From the Daily Lectionary for Wednesday in the Third Week after the Epiphany
Mark 6:13-29
They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”
For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias 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.” And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.
This story is probably the most gruesome in all of scripture. The writer should have disclaimed this passage as unsuitable for some audiences. But this story serves a particular purpose for Mark, and that is to depict the murderous designs of elite power; that those in power will do anything to hold onto power, including murder. The passage that immediately follows is the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand, so Mark is offering a stark contrast between the followers of Jesus and their committed care for their neighbor, and the ruling class and their violent commitment to self-interest. Raymond Pickett, a Markan scholar, calls this Gospel “an epiphany of injustice. Injustice is the engine of evil.
According to Mark, this is what we, the people of faith, are up against. We represent a way of life utterly opposed to the lust for wealth and power and the injustice left in its wake. Our way is to take care of the poor and hungry, to establish a society of mutual regard, to share in the abundance of God’s world, to strive for justice. It would be easy to write this story off, and attribute such horror to an unenlightened, primitive people, but things have not changed.
Just this week it was revealed that Marjorie Taylor Greene, newly elected congresswoman from Georgia, retweeted a call for insurrectionist factions to kill democrats. We have witnessed not just a murderous assault on the U.S. Capitol, but an assault on democracy and the rule of law themselves. And still, there are those in government, inured to the power they possess, that are compliant to the designs of fascism and its insurrectionist goals.
The battle is not over. Our country is divided; but this division has ancient origins. The disingenuous call for unity, “can’t we just get along,” does not serve us. This is a contest between love and the truth love engenders, up and against the murderous evil of power. There is no compromise. The sides in this division are not mere matters of opinion, but a cosmic struggle between the truth and falsehood. We belong to the truth.
This is a time in which we take sides. We are on the side of the good and the true. Perhaps love will be enough to dispel the dark of willful ignorance and lies. In the meantime we are activists for the truth, in our speaking, in our acting. Now is the time that we test the influence we may have. Silence for the church is no longer an option. May God give us the vision to see a way forward, what we can say, what we can do; and may God grant us the courage to act on that vision, as if our lives, and the lives of many, depend upon it.
A Prayer for Service (BCP p. 163)
Give us grace, O God, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and all the world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
