319 Truth to Power

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Truth to Power” originally shared on July 10, 2024. It was the 319^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.) 

   Do you like reality TV? True crime stories? Soap Operas? Realistic fantasy dramas? We’ve got a doozie for you! And it all leads up to the Truth. Today, we’re going to find out what it is.

   We were at an Independence Day parade last week, and we were talking afterward with a woman who wore a T-shirt that had a Republican elephant with a box next to it, a Democratic donkey with a box next to it and, in the middle, a silhouette of a cat with a box next to it.

   There was a big checkmark in the box next to the cat.

   Politics has become brutal in our times, but much less so than in the world depicted in the fictional “Game of Thrones” HBO series, based on the book “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin, and now followed by a prequel, “House of The Dragon”.

   The title comes from a quote of Cersei Lannister, one of the original characters, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground." 

   I think of it as a presentation of the world without Christianity. And that’s where are in the Gospel reading that will be read in churches all over the world this coming Sunday, Mark 6:14-29, and where we increasingly are in the world today.

   The reading starts with a “King” who was not a king.

   “King” Herod was in fact the Tetrarch of the Roman province of Galilee.

   His father, Herod the Great, who was a monster, actually was a King.

   He was the same King Herod that tried to kill Jesus by killing all the children in Bethlehem when he heard from the wise men that a king had been born there. He didn’t like competition.

   King Herod directed in his will that when he died, 100 of the leading citizens of the country were to be executed so that there would be some mourning at the time of his death. It was not carried out, but it gives you an idea of his mindset. Very “Game of Thrones”.

   He was not called “Herod the Great” because he was great, but because of his large-scale building projects, including the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Temple that Jesus knew.

   Did you know that George Forman, the former boxer, and the inventor of the Forman Grill, had five sons, all of whom he named “George”?

   Herod the Great had 10 wives who bore him sons, who he all named Herod: Herod Antipas (the Herod in today’s reading from Mark), Herod Philip, Herod King of Calchis, Herod Agrippa 1, Herod Agrippa II, and another Herod Philip. Every Herod was a ruler for the Roman Empire and a ruthless, ambitious, power-hungry killer like their father.

   Herod Antipas killed at least one of his wives and two of his sons, as well as other family members who he believed were plotting against him.

   This was all the worse because these Herodians, like Herod Antipas, had a Jewish origin but had taken on the worst characteristics of the Roman empire.

   When Herod the Great died, his kingdom was divided among his three sons, none of whom was given the title “King”. Herod Antipas became a tetrarch, governing a fourth of his father’s kingdom.

   Herod Antipas served from 4 B.C. to 39 A.D., a long stretch in those days for someone with political ambitions.

   Though he did everything he could, including murder, like his father, to gain the title of “king”, he never did. Some scholars think that Mark’s use of “King” Herod in today’s reading was very likely meant to mock him.

   Just before this text that we’re about to read from Mark 6, the disciples were sent out with Jesus’ authority over evil and illness, having been instructed in how to handle success and failure.

   Now Mark takes us into a little interlude.

   John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, a man with his own disciples, who had been born at about the same time as Jesus, and was Jesus’ cousin, had been arrested by Herod Antipas and thrown in prison and executed.

   Jesus had been relatively unknown compared to John the Baptist at the time of John’s death, but his name was becoming known. Herod Antipas had heard of Jesus growing “name” among his people and was trying to figure out who he was, as we see starting at the 14^th verse,

14 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.” 15 But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It 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.”

   Herod Antipas seems to be a little more certain than he should be.

   He is trying to explain Jesus to his own satisfaction. He’s listening to what the people are saying. But how can anyone explain Jesus when they don’t know yet that Jesus is God?

   This reminds me of a birthday card I saw once. There was a picture on the cover of an old guy, with his pants pulled up over his waist, pointing at a land mass in a bay and speaking to some children. “That thing over there? That’s a sticking out-er thing”. On the inside of the card it read, “Another year older, and another year closer to just making stuff up.”

   Mark continues, beginning with the 17th verse:

17 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. 18 For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

   Now we’re getting somewhere! Now we’ve dug down to the scandal! Or several.

   Herod Antipas killed John against his better judgement. Maybe it was the guilt from that decision that made him pick the most personally satisfying, but least likely, explanation of who Jesus is: John has been raised from the dead.

