PROPER 10B – 2 Samuel 6:1-5; 12b-19; Psalm 24; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29 –

12 July 2009 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Opportunities – Good and Bad

INTRODUCTION – What am I preaching on?

So this is what it means to finally get an assisting priest after 16 years of being on my own? Heather gets to preach last week on Jesus sending out the disciples, two by two, for mission, and how we are sent out for mission, too, including the sharing of good news, and the amazing encounters we can have with others in the process of doing that. And then I get to work with John the Baptist being beheaded and served up on a platter? Perhaps this is what my seminary professors were talking about years ago when they said you should always be ready to preach. Perhaps this is what they meant when they were touting the benefits of having a lectionary, where we – as Episcopal preachers – don’t just get to choose our favorite passages to preach on, but sometimes must wrestle with the difficult ones. My wife, Julia, said, “Well, if you don’t feel that moved by the passage, maybe this will be the week when you choose to preach on something else.” But I have always liked the challenge of preaching on a passage that feels difficult for me to connect with. It’s not a bad thing to wrestle with scripture, for it seems to me there is a certain amount of wrestling that we go through in life. But John the Baptist beheaded and served up on a platter?

OPPORTUNITIES FOR HERODIAS AND HEROD

I went back and read it again, and then again. And the third time, one sentence grabbed me. It’s in verse 21. “But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee.” An opportunity came… To whom did the opportunity come? Mark isn’t totally clear, but as you think about what happened, I think it came to two people. It came for Herodias, the wife of Herod who John the Baptist told him it was not lawful for him to marry. Herodias didn’t like what John said. She had a “grudge” against John, according to Mark, and wanted to kill him. After all, she had a nice thing going in being married to Herod. There were some perks with that, and she didn’t want anyone messing that up. And when Herodias’ daughter (Salome, according to the historian Josephus) danced for all the honored guests at Herod’s birthday party, and Herod was thrilled that the guests loved her dancing, he felt like being wildly extravagant and said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.” And he solemnly swore to her. Oops – I bet he regretted that later. “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” Herod thought the girl might ask for half his kingdom. He never dreamed she’d say, “Hold on a minute while I go see what my mom wants me to say”, or that Salome would come back, after being coached by her mom, and say, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” According to Mark, Salome might have added the “on the platter” part. For dramatic effect, no doubt.

An opportunity came to Herodias, and she seized it. She seized it, and destroyed a life in the process.

An opportunity came for Herod, too. There’s the opportunity we just mentioned, when he was thrilled with Salome’s dancing, and decided to do something nice for her, as a type of reward. But what about when Salome came back and said she wanted him to give her – at once – John’s head on a platter? An opportunity came to Herod then, too. He could have thought it over and said to the girl, “No, I won’t be giving you that” and then turned to his birthday guests and said, “Honored guests, I misspoke earlier. I swore to give Herodias’ daughter whatever she asked, and I shouldn’t have done that. That was a mistake. And if I give her what she asks for now, I would be compounding that mistake by a hundred times. I made an oath I shouldn’t have made. I was wrong. Please forgive me, but I cannot follow through on my oath. I haven’t always liked what John has said to me, but I will not kill him just because I made a stupid oath in the midst of my excitement.”

But when the opportunity came, John did not say that. According to Mark, Herod was deeply grieved at the girl’s request, “yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her.” And so he sent a soldier to the prison and ordered him to bring John’s head, and the man did so, and brought it on a platter, and gave it to the girl, who gave it to her mother.

In order to not go back on his word… in order to save face… but mainly because he was worried about what his guests might think of him, Herod had John executed right there, on the spot, as his wife had requested.

OPPORTUNITIES COME FOR US

Opportunities come for you and me, too. In fact, they are constantly coming. Interestingly enough, if you look up “opportunity” in the dictionary, you first read “a combination of circumstances favorable for the purpose”. Then you read about a “fit time”, or “a good chance or occasion, as to advance oneself”. You and I know that “the purpose” can be good or evil. You and I know that some opportunities, if we so choose, are opportunities to advance the cause of life, and to do good, and other opportunities, if we so choose, are opportunities to destroy life, in one way or another, and do evil. The former are God-given opportunities. The latter, you might say, are Satan-given opportunities.

Either way, you and I have a choice, when opportunities come. And come they will.

What are some of the life-destroying opportunities that come our way?

• The vast majority of the things we worry about, especially the things that we have no control over.
• When you worry too much about what others will think of you, and then you shrink back from doing something life-giving and creative.
• How about the opportunity to pick a fight?
• The opportunity to criticize and blame others
• The opportunity to be a naysayer, not necessary because you have a great reason, but just because there is part of you that wants to squelch the creativity of others, or because there is part of you that is unnecessarily anxious
• The opportunity to kill, especially when it seems like the path of least resistance
• The opportunity to be prejudiced, or to condemn a person whom you don’t really know
• The opportunity to be lazy and not take on the hard thing that is the good thing

These can all be life-destroying opportunities, and are often exactly that.

What are some of the life-sustaining and life-giving opportunities that come our way?

• The opportunity to give back, and in so doing, demonstrate gratitude
• The opportunity to learn, or to pass on something that you have learned
• The opportunity to share a gift or something that you are passionate about
• The opportunity to introduce someone to something new, that has with it the capacity to deepen their appreciation for life
• Opportunities that help build your character and teach you something about God, yourself and others (mission trips and any kind of service project come to mind)
• Opportunities to really listen to someone
• Opportunities to speak to someone you have never met, or to someone you have previously ignored, and see what unfolds
• Opportunities to forgive, and thus, to offer healing – to yourself and to another
• Opportunities to use your best, most creative self
• Opportunities to trust in God, and act as if God really is for you

SUMMARY

There are always opportunities that come.

Some we avoid… let them go right on by. Sometimes that is a good thing. Sometimes, when we avoid an opportunity, we shrivel up and die a little, and if we let too many opportunities pass us by, we die a lot.

Some opportunities we step into, and then, before long and by God’s grace, we say, “Oh, my God! What have I done?” And in that “Oh-my-God” moment, we have another opportunity – to learn from our mistake, and probably to seek forgiveness.

Still other opportunities we take, and make the most of, and that makes all the difference. Starting and keeping at a friendship comes to mind. Getting married and continuing to grow with your partner comes to mind. Having children and really trying to enjoy them comes to mind. Following Jesus, and continually being open to taking that next step of faith, comes to mind.

With all these opportunities coming our way, it is very important that we keep the Lord close, and keep our good friends close. The type of friends who will tell you the truth, when you wondering what you should do with an opportunity. The type of friends who will forgive you when you say, “I spoke too hastily. I wasn’t thinking. I made a promise that I really can’t keep. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” Keep those kinds of friends nearby.

Some of these opportunities are way too big to not be seeking the Lord’s guidance. Some of these opportunities are way too big to not be seeking the advice of a good friend. Some of these opportunities are way too big to not be seeking out the input of a mentor or a respected elder. Let us pray that we make the most of the wonderful opportunities that God puts before us, and let us pray for the insight to turn away from the ones that will do harm to others or to us.

“… an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet.”

An opportunity might come to you as early as this afternoon. What will you do with it?