Day 946 – Success or Significance

A Reflection for the Urban Outreach Ministry, Chattanooga, TN, July 14, 2015

Lamar Williamson, Jr. suggested the title and idea behind this sermon  in his commentary on Mark's Gospel

Scripture Reading: Mark 6:14-29

What is the difference between success and significance? We usually think these two are similar and measure them the same way. You might say Donald Trump, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are models of success. But are all three models of significance? You can arguably insist Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are far more significant in accomplishment because they gave birth to the two most widely used computers and operating systems in the world, but you might consider Donald Trump and his bombast to be quite insignificant.

How many of you have heard of Alan Turing? He was a brilliant British scientist who developed the theoretical model called the turing machine that established the feasibility of creating the modern computer, and began the science of computing.  You may have heard of him only from the movie about his cryptographic exploit to build the machine that cracked the German military’s Enigma code and shortened WWII by as much as two to four years, saving countless lives. Yet he died in humiliation, if not insignificance in many eyes, after being convicted of engaging in homosexual acts.

So, success and significance are not always the same thing. This is what we discover in our passage on the death of John the Baptist today.

I’ve mentioned before that Mark was a profoundly gifted writer. He has taken a simple story and turned it into the pivot of his Gospel that tilts now away from the euphoria of the proclamation of faith, the Kingdom of God and power of Jesus that comes with the presence of the Son of God to preparing his disciples (and us) for carrying on the work of proclamation after his death.

It is a terrible story to stick in the middle of Mark’s Gospel. We have to ask what was he thinking? He could have just announced the preaching and healing of Jesus and the disciples was widely heard, even by Herod Antipas who had John the Baptist executed, and moved on with the Gospel story.

But, he takes the time to paint a vivid, but miserable story of the spectacle of John’s execution. Mark, the epitome of brevity must be making a point about his understanding of the Gospel.

In the preceding verses he has told us the first mission trip by the disciples was wildly successful. We pick up the story where Herod hears this news. There is a debate among the people and within Herod, is this a prophet such as Elijah, who with the Lord’s aid brought a widow’s child back to life and was swept up into Heaven in a chariot of fire; or the one Moses promised would come? Or is it John the Baptist raised from the dead?

But this news of preaching and healing causes Herod to have a flashback to the way in which he had John executed and Mark tells us all the sordid details. Herod has married Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great and his brother’s wife and his niece even though she was not divorced or widowed from her first husband - only the husband can consent to divorce. (Herod the Great had has this son who was Herodias’ father executed.) She simply declared herself “divorced.” This behavior was a flagrant violation of Jewish custom and it seems John the Baptist took Herod to task for it. This enraged Herodias and caused John’s arrest.

You have to appreciate how bad it was in a Roman prison. Prison was not a punishment like sending someone to jail is today. Prison was a place to hold persons until trial, execution or untimely death.  Often prison was a hole or cave below the road. Rain, trash and excrement from animals fell with no place else to go. There was no light and the stench was overpowering. Prison in Roman times could be worse than execution.

So Herod, a Jew, kept John in this manner fearing him as a righteous and holy man rather than executing him (v20), bringing him back up once in a while to be entertained or perplexed by his message. 

Mark makes it clear that Herod is a successful man, ruler of several provinces, and had probable access to his father’s immense wealth.  He was throwing himself his own birthday party with his daughter dancing about this company of men (recall in Jewish custom, it was highly improper for a woman, especially a young woman, to eat and share company with such men, much less dance for them).

The text tells us that Herod was so enamored of his daughter’s dancing that he told her to ask for anything, and her mother took this as the chance for revenge. She told the daughter to ask for John’s head on a platter. This king was deeply grieved and likely afraid of John but he decided he could not lose face before his guests and had the evil act completed.

Mark knows we have read ahead and are aware that this is the same man who Pilate sent Jesus to judge if he merited crucifixion. So this story serves several purposes.

First, John’s birth was the act that presages the birth of Jesus. Recall John’s whole purpose was to proclaim the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, (who was his cousin). John’s execution presages the impending execution of Jesus.

John was executed by a successful man. Herod like Donald Trump was a wealth man with a lot of power in the world. He used his power to enhance his stature. John himself hardly would have been called successful. By any rational measure, he lived like a man at least partly deranged, languished in a Roman prison and had his head cut off on account of standing on his religious belief. But we would say Mark has made quite the contrast here in the overwhelming significance of John compared to Herod.

Second, Mark wrote this Gospel during the era of Jewish revolt against Roman rule when both Jew and Christian received severe reprisal by Rome for rebellion. He will soon tell his disciples how much he will suffer and caution them when they say they want to drink of his cup that they do not know what they ask.

Not only has Mark made a pointed contrast between the worldly success of Herod, his rule, the luxurious palaces, his power to satisfy his lust by flagrantly marrying his brother's wife, against the significance of John, the prophet that proclaimed the coming of the Messiah and who languished in a Roman jail suffering at the whim of Herod; he also has given us a warning that being a Christian is not going to guarantee a bed of roses. A few weeks back we learned from Mark that the only ones who need to have fear of Jesus are the demons and those who do not listen.

We best recognize that being a strong advocate for the poor and disadvantaged, being a friend to those who languish in prison in the name of the Good News carries a risk to your worldly status and significance. The significance of your life may not be your "success," but rather your strength to stand on your belief and proclamation of the Good News by seeking to live by the greatest two commandments identified by the Lord of All.

Amen.