   People today still sometimes explain Jesus in a way that is most useful to them.

   Guilt does funny things to people.

   Herod Antipas served from 4 B.C. to 39 A.D., when he was banished by the Emperor Caligula based on charges brought by his brother. He never became a king. Here was the problem:

   Herod Antipas was married to a daughter of a king, the King of Nabatea, a nearby nation. When visiting in Rome, he proposed marriage to Herodias, who was also his niece, when she was still married to his half-brother Herod Philip and Herod Antipas was still married to the daughter of the King of Nabatea.

   Herod Antipas first had to divorce his wife, which he did. This made his wife’s father furious and he went to war against Herod Antipas, resulting in Roman military losses in 39, A.D., the same year that he was banished.

   It also infuriated the Jewish population on the basis of Leviticus 18:16 and 20:21, forbidding marriage to one’s brother’s wife.

   John called him out on this publicly, “telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’” John’s call for repentance was not limited to those who were unlikely to hurt him. “Speaking truth to power”, was not a pose for John.

   OK so now we’re in soap opera, true crime stories, and a lot of reality TV territory. Oh, and “Game of Thrones” 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.

   Herod Antipas’ wife 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.

   We pick up the story in Mark 6:19,

 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 this belief. He didn’t repent. He was perplexed by John’s preaching, but he also liked 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, 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 (aka Salome), Herod Antipas’s stepdaughter, had to go out to find her mother, Herod Antipas’s wife Herodias, supports this.

   Here is Herodias (aka Salome), 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, eager to impress his guests, makes a big move, and says to Salome.  “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, as it has been said, you win or you die.

   Have you ever 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 wasn’t a king. 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.

   Mark continues with 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.

   Today, when someone says, “they’re going to want my head on a platter”, that’s not good. It wasn’t good then either.

   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.

   But 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.

   One of my favorite sports quotes comes from the comedian Gary Shandling, who once reflected on Leo Durocher, the ruthless coach of the Dodgers when they were the Brooklyn Dodgers, and who famously said, “Nice guys finish last.”

   Gary Shandling said, “Nice guys finish first, and anyone who doesn’t know that doesn’t know where the finish line is.”

   John the Baptist had called upon everyone, 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 at 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 he spoke God’s truth to power and 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 Mark 6:29:

29 When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

   The gospels aren’t written as live breaking news. The events of Jesus life, death, and resurrection have already happened before they were written and the Christian community, including the disciples and the original eyewitness, have had time to be moved by the Holy Spirit to consider what it all means.

   The execution of John the Baptist is sandwiched in the middle of the sending of Jesus’ disciples for their first missionary journey to explain who Jesus is and their return from that journey.

   It points to what is going to happen on the cross and what it means.

   It points to the nature of true power.

   We all hope that we would be steadfast in speaking truth to power for the sake of the Gospel without counting the cost, but none of us really knows. Everybody wants to be Bonhoeffer, until it’s time to be Bonhoeffer.

   The good news is that everything in this chapter, Mark 6, points to the meaning of what can be seen plainly on the cross, Jesus Christ given for us, for all who have eyes to see.

   The truth we speak, as did John the Baptist, is Jesus, as Jesus says in John 14:6,

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

   The Truth is a Person, and we have the opportunity to speak it every day, with little expectation of resistance other than the occasional joke at our expense, or the attempts to offend or to trip us up when people find out that we are a Christian.

   We are rarely called upon to speak the truth to power in our daily lives.

   But we are regularly called upon to speak the Truth to people we know.

   In fact, study after study has found for decades that 80-85% of all people who come to a living relationship with Jesus come through the influence of a friend or a relative.

   Our text from Mark begins with Herod Antipas hearing about Jesus, “for Jesus’ name had become known.” It was spread by word-of-mouth.

   We don’t have to go far to be a missionary, to speak the Truth to all the forces that defy God. We just have to name the Name. The living reality of Jesus.

   “In the game of thrones, you win or you die.” That was the world of Herod Antipas and of much of our world today.

   In the good news of Jesus Christ who ironically is the King of Kings, Jesus dies so that you may be shown the way to eternal life. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

   That explanation of new life in Jesus eludes the Herods of this world because they focus on nothing but themselves, but it is life itself to all who open their hearts to receive the love and grace of God.

   Open your heart to receive it today. And speak the Truth, the good news of Jesus Christ, with those you love.