Where is the Gospel?

This sermon is based on Mark 6:14-29 - the beheading of John the Baptist.

Now isn’t that a great bedtime story! Herod marries his sister-in-law, has his step daughter dance for him at his birthday party in a way that there is debate over whether the dance was sexual in nature or just a simple tap-dance routine. Then Herod makes a big declaration of how wonderful she is and ends up promising John the Baptist head on a platter, and then the beheading occurs.

This gospel narrative is reason alone not to have Sunday School lessons be based on that day’s gospel reading. And I’m sure for many churches that do have such a Sunday school curriculum they are probably thankful that this lesson has occurred during the summer when there is either no Sunday School or very few children in attendance.

Quite honestly I struggled a bit with this text, as I’m sure many of my fellow preachers have this week. In seminary I was trained to break up my sermon into four portions – law in the text, law in the world, gospel in the text, gospel in the world, and I’m sure if you listen to a normal sermon of mine you will be able to tell when I transition from one section to another. But this text was difficult. It is easy to see all the many moments of law in this text. Law is the parts of a text or lesson that are about how we as humans are sinful creatures. How we as humans do not always do what is right or what is the will of God.

So the law portions of this text are so easy. Herod knew John was righteous but when he heard him he was perplexed. He vowed to himself to protect John but did not. Herod had problems balancing John’s preaching to the real world. Herod swore an oath in front of many people without first knowing to what the consequences were. He then allowed his pride to get in the way of his faith, in the way of doing what was right. Plus there is all the law in this story about marrying your sister-in-law, having a young girl maybe dance for you sexually, having an extravagant party when others do not have food to eat, and ordering the death of someone. Oh this lesson is full of law, full of the parts about the sinful–self, the one who does not believe, who does not put God and others first.

And in many ways we are probably alike; yes maybe we have not married a sister-in-law or ordered someone to be beheaded. But like Herod we often know that Jesus is righteous but when we hear his teachings or the teachings of his church we become perplexed and confused. We have a hard time balancing Jesus’ good news, his gospel and preaching, with the real world. We have at times sworn an oath that we cannot fulfill. “I swear on my mother’s grave” or “I swear to God” How often have those words come out of your mouth? We also let our pride get in the way of our faith or get the better of our faith. We have let our pride get in the way of our faith when we gone to church wearing a new outfit hoping we will get complimented on it instead of coming because we want to worship God, or buy a bigger, nicer, faster, latest gadget instead of contributing that money towards God’s work (granted I just bought a new laptop this week so I have no right to nor will I look down at any of you for doing the same thing).

We have also allowed our pride to get in the way of doing God’s work. We have not gotten involved with a dispute between friends, neighbors or strangers, whether a simple bickering argument or a physical fight, for fear of picking sides, getting sued or physical harm to ourselves or property. We have turned our heads and averted our eyes to the poverty we see on the streets or on the news; we don’t want to get involved, to get our hands dirty, and to part with our money and time. So the law is easy. Herod was in many, many ways a sinful creature, out for his own betterment and not the good of God’s people. And we in many ways are just like him.

But what about the gospel? This is the part that I have struggled with this week.
Where is the good news? The part when Jesus heals, forgiveness is granted, or God’s grace is poured out to upon the sinful creature? Where is the good news in this story? Are we to commend Herod for keeping his word? Or are we to commend him for taking the easy way out? Neither of which seems like much good news to me. And this story has a lot of foreshadowing to Jesus’ death. He too is arrested and put to death because people did not agree with what he had to say. Pilate will end up ordering Jesus death in order to appease others in order to keep his word – Mark’s says Pilate wanted to “satisfy the crowd.” So where is the gospel in this text?

Well maybe that is what we need, a Bible lesson, a Gospel lesson with no gospel apparent. Often in our lives when we are in the midst of trial, in the midst of having life bombard us with all the bad things that happen to us, death of a loved one, being laid-off, having housing issues, fights with friends and family, sickness and illness. Sometimes it is so hard to step back and see the gospel, to see the good news in our lives. We can be so overwhelmed by all the bad things in our lives, it is hard to see the good. We want to so desperately see Jesus’ walking on water in front of us, the spirit of the dove descending upon us or a burning bush speaking to us that we do not see all Christ is always there.

It is hard to see in our lives, especially in the midst of trial, that Jesus is right beside us, leading us, guiding us, and sometimes even carrying us through those tough moments. It is hard to see that Jesus knows that no one can go through life and not be confused by doing what is right verses doing what we want and that Jesus forgives us even when we put ourselves first. When we take the easy way out instead of doing what is right, Jesus forgives us. It is hard to see, hard to hear that the waters of baptism are still poured out upon us, regardless of how bad we have been or how alone we feel. That the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper is given to all of us regardless of how worthy we feel in receiving Christ’s body and blood. So maybe that is the gospel lesson in today text, that sometimes the gospel is hard to see, hard to find in the midst of the chaos of life, but yet the good news is still there. That Christ still died for us, God still loves us and the Holy Spirit still lives in us regardless if we see it our not.