Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 10

Text: Mark 6:14-29 The girl hurried back at once to the king and demanded, “I want you to give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a plate!” Mark 6:25

Will evil have the final say?

One of my favourite pastimes is reading a good novel – a story with lots of action and interesting twists and turns in the plot.  Maybe some of you like a good story – a story with interesting characters – some characters are truly evil, a story with drama, a good plot, murder, deception and betrayal, someone who gets a raw deal, a hero and a surprising twist in the story?  Well, today’s Gospel reading is one of those stories.  Let’s take a quick look at the drama in this story.

There is adultery – Herod gets rid of one wife (an Arabian princess) to marry Herodias, the wife of his brother, Phillip.  Herodias is also Herod’s niece.

There is revenge.  Herodias is a Jew.  She knows what the Jewish Law says about marriage and marrying a brother’s wife, and she doesn’t take kindly to some desert preacher calling her morality into question.  Mark tells us that Herodias holds “a grudge against John and wanted to kill him”.  She is seething with so much anger that she will do anything to silence John forever.

There is child abuse.  Herodias uses a young child, her own daughter to carry out her evil plan of revenge.  We know this girl to be the same age as the daughter of Jairus (about 12 years old) because the same word meaning “little girl” is used for both.  A preteen if you like.  It makes you ask, “How could a mother ask her daughter to do something so awful – carry the bloody head of a man into Herod’s birthday party?”

There is indecision and evil choices.  Herod has a superstitious fear of John the Baptist; he regards him as a good and holy man.  He chats with John.  He protects John for 2 years.  At his birthday party his daughter dances for him and Herod makes a foolish promise to give her anything she desires.  What could a 12-year-old ask for?  She consults her mother.  Everyone must have gasped when this preteen asks Herod for John's head on a platter.  Herod didn’t have the guts to say she was going too far.  He is weak and spineless.  He gives in to Herodias’ evil desire for revenge.

There is injustice.  John is arrested for no reason, convicted without a trial and executed without a verdict.  The Romans refuse to give Herod the title of “king”.  Only in the gospel of Mark is he given the title of “king”.  It’s title of mockery because Herod is anything but a king.  He is a foolish king.  He is weak, easily manipulated, a coward. 

There is murder.  John is an innocent man cruelly and unjustly murdered in his jail cell.   

Without a doubt, evil dominates this story.  After hearing this Gospel reading, we normally say, “This is the Gospel of the Lord” “This is the Good News of God” and we respond, “Praise be to you, O Christ”.  Where is the Good News in this story?  This story is a display of evil wreaking havoc in the lives of people.  It’s the story of the sad and cruel end of a great man of God, the messenger of the Messiah, a man who languished in jail for more than 2 years holding fast to his faith in Jesus as the Messiah.  And look what happens to him.  We could easily ask, “Lord, how could you let this happen?”  Evil has had the last say!

Why couldn’t this story be like the one in Acts where Peter is imprisoned by Herod and even though he is under strict guard, an angel comes and walks him out of the jail.  When Peter knocks on the door of the house where the followers of Jesus are gathered, what excitement and amazement and celebration!   Now that’s what I call, “Good News”.  We could easily listen to an uplifting sermon about God’s love and care in tough times.

But what are we to make of today’s Gospel reading.  Why is the gospel writer, Mark, so intent on giving us so much detail about the evil that runs through this story. 

The question that intrigues the reader is why Mark adds this story to his gospel account of Jesus’ life at all.  Mark doesn’t like to get sidetracked in his account of Jesus’ life.  One event quickly follows another. 

A favourite connecting word, used by Mark between events is “immediately” or “straightaway.”   No time for long descriptions and lengthy teaching.  The language he uses is short, concise, and presents the bare facts.  Mark races on telling one event after another and he doesn’t slow down until Jesus begins his slow, final march to Jerusalem and his betrayal, trials, suffering and death.

So, let’s cut to the chase.  There are 3 mains points worth highlighting.

The first point.  In the first chapters of his gospel, Mark records Jesus’ constant battle with evil. 
There is Jesus’ own confrontation with Satan after his baptism (1:13). 
He casts out evil spirits in the synagogue (1:23),
drove out demons in the streets (1:34, 39),
and on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (5:1-29).  
Jesus himself is accused of having an evil spirit (3:20-30). 
In the Parable of Sower, Jesus highlights how quickly Satan snatches away the Word of God when it falls on hard ground (4:16).

Not only is Jesus doing battle with evil and demons, but he clashes with the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, representatives of the established religion, who see nothing good in Jesus at all and are always finding fault and criticising.  Already in Chapter 3 they begin plotting to kill Jesus (3:6). 

