Where is God in the Gospel today? Jesus doesn’t even make an appearance. That
question really came to mind though; because I often hear it asked when good
people die tragically. John seems to be having influence on Herod, but in the
end did it matter? I believe it did matter, but to get to why we have to go
beyond the text alone. I’ll explain as we go along.
Honestly today’s passage can seem like it’s only moving the
story along. Certainly John’s death is an important part of Jesus’ story, and
it of course the story prefigures Jesus own death. In fact this particular take
on John’s death Herod seems remarkably similar Pilate who didn’t “really” want
to kill Jesus, but was forced into it. There’s also the oddly negative twist on
a common Hebrew scripture story about women who transgress for their own
survival – but usually those stories are about being granted God’s favor.
In looking more closely at the passage, though, there’s a
buried aspect that is very intriguing. It’s hidden in verse 20. “for Herod feared
John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When
he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.” Now
what’s interesting to me in this passage – a passage that seems on the surface designed
to gain Herod a modicum of sympathy – is the implication of what John is doing.
John is talking to Herod.
Now you may think, what’s significant about that? John is a
prophet, bound to speak truth to power. He knows his fate, so what does he have
to lose in talking to Herod? At the very least it would pass the time. But
isn’t that all forgetting that John was out in the wilderness, dressing and
behaving in socially unconventional ways. And he was not terribly kind to
authorities.
I imagine the John before prison as angrily lecturing Herod.
If he were still doing that in prison, I doubt Herod would be listening, or if
he did listen, I doubt he would be perplexed. No, I rather think they were
actually in conversation. That there was, however slight, a breaking down of
the roles of prisoner and captive.
That’s how I found myself reading the text, but in
meditating on it further I started to wonder a few things. Though Mark doesn’t
mention this (Matthew & Luke do) John sent Jesus a message from prison
questioning Jesus’ ministry. It wasn’t quite what John had in mind. After all
John was a bit more fire and brimstone than Jesus. And Jesus answers, “Blessed
is he who does not fall into a trap because of me.”
Scripture does not report how John responded to that message
from Jesus – at least not explicitly. That passage none the less crossed my
mind when I contemplated John’s attitude towards Herod in today’s Gospel.
Admittedly, to speak of John’s response is pure conjecture, but bear with me.
I’m influenced from this point by James Alison, who you may
remember from the clip we watched of him during our Lenten discussions. Alison
has a long series of arguments that in many ways can be summarized by his take
on Matthew 23:9. Call no one on earth father, for you only have one Father in
heaven.
Jesus is teaching a siblinghood of mankind. Anyone who takes
a position of superiority over anyone else on earth is doing violence to that
siblinghood. In fact to give up your power to someone, to ask favor of someone
you believe to be superior to you, as if you are not deserving, is
participating in that violence. I want to be clear that demanding your rights
is not asking favor.
Now I’m certainly not saying that there aren’t people who
have power or status or might that can harm you, even kill you. But as Jesus
says in Matthew: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” If you’re going
to fear that is, Jesus then reminds us that the one who could destroy your soul
has caringly counted every hair on our heads. The point being there are bigger
things at stake than your physical safety. And your physical vulnerability is
not inferiority.
Perhaps the trap Jesus is referring to in his message to
John has to do with that. The messiah is not going to free John from prison.
The messiah is telling John that Herod is not intrinsically superior to John,
nor is John morally superior to Herod. John is clearly MORE moral, it’s true,
but not morally superior. And it is with this good news that John can converse
with Herod as an equal, something that both intrigues and bothers Herod.
More and more I’m seeing superiority as a foundational sin.
I admit I fall into moral superiority when it comes to certain subjects. I have
empathy for John. No doubt it took John down a peg that the messiah was not
what he had originally expected. John had predicted that he must decrease as
Jesus increased – but like this? You might imagine that John could take advice
from Amos, who did not even claim the title prophet. Speaking truth to power
can come from a very humble place.
We may not all be called to speak truth to power. But I
believe that we all need to recognize that temporal power is not superiority.
Neither are we superior in our righteous indignation, our ideology, or our
worship. We may be correct, but not superior. That truth - whether we speak it
or not - is part of the revelation of the siblinghood of humankind. That truth
is inherent in God’s love for us; God who counts each hair on each one of us.
Love for all creation as Paul reminds us - it is God’s good pleasure to gather
up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Readings:
