2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29
Paul opens his epistle to the Ephesians with personal greetings, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus.” He then praises their faithfulness in Christ, and showers upon them “grace” and “peace” from God and Christ.
I love getting letters from my friends. They seem to ooze warmth and joy. And certainly, Paul saw the Ephesians as his friends.
So begins our text. Paul shares his theological view of the relationship between God and Christ and between God and the Ephesians.
God and Christ are parent and child. What a powerful relationship that is, God, the parent, Christ the child. We all know something of that kind of relationship because we have experienced it. Now, not all of us have had totally delightful parent/child relationships. In fact, if truth be told, there are many tears even in the most healthy and wonderful of those. And, I am guessing that each of us knows someone who has had a very poor relationship with parents. There are parents, who are abusive, judgmental, non-supportive, and just absent. But, that is not the kind of parent that God was to Jesus the Christ, who Paul said has subsequently blessed us through Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. Paul goes on to say that these blessings were bestowed on us through Christ before the foundation of the world. Oh my goodness, do you hear what Paul is saying, God chose us for all of these blessings even before the world was created?
Marty Perl recently loaned me a book entitled, The Shack by William Young. I know that there are others of you who have also read this best seller. If you have, you know that the author sets up an interaction between God and a man who had experienced abuse from a parent and the loss of a daughter, abducted while he and his children were on a camping trip. It is a delight to see how Young navigates the man’s anger against God through a series of interactions with the various persons of the trinity and finally with the judging God to bring him to the realization that God, in God’s fullness truly loves all of humanity. In fact, in his interaction with the Judging God he is told that he has to choose among his children to determine who he will send to heaven and who he will send to hell. He is given a quota for each location. And as he agonizes over the command, he offers himself in their place to go to hell. Through viewing this terrible dilemma, we acknowledge the impossibility of the task, and acknowledge that God, in God’s fullness is truly a God who loves each of us.
God loves and blesses the Ephesians and us through Christ.
You will remember that last Sunday, Tom Perl talked to us about building. With the children he talked about building houses through Habitat for Humanity. With us, he talked about building the dominion of God through the ministry of Christ’s disciples both ancient and those in more recent times. In this weeks’ lesson from Mark, we are told that Herod heard of these building efforts, and he proclaimed that Jesus was the risen John the Baptist whom he had beheaded, and then in a flashback, we hear the story of that beheading. That story was read to us so effectively this morning by Kira Smethers. Thank you Kira. I know that Russ experiences pride and joy in his beautiful and talented daughter. Now, back to the gospel lesson. This birthday celebration for Herod was marked by a moment of joy and pride as his daughter danced for those gathered. Herod was so overcome by her beauty and talent that he granted her any wish she had even to ½ of his kingdom. She left the gathering to ask her mother for what she should ask, and in a desire to please her mother, she came back with that incredible request, “I want the head of John the Baptist brought to me on a platter.” George C. Heider, a teacher in the department of theology at Valparaiso University in Indiana, tells us in a recent issue of “The Christian Century” that the “larger message” of this story “becomes clear when we look at it in the text’s context within Mark’s gospel.” Remember that Tom Perl told us about Jesus sending the disciples out into the world with nothing but the message of God’s love. And then we hear this story to be reminded that even if the disciples are effective messengers, as John was with Herod, their lives may still indeed be cut short. Building the dominion of God is not an easy task and it is indeed fraught with peril. But for many, there is great joy in that challenging task.
This morning I have great joy in both the song shared by Gina with us and with the children, and the excellent reading of the old testament story by my granddaughter, Madelaine Farago. Oh my, what an interesting story. This was not a story in which everyone was joy filled. Here was King David, bringing the Ark into Jerusalem and his wife was not a happy woman. David was extremely happy, so happy that he danced for joy, but his wife was embarrassed by his expression of joy. Sometimes, we find ourselves embarrassed by the joy expressed by others. Last Sunday, I went into the thrift shop to purchase one of the CD’s so graciously donated to us by the wonderful singing and dancing Haleamau family. As I was leaving, a man entered the shop who was unknown to me. I offered my usual greeting, “Hello, how are you?” And he offered what I assume was his usual response, “I am blessed!” Now, I have to admit that that was not the first time that someone has responded to me that way, but I also have to admit, that it is still a bit uncomfortable for me to hear that response. Someday, I’ll try to examine my feelings of discomfort, but not today. I answered him back by saying, “Aren’t we all.” And then we engaged in a conversation in which we both acknowledged that indeed everyone is blessed, but not everyone is aware of their blessings. Well, I am sure that no one is truly aware of all of their blessings. I was blessed with a wonderful husband and two beautiful children. They have been blessed with wonderful spouses and beautiful children of their own. And that merely adds to my blessings. For me and for many others, there is great joy in family.
But, what brings joy into your life? Is it the things that you do, the things that you acquire, the people in your life, your work, the way you spend your leisure time, the love that you receive?
Paul’s joy was in the faithfulness of the Ephesians and in the grace and love of God. Herod’s joy was in the dancing skills of his daughter Herodias. Daughter Herodias’ joy was in doing something for her mother. Wife Herodias’ joy was in taking revenge against John the Baptist. David’s joy was in taking the Ark into Jerusalem. I agree with Paul. God loves us with such intensity that all that we do and all that we say cannot separate us from that love. Our joy is in that great love that God bestows on us. We, as God’s children are often caught up in the notion of justice. Now it is not that I have anything against justice. I’m all for it, but sometimes we see justice only in terms of punishment. Paul’s message, Jesus’ message, God’s message is that we are so loved by God, that punishment is not the order of the day. The order of the day is grace. Grace means that God loves us no matter what we do or what we say. Nothing that we do or say can separate us from God’s love. God loves us! God loves us! Say it with me, God loves us! Shout it with me, God loves us! Amen