Mercy and Compassion and the Human Predicament
(Mark 6:14-29), July 15, 2012
You know, I have been called to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. Sometimes that's relatively easy. There are occasions when people seem happy, when we actually experience periods of joy. In those times there is a greater receptiveness to good news, to something resembling joy. Think of occasions like Christmas, a wedding, perhaps even a baptism.
But there are other times when good news seems so foreign. Like the time when there is a car accident and innocent people are killed by a drunken person. Then hundreds of people show up at the church for the funeral of the 40 year old father and his 14 year old son. Even a preacher may have a hard time finding lasting good news for their family on welfare who now live without a father and their young brother. It's hard to find the good news when a mud slide literally destroys houses and buries 4 people, either dead or alive. And it's hard to find good news in all the wars of our time where law and too often basic morality is thrown out the window. Then women and children are brutally victimized every day.
It's also tough to find good news in the Gospel lesson today. Were you listening? If this story were being rated on television or at the movies it would be R for violence and coarse language. Here's the story. Prior to this account, Jesus had been doing amazing things. It's like he has the golden touch. If people were sick, they come to him and voila – they are made better. If they were hungry, they hang around Jesus and somehow he and his disciples feed them. Everyone is happy. Despite these miracles, they don't "get" him. Perhaps it's impossible to "get" him.
Eventually Jesus decides to go to his hometown (last week's lesson). There, the very people who had watched him grow up, refuse to trust him. Isn't he just Mary's son?? Scandal, scandal. Don't his brothers and sisters live here among us? I mean they are all, just so ordinary. He has to be JUST ORDINARY too!
Then Mark tells us that Jesus could do very little there because the people had no faith.
Immediately after that Jesus sends out his disciples, his followers, to care for and help others. He sends them out with very little provisions, no sandals, not more than one tunic. He sends them out into the world as it is – to an occupied country, under the thumb of an empire that cared, as all empires do, primarily about its own self, its survival and growth.
But those disciples, even in such circumstances, do what Jesus calls them to do. Herod, the puppet tetrarch of Rome, hears about them. We have been told what Herod has done to John the Baptist. John in Mark's Gospel had been the forerunner of Jesus. John, just as Jesus did in his early ministry, had called people to turn around, to get ready for God's reign, God's rule. Many people had come to be baptized by John in the wilderness. But John refuses to remain to detach from the main stream. After Herod had taken his brother Philip's wife, Herodias, for his own wife, John confronts Herod, saying that this displeases God. Such an action is wrong. Herodias hates John for this. Herod has mixed feelings. He admires John, but still is uncomfortable with the reality that John dares to name Herod's transgression. So Herod imprisons John.
That's where it stays until Herod's birthday. Herodias' daughter dances for the men present. Herod is pleased. They all are. Now Herod makes a vow: the girl can ask for ANYTHING she wants up to ½ of his kingdom. The girl consults with her mother. Now the girl demands John the Baptist's head on a platter. To be sure Herod had admired some of John's words. But now Herod finds himself in a position where he can lose face. Everyone there heard his vow. What will he do? He issues the order. John is executed. John's head is brought to Herodias on a platter. . .
This is a wake-up call. This is what often happens in human "realms" when honesty and compassion confront the powers that be about the reality of human greed, of our human propensity to take advantage of others. John is executed for speaking truth.
Being a follower of Jesus, of seeking to do God's will, is not easy, not a walk in the park, nothing like a 4 or 5 star holiday or cruise.
We need to know our human predicament. Not just the horrific acts of Luca Magnotta, Adolf Hitler or the latest gang slaying. We need to know the human predicament of our own hearts and minds. How we so easily can dismiss others as just "this" or just "that" – unkind, selfish, superficial, too thin or too fat, too religious or arrogant. How dare we spend on ourselves so much more than what we need while others are starving for food, for shelter, for love?
We also need to be honest with ourselves about the love of God. Do we really believe that God loves and can forgive us, giving us new life, new ways of being now and forever? If we do, will we not extend that love in our daily living to others, by working for the justice of God whose hallmarks are both mercy and compassion for all?
We must not do away with or deny our human predicament. That is part of who we are.
But neither must we do away with God, both God's holiness and mercy, the desire of God's good and gracious will for all.
Nor can we do away with God's mercy in Jesus Christ – who upon the cross asks God the Father to forgive those who are executing him, people just like us who often follow orders, who sometimes simply yield to the status quo, even though it may assure that many are left out, hurt, lonely, impoverished. Nor must we neglect God's compassion in Christ – who extends deep care to others even as he is suffering and dying. Even then (especially then?) he sees his grieving mother and his lost friend. Jesus says to them, "behold each other – as mother and son.
So, I wonder this day in the midst of so much bad and horrible news as well as the wonderful – do we sense the presence of God even in those times when we suffer so much loss? Can we see in others, do we dare see that they too are children of God and therefore our brothers and sisters? It is from this reality that we are called to speak, act and live as followers of Jesus, come what may.
Following Jesus is not be easy, but ultimately he will make it very good ... Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. Amen.