(Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Why We Don’t Repent”, originally shared on July 8, 2021. It was the 129th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)
One of the classic questions to ask when
learning about your neighborhood is, “Why do you think more people around here
don’t go to church?’ It’s a way to get the answers you’re looking for without
putting people on the defensive with the question, “Why do you think more
people aren’t Christians?”
The Christian life begins with God leading
us to repentance. That is, turning around and being drawn toward God. Why do
you think more people don’t listen to God and keep walking away? Today, we’re
going to look at some reasons why in the story of the execution of John the
Baptist. And we’ll see some ways to invite people to turn around.
We’re at a point in the pandemic where variants of the coronavirus are
picking up speed, but almost entirely among the unvaccinated. What is it that
prevents people from acting in their own self-interest, much less the interest
of the community? Is it fear? Peer pressure? Misinformation?
Today’s reading from Mark 6 comes from the
time when Jesus’ disciples are sent to call for repentance and are given the
power and authority of Jesus over illness and evil. Word is getting around
about Jesus.
Herod Antipas, who is mockingly called “King
Herod” in today’s text, had five brothers who were all called some variation of
Herod by their father, whose name was Herod, and who were also all rulers for
the Roman Empire.
In today’s part of the
story we find that Herod Antipas’ wife, who was also his niece, was named
Herodias, and his stepdaughter was also named Herodias (though a historian of
the time, Josephus, records her name as Salome). This was a family with a
terrible lack of imagination when it came to giving names, or else it had a
wildly inflated ego problem. I’m going to go with the later.
In this part of the gospel of Mark,
chapter 6, verses 19-29 we hear of the death of John the Baptist. I
mentioned last time that this is a very Game of Thrones scene, complete with
the unexpected death of a major figure, crazy in-grown families, bullying,
bluffing, insecure and power-hungry leaders, empire building, absolute
authority, and rampant misogyny.
That’s the context in which John the Baptist
was killed and the beginning of Jesus public ministry took place.
Jesus is becoming known in Galilee and Herod
Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, draws the perhaps guilt-ridden
conclusion that Jesus is John the Baptist, raised from the dead. Herod Antipas
killed John the Baptist at his wife Herodias’ urging and manipulation of
events, because John was publicly declaring that her marriage to Herod Antipas
was unlawful because she was the wife of Herod Antipas’ half-brother, Herod
Phillip.
We pick up the story in Mark 6: verse 19:
19 And Herodias had a grudge against him,
and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20 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.
Herod Antipas was conflicted. He protected
John until his honor conflicted with his pride. John criticized Herod Antipas’
relationship choices publicly and Herod Antipas knew that John was a righteous
man; but Herod didn’t act on his belief. He didn’t understand John’s preaching,
but he like to listen to him.
We continue with verse 21:
21 But an opportunity came when Herod on
his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders
of Galilee.
22 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.”
23 And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask
me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” 24 She
went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The
head of John the baptizer.”
I’m just going to go out on a limb here and
say that alcohol was involved. 😊
Here is Herod Antipas, a regional despot,
desperate to become a king, and eager to impress.
All the important and powerful people had
been invited to his birthday party. Most likely, there were no women in the
room and the fact that Herodias, Herod Antipas’s stepdaughter, had to go out to
find her mother, Herod Antipas’s wife, supports this.
Here is Herodias (Herod Antipas’s
stepdaughter), probably 12-14 years old, dancing alone for a roomful of drunken
men.
The men were pleased. I guess that’s one way
to put it.
Herod was eager to impress his guests with a
big move. “Ask me for whatever you wish,
and I will give it.” Maybe it was the
alcohol talking but, once he said it, he had to go through with it, or he would
have been seen as a piker. A talker. Dishonored. Weak. And Herod Antipas
couldn’t afford to be seen as any of those things. In the game of thrones, it
has been said, you win or you die.
Have you every been around a drunken person
who is trying to make a point. They start repeating themselves. That’s what
Herod Antipas does. He then says, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.”
If he were sober, he’d know that he didn’t
have a kingdom. He was just a king wannabe. His job was to collect taxes and
keep the peace in the Roman Empire’s land. This was starting to be
embarrassing. I wonder if anybody looked away.
The story continues at verse 25:
25 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.” 26 The
king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he
did not want to refuse her. 27 Immediately the king
sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s] head.
He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28 brought
his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her
mother.
Someone who has done something wrong and is afraid of getting fired
might say, “they’re going to want my head on platter”. That’s not good. In
fact, that little platter twist didn’t come from the mother. It was a little
banquet embellishment added by the daughter. This was not a nice family.
Herod Antipas had agonized over his
decision. The Greek word used here is the same one used to describe the agony
of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he was crucified.
What was the right thing to do? And what are we witnessing here?
Who was at risk? Not John. John had been God’s servant and prophet.
Herod Antipas was his own servant, and he would be the one to come before the
throne of judgement, not John.
John the Baptist had called upon all, including Herod Antipas, to repent.
Why didn’t he? What a different story this would be if he had.
Herod Antipas’ family had long before given up their Judaism for a life
of money and power that would make a reality TV star blush. He was ambitious
for the things of this world. He didn’t care what God thought. He wanted to be
a king, like his father. He needed powerful friends and allies to think well of
him. He was the center of his own universe and he wanted everyone else to
revolve around him. That was the purpose of this party. They were celebrating
his birthday in a show of wealth and power! And those around him supported him
in this.
It’s been said that the first to strike is the first to have run out of
ideas. That’s what Herod Antipas did. He ran out of ideas, and he killed a man
he liked because others told him he should.
Plus, he had made a drunken promise. He had to back it up or he would
have lost influence among the powerful. And influence is power.
John was killed because people in power
wrongly feared a challenge to their power, but their self-centeredness would
not allow them to see the power and presence of God right in front of their
faces.
The story concludes with verse 29:
29 When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid
it in a tomb.
Look at the parallels in
this story with the death of Jesus:
Jesus is executed by the civil authorities, like John. Pilate is
reluctant to have Jesus killed but is afraid of what could happen if he does
not, like Herod Antipas being pressured to kill John. The Chief Priests, like
Herodias, manipulate a volatile situation to their desire. Jesus was crucified,
a death intended to add humiliation to the end of life, like beheading and
display was for John. Jesus’ disciples come and collect Jesus’ body and give it
a decent burial, like John’s disciples do for John. John points to Jesus, and Jesus’
death means salvation through faith. Full stop.
Why don’t more people
repent and turn to God today?
Too busy with more important things, I think. Christianity is boring,
irrelevant to my life, and they’re always talking about money, I’m afraid I’ll
lose my self, I don’t want to have to stand on a corner and hand out tracts or
something, I like having fun, I’d rather make up my own religion to serve me, I
don’t need to repent you need to repent, it’s a pretty long list.
And we are often blind to the harm we are doing to others and to
ourselves, or we just get comfortable and convince ourselves that we’re not so
bad. In fact, we’re pretty good.
One of my professors in college made the observation that most of the
world’s evil, and probably all of the world’s worst evil is done by people who
truly believe in their heart of hearts that they are doing good.
Why do people repent? Study after study shows that 80-85% of people come
to faith in Christ come because of the influence of a friend or a relative.
They may like the pastor, may like the youth program, or the music program, or
the worship service or the preaching, or they may just wander into a church
because it’s in their neighborhood, but that only accounts for 15-20% of
everyone who comes to Christ.
You are a credible witness to people who know you. They know that you
have nothing to gain by showing people the way to faith. That’s why you’re
credible. You don’t need a dramatic conversion story or an airtight argument.
All you need is your story.
Why you are a Christian? Why you remain a Christian? Why you are a
member of a particular church is not nearly as important; that’s not why people
become Christians, and we don’t need more church members, we need more
Christians because people need to know the life that really is life.
People don’t want an organization in which they will be given more
things to do. They are busy enough. They are interested in changed lives. And
when their lives are changed, you won’t be able to keep them from doing stuff.
I think that we expect too little of people. Today’s text gives us an
alternative approach to the world in the life of John the Baptist. Our message
is the same: repent and believe in the good news. Repent, the Reign of God is
near to you in Jesus Christ in whom God gave himself for you on the cross.
This is our message. What we have to offer is what no one else but us
will offer: New life. The Holy Spirit. Forgiveness and salvation.
Why don’t more people repent?
Rev. Robert Schuller was raising money for the construction of the
former Chrystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. The building was reportedly going to
cost $16,000,000.00, a huge sum of money now, and a staggeringly large amount
then, especially for church construction.
One morning, the pastor of a Lutheran church in Garden Grove opened his newspaper
and read that a member of his congregation had given $1,000,000.00 to the
Crystal Cathedral Building Fund. He called the member and asked if he could
meet him for lunch.
After some small talk, the pastor said, “You know, you’ve been very
generous to our church, and I’m very grateful and appreciative of your
generosity, but I saw in the paper this morning that you gave a million dollars
to Rev. Schuller’s church, and you’ve never given anywhere near that amount to
your own church, and I wondered “Why?”
The man looked a little surprised and said, “Because he asked me.”
The reason why more people don’t repent is because we don’t ask them.
Not that we have to wave a big sign in front of them. There are lots of ways to
be concerned about a person and to challenge that person to make a U-turn in
their life’s journey toward a genuine, more real life. Listen to the direction
of the Holy Spirit. And be brave.
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