2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 Psalm 24 Ephesians 1:3-14 Mark 6:14-29

If the current daily news filled with perverted political power is not enough for you, our lessons for today should quench your thirst.  

We have followed King David from his time as the humble shepherd boy – the least of the sons of Jesse, to this day of triumph.  The great King David leads the parade as the Ark is returned to Jerusalem.  This is among the most significant days for the people of Israel.  The Ark of God had symbolized God’s presence from their days in the wilderness following their escape from Egypt up until their arrival in the Promised Land.  The ark had been a coveted prize of victory by enemy armies – taken captive as an idol for their pagan worship, and in the end, a great source of distress and hardship.

Finally, under King David, those enemies were defeated; the ark was reclaimed and restored to its rightful sacred purpose.  The presence of the ark would now make Jerusalem the religious center as well as the military and political center.  The Ark of God embodied the presence of God; Jerusalem was the rightful destination.

With great rejoicing, in celebration of the return of the ark, David danced with all his might, bringing up the ark with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.  Yet, Micah despised David in her heart.  Micah was David’s wife – one of many wives, and Micah was the daughter of Saul – the failed king of Israel.  Thus, Micah had cause to be jealous and resentful of her diminished role in David’s life and kingship.  Micah hated David in her heart for his salacious display of braggadocio and power.  Was David’s praise for himself or for God?  How would that self-importance and earthly power come to affect David’s kingship in the years to come?

Centuries later, Herod Antipas would rule a portion of the Kingdom of Israel previously ruled by his father Herod the Great.  Herod the Great had been “appointed” king of the Jews in 40 B.C. by the controlling Roman Senate.  Technically, the Herods were Jewish only because their ancestors had been forced to convert to Judaism.

At the death of Herod the Great, his kingdom was divided among three of his sons as settlement of the heated dispute over their inheritance.  The son Herod Antipas was granted one-fourth of his father’s kingdom, the tetrarchy of Galilee and Perea, but the royal title of king was withheld from Herod Antipas.  Mark’s reference to him as “king” truly could be construed as satirical.  This position of pseudo-king left Herod Antipas resentful, greedy for power, and suspicious of anyone who might threaten his rule.  Two of those geographical subjects who would be perceived as threats by Herod Antipas were Jesus and John the Baptist

Early on, from his capital in Tiberias, Herod Antipas led a shallow existence of greed and self-satisfaction.  Growing weary of his current wife, he became smitten with his niece Herodias who was also the wife of his half-brother Philip.  His marriage to her had drawn the distaste of John the Baptizer who had publicly chastised Herod Antipas for the marriage, which John declared unlawful and immoral within Jewish tradition.  

For this very public act of sedition by John, Herod had imprisoned him.  And Herod’s wife Herodias nurtured a bitter grudge against John for his outspoken condemnation of her marriage to Herod.  Yet, Herodias remained unsuccessful in having John eliminated because, as Mark tells us, Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.  

But, as we have read just now, Herod unwittingly sets a trap for himself, presenting an opportunity for the elimination of John – an opportunity on which Herodias would pounce.  Her daughter, whom Bible commentators agree is misnamed Herodias in verse 22 – more correctly named Salome, entrances Herod and his large audience with her sensual dance during what some historians define as a drunken orgy.  Herod, blinded by his lust for his stepdaughter and his compulsion to please and impress his crowd of onlookers, very publicly offers her anything she wishes as a gift for her seductive dance.  And, upon conferring with her mother, the gift the girl requests is the head of John the Baptist on a platter.  Mark tells us that Herod Antipas was deeply grieved; doubtless he was consumed with fear, yet, under the eyes of his subjects, he is compelled to send his soldier of the guard to fulfill the request to deliver the platter bearing the head of John the Baptist.

Perverted earthly political power by a weakling pseudo-king brought about the death of John the Baptist – known even to his assassin as a righteous and holy man.  

We know John as the forerunner of Jesus Christ.  At the death of John the Baptist, Jesus’ ministry began in earnest.  In three short years, Jesus, himself, would stand before Herod Antipas, sentenced to death on the Cross. 

Jesus doesn’t ask us to walk about in the wilderness as John did, dressed in animal hair and eating bugs, proclaiming the coming of one greater than each of us.  Most of us do not expect to go silently to our deaths for his sake.  But, Jesus does ask us to walk humbly in the presence of God and to proclaim his message regardless of the opposition we face, not being intimidated by the cry of the crowd.  And, Jesus asks us to remember that the devil dances in the presence of our arrogance, but quakes in the presence of righteousness.

John’s righteousness is epitomized in his humility; his holiness is embodied in his deep awareness that his power comes from God alone.   Conversely, Herod’s immorality is epitomized in his arrogance; his wickedness is embodied in his jealous pursuit of his own superficial royal status over the true kingship of God.

Like King David, we have our struggles with humility; and like King Herod, we too easily fail to uphold that that is righteous and holy.  Only in humility do we rightly acknowledge the true presence and power of God.  As hearers and believers of the truth, our praise is not for ourselves, but for the Lord of hosts, the true King of glory.  

God is present.

Lift up your heads, O gates;
lift them high, O everlasting doors; 
and the King of glory shall come in.