Wednesday, week four: Dancing and death (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

It is going so well. Jesus’ followers return, having successfully preached, cast out demons, and healed people. News of this effective campaign finds the ears of Herod, the Roman-appointed king of Judea. He’s a bit confused. He had been holding consul with John, the one who baptized Jesus. In a flashback, Mark recounts all that has transpired between Herod and the baptizer.

John wasn’t going easy on Herod. Herod had a nasty, twisted family tree. Over the span of his life he married 14 different women; at one time he was married to three women at the same time. Herod had some of his wives and his own sons executed to protect his throne. At the moment, though, Herod was married to Herodias. Herodias was the wife of Herod’s brother Philip. Apparently, she went willingly. After all, it’s good to be queen. Herodias was enjoying her time in the limelight. Herod traveled to Rome and stole her from his brother. John called him on the carpet.

Herod didn’t want to hear it. He had the power to have John killed, but he was afraid. He knew John was a holy man. What might happen if he killed him? Herod avoided the whole mess by locking John away in prison. He remained out of earshot and out of mind until the night of Herod’s birthday party.

That night, Herodias’ daughter (Herod’s niece) Salome danced. She was so beautiful and captivating that Herod, right in front of all of his friends and prominent members of his court, promised her anything in his kingdom.

Before giving her answer, she consulted her mother, the queen.

Moments later, John’s head arrives at the party on a platter, fresh from his prison cell. To Herodias, John’s permanent silence was worth more than half of Herod’s kingdom.

Now Herod is confused. Word of Jesus’ power and preaching has reached him, and he thinks John is resurrected.

Text for the day:

Mark 6:14-29

Things to think about:

The world is simultaneously filled with dancing and death.

Herod took the holy and hid it out of sight.

Things to do:

Bring the holy into the light. Make a place for prayer and reverence for God.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, help me to hear and understand.

the miracle of wine from water

No doubt Jesus had a huge impact on the wedding after-party in Cana.

No one much likes it when the alcohol runs out, least of all the host. In those days, running out of wine at your wedding was more than a letdown. It was embarrassing to the point of humiliation. Some even say that the party was a reflection on the married life to come; a party that runs out of wine signifies a bitter and disappointing future.

I’ve come to believe that the miracle here is not so much that Jesus produced 750+ bottles of wine out of thin air, but that he produced abundance from scarcity for the sake of his friend. The real miracle is that Jesus cared what the community had to say about the bridegroom and he cared what the bridegroom thought about himself.

God cares about our reputations, both the way others talk about us and the way we think and talk about ourselves.

Jesus wasn’t about to let his friend be cast as stingy, or let the party end in social humiliation. He produced wine from water so that his friend would be seen as generous.

This is the way Jesus begins his ministry in John, which goes a very long way in telling us what Jesus is doing in the fourth Gospel. Jesus is out for our personal and social redemption. In other words, he cares about our relationships with God and one another. And he cares about the relationships that we have with ourselves.

Jesus displays a tenderness and compassion for his friends that he passes on to us. He cares about the problems of ordinary, every day people, and page by page in this gospel, he teaches us all how to grow closer to God and one another.

He leaves the wedding and cleanses the temple, restoring the sanctity of our holy places; then talks about being born from above to the religious leader Nicodemus. He talks with a Samaritan woman and heals the son of a royal official. He heals a man who cannot walk and feeds 5000, all the while giving glory to the God who makes us one.

Jesus isn’t secretive in this gospel. Straight up, he says he’s come from God and that God has given him his power and exhorts us to be one. He changing our names as we read, moving us from selfishness to unity. Want more? Click here to read John 2:1-11.

laying it down

This human life is an interesting adventure.  We are born helpless and ignorant, knowing little more than how to cry to get what we want. If the people around us are fortunate, by the end of our lives, we’ve turned that scenario completely around, having learned to focus on the needs of others more than ourselves.

That’s what my uncle Mike did. 

Ever charming, witty, brilliant, and caring, he gave himself away. Not just to his family and friends, but to everyone. He gave himself away to people he’d known all his life, and people he’d just met. He was a philanthropist, but not just of money. He gave away his connections and his time and his expertise. He gave his very self. He made friends everywhere. He laid his life down because he understood his life wasn’t about him, but about them. The world was graced because he lived.

And in the end, he taught us how to die.  He was in tremendous pain, but he didn’t complain or become a recluse. He stayed as connected as he could, right to the end. And he was upbeat; he said he didn’t want to make anyone cry.  Life was worth living, and he wanted to live every moment of it.

That’s also what Jesus taught.  Love one another; lay your life down; bear fruit that will last.

I speculate there were 500 people at my uncle Mike’s funeral. After the service, one woman said to me, “I have tools to give myself away, too. I’m going to make a start.”  Someone else said, “I don’t lay my life down for my friends, but I can change that.” And how many more? Who knows?

That’s fruit that will last.

Thanks for your life, your love, and your legacy, Michael Ward. It is indeed a great day to be alive. Want more? Click here to read John 15:12-17.