Dirty Dancing

American author Erma Bombeck wrote “Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.” We are all too familiar with guilt in our world today – guilt over things done, things undone; guilt over failing our boss or our children or our parents or our teachers. We are reminded in every commercial, in conversations, in emails of the burden of guilt.

In our Scriptures today, King Herod’s guilt is overwhelming. Read Mark 6:14-29 and Ephesians 1:3-14.

This story, used in the context of discerning the identity of Jesus, is a flashback caused by Herod’s guilt over killing John the Baptizer. It is a story of seduction, power, lust, tragedy, and vengeance – no wonder it has been extended into a play and a famous opera. In the face of power, John continued to speak the truth – John continued to follow God’s call unto his death.

It seems that we are often more like Herod than John, capitulating to what is easy and what pleases the people around us instead of following God’s call on our lives. It is easier to give into the whims of the world around us, to give into the dirty dancing that calls us to consumerism, materialism, gossip, and posturing, away from the Other-centered existence, away from reaching out to the least of these.

The story ends with a sad, foreshadowing moment, as the disciples retrieve the dead body of the religious leader who was not afraid to speak truth to power, to follow God. Yet we know that this story takes place within the larger Story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are secure in the knowledge, as we read in Ephesians, that redemption, forgiveness, and grace are freely offered to us and are destined to be in God’s family. Even in our Herod moments, when we are weak and hear the Word but are too perplexed, we are presented with a deep hope that this is not the end – that redemption is possible. Rest in the assurance that Herod and his kingdom were temporary, while the kingdom of God will reign forever.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate