Those of you who use Facebook
are probably familiar with the quizzes that pop up on your daily feed from time
to time. For those of you who don’t use Facebook: these quizzes are just free
online entertainment. They claim to tell you who you “really” are by answering
a few questions. For example, one that I took recently asked, “Which witch are
you most like?” Based on my answers, it compared me to fictional characters
like the sea-witch Ursula from The Little
Mermaid, the sorceress Maleficent
from Sleeping Beauty, and even the
three weird sisters from MacBeth. I
must confess that I was somewhat disappointed in the result. After clearly
stating that I am a bad witch, it
concluded that I was most like Glinda, the good witch in The Wizard of Oz. I had hoped for a more exciting character!
I imagine that somewhere
online there is a quiz that asks, “Which Bible character are you most like?” If
you ever take such a quiz, you can rejoice if the result says that you’re like Paul
or Abraham or Ruth, or maybe even Mary or Joseph. But if it says that you’re
like one of the prophets, my suggestion is that you run for the hills! You do not want to be a prophet! Prophets have
the most difficult job in the whole biblical text. That’s because the job of a prophet
is to speak for God. Prophets carry messages from God to the people. And those
messages are a mixed bag. Sometimes prophets remind the people of God’s
promises. For example, you all know the text from Isaiah 11: “A shoot will come
up from the stump of Jesse: from his roots a branch will bear fruit. And the
spirit of the Lord will rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding.”
That’s a promise of the coming Messiah. But for every uplifting promise, there
are many more warnings. This text is also from Isaiah: “Thus says the Lord:
Jerusalem staggers, and Judah is falling. Their words and deeds are against the
Lord, defying his glorious presence. The look on their faces testifies against
them! Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves!” (3:8-9) That’s
not such an upbeat message!
The reason for the warnings
is that God’s people frequently forget how they are supposed to behave. And so,
prophets take people to task. Understandably, those people usually don’t want
to hear it. And when the prophets’ targets are political leaders, the situation
can get very sticky indeed! Many of you will remember the conflict that existed
between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Governor George Wallace. While Dr. King
preached the equality of the races, Governor Wallace clung to the idea of segregation.
That kind of conflict is nothing new. The story that you just heard from the
gospel of Mark (6:14-29) is over 2,000 years old; but a lot of it could have
happened yesterday.
Let me give you a little bit
of background to this story. You won’t understand the players without a
scorecard! The Jewish ruler who had authority over Galilee in Jesus’ day was
named Herod. (This is the same Herod, by the way, who sings the jazzy song in Jesus Christ, Superstar.) His father was
Herod the Great, the bloodthirsty tyrant who was king of Judea when Jesus was
born. Our Herod had originally married for political purposes, which was nothing
uncommon in that day and age. But then he met Herodias, who was married to his
half-brother Phillip. By the way, Herodias was also Herod’s niece – the
daughter of another one of his half-brothers. Herod was so smitten with
Herodias that he promptly divorced his wife, and persuaded Herodias to leave
her husband Phillip and marry him. It sounds like something out of reality TV,
doesn’t it? (And you thought that the Kardashians were bad!) John the Baptist
was disgusted with their behavior, and he apparently didn’t keep his thoughts
to himself. As a result, Herodias went gunning for John the Baptist; so Herod
arrested him and threw him into prison.
Let’s stop the story there
for a moment, while John’s head is still on his shoulders. Did you notice that
Herod had mixed feelings for John? On the one hand, he was madder than a wet
hen at the comments John made about his morals. On the other hand, though,
Herod respected him. John the Baptist was everything that Herod was not –
courageous, eloquent, and moral. John had the strength of his convictions, and
the courage to speak out against what he believed was wrong. Mark tells us that
Herod “was greatly puzzled” with John the Baptist; and that Herod wanted to
protect him. In fact, Herod “liked to listen” to what John had to say. Why do
you suppose he felt that way? The story doesn’t tell us; but maybe it was
because John awoke feelings in Herod that he hadn’t felt in years – not since
he was an idealistic boy growing up in a household that was anything but idealistic! Maybe it was because John
held a vision before Herod’s eyes that he secretly yearned to see in reality. Maybe
John offered Herod a view of a life that he could
have instead of the life that he did
have. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann claims that “it is the [job] of
the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination.” He goes on to say that
prophets nourish a perception that is something other than that of the culture
that surrounds us. (This quote is taken
from “Living by the Word” by Marilyn McEntyre. It appeared on page 18 of the
July 8, 2015 issue of the Christian Century.) In other words,
prophets offer us a vision of what could
be in addition to what is.
Prophets ask “What if…?” and invite us to imagine it with them. Martin Luther
King offered us that vision when he declared that he had “been to the
mountaintop” and seen all races growing up in peace, harmony, and unity. Did
Herod secretly wish that he could scrap all the politics and power plays that
are part and parcel of being a ruler? Perhaps. He was certainly disturbed by
John’s message. And that is part of a prophet’s job – to be disturbing. At
their best, prophets shatter our comfort zones, challenge our assumptions, and
wake up our consciences. That’s why prophets usually end up in jail – or worse.
We don’t much like to be disturbed. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’d rather
be left alone.
Let’s go back to Herod’s
story. You know how it ends. One day Herod gave a birthday party for himself;
and part of the entertainment was a dance by Herodias’ daughter. Tradition says
that her name was Salome, and that her dance was the Dance of the Seven Veils.
The text doesn’t say that; but in any case, it must have been a heck of a
dance! Without thinking, Herod blurted out that she could have anything she
wanted – even half of his kingdom! But she didn’t want half of his kingdom.
Instead, she wanted the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod couldn’t
go back on the promise that he had made to her – not in front of all those
people! So John the Baptist was silenced at last.
No, you don’t want to be a
prophet. Prophets are not only called to speak for God, they are called to hold
God’s vision for us in front of our eyes – whether we want to see it or not –
and to ask us in the bluntest possible terms why we aren’t working towards that
vision! Prophets are as counter-cultural as flower children were in the 1960s.
They don’t fit in anywhere! As Flannery O’Connor put it, “You shall know the
truth, and the truth will make you odd.” Fortunately, not many of us are called
to be prophets. But we are called to pay attention to them! We are called to
constantly reevaluate the culture around us and what it demands of us and of
our fellow human beings. We are called to constantly reevaluate ourselves and to change ourselves when
we are following the world’s vision instead of the vision of God. And sometimes
we are called to take a risk in order to follow God’s vision. Fortunately, that
usually doesn’t end in our losing our heads, or even being thrown into prison;
but it can mean risking our social status or our reputation or even our job! Yes,
when we not only know the truth, but follow it, that truth will make us odd.
But maybe that’s not so bad.
After all, Jesus was a bit odd, himself. He didn’t have a home. He went around
with a bunch of rag-tag followers. He ate dinner with prostitutes and tax
collectors and all kinds of lower class people. Why, he even associated with women! Maybe it wouldn’t hurt any of us
to be a little bit odd like that. In fact, maybe if the church were as odd as
Jesus, it would actually do what God is calling it to do – to be a prophetic
voice to the whole world, calling it to repent and change its ways. And that
wouldn’t be odd at all. That would be wonderful!
No comments:
Post a Comment