives him
some sick satisfaction to know that many others will be suffering with him
in the fires of hell. But, rather than give in to his accusations and let
him defeat you, far better to say: "You know what, devil, you're right. I
have sinned and my guilt is always before me. But, by God's grace, I'm
forgiven. I don't have to live my life in shame. Through Christ I have a
clean slate every day, so you, you old serpent, are just going to have to go
to hell without me."
Stinky Jenkins was coming out of Walgreens not long ago and was just
about to get in his car when he heard a voice call to him from behind.
"Hey! Jenkins!"
He turned around and who had just gotten out of the car next to his,
but his old friend that he hadn't spoken to since that day in the park so
long ago. He had dreamed of this moment for years. Dreaded it. Longed for
it. Wondered about it. What would happen should they see each other again?
He'd fantasized about there being another fight, but one in which he would
simply lower his fists and let his opponent do to him what he had done.
But, amazingly, there stood Donny Chambers with a smile as big as Texas.
His nose still had that telltale bend in it where it was broken. The scars
under his eyes, though, had faded so that they were hardly notceable.
"I can't believe I've finally caught up to you after all these
years," Donny said, as he came around the front of his car. Bill eyed him
cautiously, not really sure what he meant.
"You see, I've been looking for you. There's something I owe you."
Donny came close and Bill saw his hands raised, and bowed his head thinking:
"Here it comes, the beating I've deserved. I'm ready. I actually want
this." The next thing he knew, though, Donny's arms were wrapped around
him, hugging him tightly.
Bill's expression asked the question his mouth somehow couldn't
form. Donny explained: "As you probably know, I held a lot of animosity for
you for a long time. But a few years back I met a girl and we fell in love,
but she wouldn't get married unless I started going to church. Well, you
know I'd never been to church. But I went. And Bill, something happened to
me there. I learned about Jesus and the love He has for us and how he's
forgiven me of all my sins, and, well, I knew I needed to forgive you, and
I'm so glad to be able to tell you this now."
Bill was stunned. Partly because of this change in his old friend,
but partly because somebody actually called him "Bill."
Donny went on: "I'd like you to meet my family. This is my wife,
Carrie. And this is our son. His name is Bill."
Guilt is a funny thing. It makes people do some pretty destructive
things. Unless it's directed in the right way; unless it's given to the
Savior. For there it finds forgiveness, which is a powerful thing, used
mightily by God to change not only the lives of the forgiven, but the lives
of everyone they know and love. In the name of the Father and of the + Son
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
---
Rev. Steven S. Billings
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
mailto:ssbilli...@earthlink.net
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/StevenSBillings
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/Crownbearer
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