Are you torn between two worlds?
sermon by Manfred Schreyer
(Mark 6:17-31 KJV) For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon
John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife:
for he had married her. {18} For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful
for thee to have thy brother's wife. {19} Therefore Herodias had a quarrel
against him, and would have killed him; but she could not: {20} For Herod
feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him;
and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. {21} And
when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to
his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee; {22} And when the
daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and
them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever
thou wilt, and I will give it thee. {23} And he sware unto her, Whatsoever
thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. {24}
And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she
said, The head of John the Baptist. {25} And she came in straightway with
haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by
in a charger the head of John the Baptist. {26} And the king was exceeding
sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he
would not reject her. {27} And immediately the king sent an executioner, and
commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the
prison, {28} And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel:
and the damsel gave it to her mother. {29} And when his disciples heard of
it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb. {30} And the
apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things,
both what they had done, and what they had taught. {31} And he said unto
them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for
there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
The story here is very simple. Herod had heard many things of John the
Baptist. John had baptized many many people. He lived East of the Jordan
river, behind him the mountains of Qumran. He was part of the Essenes.. And
he constantly called for repentance of Israel.
The word must have gotten out to King Herod that John was defaming his
name. He accused Herod of marrying his brothers wife.
If we read (Lev 18:16 NIV) "'Do not have sexual relations with your
brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother.
Now you may say that is quite clear this is a sin, but it is not quite so.
His father in fact as his grandfather disposed of his wives quite frequently
and in this case Herod and his brother Phillip had the same father, but not
the same mother. Phillip had Cleopatra and Herod had Marthace.
Josephus the great Roman historian describes John the Baptist as a
disturber of people.
And the story here tells us that Herod heard of the allegation, but he
somehow enjoyed him and was not willing to kill him. He had imprisoned him,
but Herods conscience also told him that John the Baptist was holy and
just.
We can see that Herd lived in two worlds: In the one world he was raised
by the rich of the rich, he was a man, which spelled power, he was
aristocratic: he had no connection to the common people, he played by the
rules of those he was with, but there was also the common elements of being
human: knowing when things are right, knowing when things are just, knowing.
We have all been there we can to a degree associate with Herod. We often
live in two worlds. It starts at a very early age: When we are in school we
begin to be with people we like to hang out with. Then people come to us,
who want to be part of us , but we exclude them because they are not one of
us. It is not hip to be with them.
When I was an exchange Student at Richmond High School, it was the first
time that I was in direct contact with black people. I sat with them in
classroom, I had the same fun with them as I had with other races.
But I was there at the wrong time. In 1975 and 1976 the year I was there
Blacks and Whites would not be able to walk together in the hall ways,
police and sheriff was everywhere, we had two entries and exits for either
race to avoid confrontation.
It was my second day at school and I asked a black individual in the
hallway who I had met in class the day before and I asked him about a class
location. He was standing amidst his friends and he starred at me a if he
was willing to kill me. He did not speak to me, he avoided me. . .Dont you
remember me? I am the German you talked to yesterday. . .One of his friends
said: You talked to this (and he yelled some profanity)
He never gave me an answer that day, but I met up with him the following
day in history class, by now my blood was boiling: Hey why did you not talk
to me?
Nothing personal, he replied, but I had to do what I had to do. I had a
hard enough time to understand his slang and now this do what I had to do.
As I was thinking what he had just said. He leaned over to me and
apologized. You're pretty cool bro, I sincerely apologize.
You see. . .we live in two worlds.
When Herod was faced with keeping his promise to execute John he had to
stand up in the palace to maintain his respect as man, patriarchic,
aristocrat,. . .if he would become soft he would lose his power from Rome,
because the word would travel fast.
But here is the thing: What is Herod remembered for in the book that was
kept for almost 2000 years? What was his legend? The fact is that he gave in
to the desires of those who he had to guard against, to those who would
betray him in a heartbeat, his legend is that he was never valuable.
Maybe it is that what God wants from us. Maybe it is that we should listen
more often to our inner voice, and not to others who have a motive which is
unexplainable to us, but we want to please them or we want to maintain
power.
Sometimes when we become vulnerable, we become strong. When we listen to
our conscience we come closer to the truth.
When we do not listen to our conscience we also live in fear. Herod must
have lived in fear for a long time. The word that killed a holy man lived in
a very large region. In fact Acts tells us that John went as far as Ephesus
and baptized people. Herod killed a Jew who proclaimed that we must admit
our sins and repent.
The word did get out. When Herod fought the wars against the Arabs his
army was defeated multiple times and the answer to his defeats was always
the same: You are losing because you killed a Holy man.
Decisions against the voice of our conscience will always haunt us,
because the Truth remains the truth. We can not live in two worlds. We have
to chose in what world we want to live in.
The danger is that when we do not listen to our conscience that we give up
on the implanted word of God for us. In fact we become callas just like the
daughter of his wife. She did not know what she was asking for she had
already crossed into the world of darkness
There are people who make decisions like that all the time. They lie and
steal, and kill and oppress, because they do not hear the godly voice
anymore. They can not tell what is right and wrong anymore and Paul says
that on those people God has handed them over. God has given up on them. God
has handed them over to their desires.
But there are also consequences to our actions in choosing our world.
Pilate lived in the same two worlds and in a ways he understood the
consequence of doing wrong. Pilate allowed the decision to be made by others
and washed his hands in innocence.
Here is the lesson:
1. Consider your choices carefully. Ask: Who will benefit who will suffer.
2. Are you listening to God?
3. Be willing to risk your name, status, you riches for the truth.
4. Be willing to break earthly promises.
5. Be willing to disappoint your closest family members in the bloodline,
but meet the expectations of God.
6. Be strong and bold in your actions for the truth, rather then soft as
Herod was with his promise for his daughter.
|
|
|