Jesus isn’t welcomed even in his hometown of Nazareth.  “This fella is just a carpenter.  We’ve known him since he was a pup.  Who has given him the authority and wisdom to teach in the synagogue”?  (6:1-6)

So, Jesus is facing opposition from evil spirits and demons, the religious leaders and even the people of his own hometown.  Can you see a pattern here?  Jesus is doing some amazing things helping, healing, comforting and teaching people but the going is tough. 

The second point brings us to John the Baptist and Jesus.  I only want to briefly mention this because this is a good topic for a Bible study and too much to handle now. 

You might say there are two passion stories in Mark’s Gospel – the Passion of John the Baptist and the Passion of Jesus Christ.  The Passion of John is foretelling the kind of treatment that the messiah will receive.  Just as John faced evil people with evil motives and weak-minded indecisive political leaders, so would Jesus face the same evil and weakness in people when he was unjustly arrested and killed.  When both men died, it seemed evil had won the day.

That leads me to my third point.  The death of John the Baptist is framed by Jesus sending out his disciples and their return.  When they were sent out Jesus warns them, “If you come to a town where people do not welcome you or will not listen to you, leave it and shake the dust off your feet” (Mark 6:11).

Jesus gave the disciples authority to cast out evil spirits, bring healing and help to everyone who came looking for it and proclaim forgiveness to all those who turned away from their sins.  But like Jesus, they too will face opposition.  Evil will not give up easily.  Evil will test their faith and strength.  The Good News of God will not be welcomed by everyone as the disciples found out later when they stood before kings and governors and were jailed, punished and even died because evil ruled the hearts of people and so prevented them from recognising the great gift of God’s grace that was being offered. 

In summary, we have seen evil at work in the life of Jesus and John the Baptist leading them to face cruel and unjust deaths at the hands of evil and weak people;
We have heard Jesus’ warning to his disciples that evil will not lay down quietly as they continue Jesus’ work.
As his disciples today we pray, “Deliver us from evil”.
So what does all this mean for us in 2024?

Mark is getting across the message that when the Christian speaks and acts according to God's will, there will be opposition.
When a Christian follows God’s will and not the ways of the world there will be ridicule, shaming, shunning and declaring that the Christian is out of step with the modern world.
Faithful discipleship is not easy.  Evil does not easily give up in wearing down the faithful follower of Christ. 
Trust in God’s love is severely tested. 
The enemy will appear to be too strong and too great to battle in the way that Jesus did.

Evil tested the disciples at the time of Jesus’ passion, as in the case of Peter who denied he ever knew Jesus, or in the case of Judas who betrayed Jesus.

Evil will test us to fall in line behind the majority and not stand up for God’s way, speak up for the Good News in the darkness of our times, let God’s light shine through us when others live around us live in the shadows.

Evil will force us to give into our weaknesses, our indecisiveness, our need for revenge, our unforgiveness, to be selfish and unkind.

Satan, our sinful natures and the world are stronger than we are and succeed in overpowering us,
drawing us away from Jesus with all kinds of temptations,
blocking out the needs and feelings of others with our own selfish desires,
always wanting our way and not caring about the ideas and opinions of others. 

Evil gripped the lives of Herod and his family.  Evil is gripping the lives of so many people in our time leaving a trail of death and ruin.  Will evil in the end have the last say?

Mark wrote his Gospel at a time when Nero was the emperor of Rome, a time of terrible persecution of Christians.  He writes about the evil that Jesus, John and the disciples and even the Christians of his day faced pointing them to the last half of his Gospel where he slows down the pace of his story telling and gives great detail how Jesus defeated evil on the cross.  Jesus made sure that the final victory over evil is ours.  He died to defeat the power of evil over us.  He died to bring us forgiveness and victory over evil to condemn or control us.  Evil will not have the last say – in Christ we are set free from sin, death and the power of evil to condemn or harm us.

Most of you have heard of Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie who fell victim to the evil of Naziism in the Second World War.  They were sent to Ravensbrück, a notorious concentration camp where they endured every kind of horrible evil that one human can inflict on another.  Betsie died.  Despite the horrific conditions, Corrie held onto her faith and continued to trust God.  She would not let evil take over her mind and soul and found small ways to bring hope and comfort and faith to those around her.  She survived the evil of that camp victorious because Jesus gave her the strength to trust him and even to forgive her persecutors.

When we are feeling low and beaten because evil in some form has a hold on us – depression, sickness, the threat of death, a lack of faith, doubt about the value of prayer, unforgiveness, unkindness, the Holy Spirit reminds us that through Jesus’ death and resurrection evil does not have the final say over us. 

Even though we will walk in dark and deep valleys, we will fear no evil because the Lord is our loving shepherd.  When Satan prowls around like a roaring lion threatening to devour us (1 Peter 5:8), Jesus is the one we can trust, he is refuge and strength, in the scariest and most worrying times.  We are his precious children!

© Pastor Vince Gerhardy
E-mail: sermonsonthenet@outlook.com
14th July 2024