Loving God, you call us into relationship with you even as we continue to have doubts and questions.  Help us to see you and to meet you this day by the power of your Spirit and through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    It is truly amazing, at times, what a guilty conscience can do for you.  Take Herod, for example – Herod Antipas to be exact.  He hears about Jesus – the miracles that he has been performing, how he has been teaching, and even how he has sent out disciples -- and Herod’s number one assumption is that Jesus is all about him (and not in a good way!).  Herod assumes that John the Baptist has been raised from the dead and has come, through Jesus, in order to get back at Herod.  Can you have a more self-centred view of the world?

    Interestingly enough, the message that Herod should have heard about has to do with the need for people to repent of their sins and turn to God.  Herod could have turned his life around, changed his ways, and turned to God in repentance and faith in order to be cleansed by God’s forgiveness.  However, instead Herod focussed on the obvious power that was at work in Jesus’ miracles and assumed that this was God’s way of getting back at him.  How easy it seems to be to hear about Jesus and totally miss who he is and why he is here.

    Now, this is not to say that people are somehow deficient who don’t grasp who Jesus is.  Even those who were right there and saw what Jesus did and listened to his teaching often misunderstood him and questioned who he really was.  In the gospel that we heard today, most people seemed to think that Jesus was a prophet of some sort – in other words, somebody who spoke God’s word.  After all, the prophets who are described in the Old Testament did a few miracles of their own.  Moses parted the Red Sea (Ex. 14).  Elijah raised the widow’s son from the dead (1 Ki. 17:17-24).  Elisha healed Naaman the Syrian (2 Ki. 5).  God’s power was at work through these people, and God’s power was at work through Jesus.  It is easy to see why some would identify Jesus as a prophet.

    Others, of course, have said that Jesus is a great teacher.  They admire his wisdom or the cleverness of his parables.  They find truth and guidelines for living in what he has to say.  They believe that Jesus taught people about God and God’s ways.  While these things may be true, it seems problematic to identify Jesus simply as a great teacher.  There is a quote that I remember, although the source is kind of fuzzy.  It might have been from C.S. Lewis.  The quote goes something like this: “Either Jesus is who he says he is, or he is a lunatic.  There are no other options.”

    This is quite true if we take the Scriptures seriously.  Jesus is identified as Son of God and Son of Man.  There are passages where Jesus identifies himself with God, like in the gospel of John where he says, “Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn. 8:58).  “I am,” of course, was the name of God revealed in the Old Testament.  Also in the gospel of John, we hear Jesus say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6).  Somebody who was simply a great teacher wouldn’t say things like these, unless he was either the Son of God or losing his mind.

    The Jesus who is revealed in the Scriptures is this: He is God with us – God in the flesh, and yet also fully human.  Jesus was sent to live among us in order to break the power of human sinfulness – living a sinless life as only Jesus could.  Unable to accept the love of God living among them, people proved their sinfulness by crucifying Jesus, not even realizing that Jesus was taking their sin upon him when he was nailed to that cross.  As all humans do, Jesus died and was buried.  Yet, the Son of God could never stay dead – especially the Son of God who had lived a sinless life.  Jesus’ victory over the power of sin and the power of death was confirmed when God raised him from the dead.  Jesus’ rightful place with God was also confirmed when Jesus was taken up into heaven 40 days after his resurrection.

    Now, when we are baptized, we share in Jesus’ sinless life, in his death, and in his resurrection.  God adopts us as his own children and gives us the inheritance of eternal life, all because of Jesus and our faith in him.

    Still, that last part is difficult for many people – the faith part.  Many people have unanswered questions.  Some have trouble believing that Jesus rose from the dead.  Some are looking for proof.  Some don’t like the way that God runs the universe.  And yet God is there, holding out his hands to us in love, and waiting for us to come home.

    I’ve talked to a number of different people who want to have all of their questions answered and want to understand everything before they will believe in Jesus.  I wonder, though, if we’re trying to do things backwards by wanting understanding first.  Anselm, writing centuries ago, said this: "I do not seek to understand so that I can believe, but I believe so that I may understand; and what is more, I believe that unless I do believe, I shall not understand" (For All the Saints, Vol. II, p. 167).

    The thing about faith is that there is always a leap in there somewhere.  After all, it wouldn’t be faith anymore if everything was a certainty.  Yet, it is not a blind leap that is required.  For some people, it is reading the Scriptures that brings them to faith.  For others, they see the changed lives of people who already believe in Jesus.  For some people, there might be a logical argument that speaks to them.  For others, their faith is solidified through a personal experience that shows them that the name of Jesus does, indeed, have power over evil and illness.

    Whatever it is that first brings us to faith, it only grows stronger through use.  As you may have noticed in the Scriptures, when people believe in Jesus, things change!  Those who used to be fishermen are suddenly preachers and teachers and healers.  Those who used to take from others in order to amass riches for themselves are suddenly generous and repay even more than what they took (Lk. 19:1-10).  Those who used to be sexually promiscuous and jealous and drunk and quarrelsome suddenly exhibit love and peace and faithfulness and self-control (Gal. 5:19-23).  As people live in these ways and open themselves up to the power of the Holy Spirit, their faith only grows stronger.

    The story that we heard in today’s gospel may seem a little gory to some, yet it is a pretty accurate reflection of what happens when people in positions of power don’t believe in Jesus, or even in God for that matter.  If Herod had actually believed John the Baptist’s message, or even Jesus’ message, it would have been a far different story.

    Today, God invites us, not just to guess at who Jesus might be, but to get to know him.  We do that through worship and the Scriptures, through prayer and conversation, and through a day by day relationship with Jesus that permeates all that we do.  It might be hard to figure out at first, but that’s why we are part of God’s family – so we can learn from one another and help one another on the journey.  May the God of hope fill you with all peace in believing.  Amen.

Lectionary 15 (B)                                Mark 6:14-29
July 12, 2009
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2009 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved