In the Midst of the Mess (Eighth Sunday after Pentecost)

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Sometimes, to keep track of the cast of characters in the Bible, you almost need a scorecard!  This is particularly true when, in the New Testament, we read about “King Herod.”

There are actually 3 “King Herods” in the New Testament. They’re all related to each other, and they were all puppet kings who exercised their authority only with the consent of the Romans, who had conquered the area years before.

The one we probably remember the most is Herod the Great.  He was the king when Jesus was born, and he was a particularly nasty guy!  Matthew’s Gospel accuses him of slaughtering children in and around Bethlehem in order to try to kill Jesus.  We don’t have any record of that outside of the New Testament, but we do know that Herod the Great DID have several of his own children killed when he thought they might be plotting against him.

And because he was so vicious and ruthless, he kept good order in his domain, so the Romans liked him a lot and allowed him to rule most of what today is modern Israel and southern Lebanon.  And after the death of Herod the Great, his kingdom got divided up between several of his (surviving!) sons.

The southern part around Jerusalem went to Archelaus, who wasn’t as good at ruthlessly keeping order as his father.  So, eventually the Romans exiled him and set up a Roman governor over the southern part (which is how Pontius Pilate came to be in charge.)

But the northern area, around Galilee, went to Herod Antipas, the “King Herod” who we read about in today’s Gospel reading.  Frankly, the Romans didn’t care as much about Galilee, and Herod Antipas was brutal enough to keep things in line.  So, this “King Herod” becomes the Herod we most often read about in the Gospels, because this Herod is king in Galilee, where Jesus lived most of his life.

But this King Herod was also known for the intrigue that surrounded his life.  Herod Antipas was, after all, a collaborator with the Romans, who was in charge first and foremost, of making sure nobody challenged Roman rule.  He had a small army, and could kill or terrorize anybody he wanted to, as long as he didn’t mess with the Romans.  So, if somebody like John the Baptist was a potential threat to his power, he could throw him in prison or have him killed on a whim.

And as today’s reading makes clear, he also flaunted social and moral norms.  Mark says that John the Baptist ended up in prison because he told Herod he shouldn’t have married his brother’s wife, Herodias.  (You’ll note that Herodias is also a name like “Herod”, because she’s also part of the family!  In fact, while she had been married to another of Herod’s brothers – actually not Philip – she was also Herod’s niece.)  So, not mentioned, but known by all, Herod Antipas was married to his niece, which is even grosser than what Mark tells us.

And everybody in Galilee (and throughout the region) knew all of this. They talked about it all the time.  Herod’s personal, political and moral exploits were in the “news” every day.  They outraged many people (not just John the Baptist).  And there was little anybody could do about any of it, except to try to figure out what outrageous thing Herod Antipas would do next, and try to stay out of the way.

And so there’s sort of this cathartic need in today’s Gospel reading to recount (again!) some of the horrible and outrageous things that Herod Antipas did.  It takes up the entire Gospel reading, so that Jesus is mentioned only in passing, with the ominous suggestion that Herod is now wondering if Jesus will be the next religious figure who needs to lose his head.

In fact, Jesus almost gets lost in the moral, political and social outrages of today’s Gospel text.  And indeed, it probably was the case that what Jesus was doing might have been missed by many in his day, because the number and the volume of the moral, social and political messes were just so great.

And yet, God was doing a new and powerful thing in Jesus, in spite of Herod Antipas.  The words and deeds of Jesus proved more lasting and more meaningful than anything Herod Antipas did.  And I’ve had to tell you all this stuff about Herod, because centuries later, people ended up remembering Jesus instead of Herod.

Often, when this Gospel reading turns up in the lectionary, preachers wonder what to do with it, because it’s really all about Herod, and Jesus seems to be lost in the midst of the moral, social and political intrigue of the day.  And yet, in every age, that’s the challenge. 

There are, and always have been, moral, political and social outrages that fill our news feeds and threaten to overwhelm our hearts and minds.  This is especially the case whenever it’s an election year. And sometimes, we get so caught up in them, that it’s hard to notice anything else going on in the world around us.  And if God is doing something new and lasting, it might go unnoticed, or even seem like just a passing footnote in the story of our daily lives.

That’s the way it was in Jesus’ day, too.  But as horrible as today’s Gospel reading is, the good news in this story is that:

• Jesus is always at work in the life of the world, even during times when the world just seems consumed by political, social and moral outrages … (Jesus is never waiting for a better, more peaceful time, or even one when people might pay better attention…)

• The work that God does among us ultimately outlasts all of the evil and the distractions that threaten to consume us … (and often, that work looks like healing and feeding and befriending people who have lost hope; the effect of those things often lasts …)

• Jesus calls us, especially when the world around us seems consumed by intrigue and outrage, to watch for, and be part of, what God is doing even in the midst of a world that seems like it’s falling apart … (Herod noticed Jesus only in passing, but others found new life by centering themselves on Jesus and his message; and while all this stuff with Herod and John the Baptist was going on, Jesus and his disciples were busy feeding, healing and teaching, and that’s often still what Jesus calls us to do today…)

Now, please also understand that this does NOT mean, “stick your head in the sand and ignore the mess.”  John the Baptist lost his head because of Herod Antipas, and we need to be fully aware of the dangers of the real world. We need to be involved in dealing with the messes in the world around us.  And we have resources at our disposal that most people in the Bible never had… (the NT just doesn’t imagine what it means to be citizens of a representative democracy, where there’s rule of law and where people’s voices and votes can make a difference…)

But in the midst of whatever messes you feel called to engage in, and no matter what social, political or moral outrage fills your newsfeed at the moment, don’t let Jesus become a footnote in your life.  Don’t miss out on what Jesus is doing in the midst of the real messes the world is in.  And don’t get so caught up in the intrigue of the day that you don’t have time, energy and bandwidth left to be part of what Jesus is doing in your life and how Jesus is calling you to be an instrument of God’s hope and redemption in the life of the world around you.

Amen.