Sun Kwak, “Perilous Proclamation”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMnoNixe79Y
TEXT: Mark 6:7-31
[7] And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. [8] He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—[9] but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. [10] And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. [11] And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” [12] So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. [13] And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
[14] King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” [15] But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” [16] But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” [17] For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. [18] For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” [19] And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, [20] for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.
[21] But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. [22] For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” [23] And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” [24] And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” [25] And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” [26] And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. [27] And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison [28] and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. [29] When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
[30] The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. [31] And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
SERMON: “Perilous Proclamation”
When I was in eighth grade, I was in my athletic prime. I didn’t know things would start going downhill from there. But I really thought there was no basketball game too big for my thirteen year old talents. I was a part of a basketball team in our local rec center. It’s one of the things some of our players did for fun during the offseason. But it also meant we leaned on volunteer coaches. And because a lot of our players came from single family homes, it was really whoever wanted to volunteer their time for us. So, we had this coach that season — Coach Nelly. His actual name was Darnell, but he insisted on being referred to as Coach Nelly. This was circa 2002 when hit tracks Air Force Ones, Country Grammar, EI, Dilemma, and of course, Hot in Herre. These were topping all the music charts. But back to Coach Nelly. At the very first practice and for one of the very first drills, he had us lined up to do layups from each side. And he decided he was going to demo for us. And if you’ve ever been a part of a basketball practice, these are normal warmup routines and the very basics of the sport. And in his Timberlandsand oversized and sagging jeans, with a string tied around the belt line, he takes a couple drills and goes in for a finger roll. First off, he jumps off the wrong foot, but then he misses everything — backboard, rim. All he caught was air. And I remember then and there consciously deciding to never listen to anything he would say from that point forward. He lost me. Do as I do wouldn’t do it and neither would Do as I say. Because I saw that pathetic failed attempt at the most basic shot in the game of basketball, and I couldn’t trust him from that point forward.
And so, transitioning from Coach Nelly to Jesus. Not exact parallels, but he was leading a group of disciples who were called by his word. And I know we tend to imagine these caricatures for these disciples — like they’re some cartoon characters. But these were real living people with real living human experiences. And like a deflated eighth grade basketball player, I’d imagine that this hometown rejectionthat Jesus had just experienced did a number on these disciples who were observing and certainly internalizing everything. I mean, it’s one thing to be rejected by some strangers, but it’s a whole different thing to be called a liar and a fraud by your own family and by the people who you saw you grow up. And not just that — Jesus here was teaching and preaching. And what do we read in verse 6? The reaction is not conversion but rather unbelief. And you think the objective to preaching, this is an air ball, so to speak. And it’s right after these happenings and observations that Jesus tells, in essence, to his disciples — Do as I did. And I’d imagine there would have been a whole lot of mixed reactions.
Now, we just read a large section, and it’s what scholars call a Markan Sandwich, which cues you back to the fact that we’re in The Gospel of Mark again. It’s one of Mark’s culinary expertises. But in these sandwiches, you get buns on the outside that are parallel, and the meat that’s the inside. And often times, it’s the meat that helps give definition to the buns. You look at verses 7-13 and then verses 30-31, and what you get is the sending out and the returning of the disciples who were commissioned two by two to preach the gospel. And at the very heart of this — the meat, so to speak — is this curious story recalled of John the Baptist and his beheading. It’s a strange story that you don’t really expect in the Bible. And hear what one commentator says about this whole ordeal — From a form-critical perspective, John’s execution may be called a martyrology, a heroic account of a faithful servant’s martyrdom. But apart from the brief mention of the reason Herod imprisoned John (v. 18), there is little in the story typical of martyr tales, such as the testimony of the martyr, his courage and boldness in the face of the threat, or his heroic last words. Instead, all the emphasis is on the petty and diabolical machinations of Herod and Herodias. The emphasis not actually on John. The emphasis from a literary perspective is on Herod. This is something twisted not meant to valorize evangelists but more so showcase the antagonism that comes from those opposed to the mission of the gospel. And so, back to this sandwich. What you get here is that when you bite into the buns of evangelism and witness, what you’ll often find inside is persecution and opposition.
And I know that can sound really discouraging. That instead of being rewarded for being a witness, instead it seems you’re rejected and even have to absorb harm. It seems counterintuitive and de-motivating to go out and share about Jesus. Because it just doesn’t seem like a good strategy. And it makes us wonder why we would engage in this witnessing at all, if this is going to be the end outcome. And so, I want us to sit on that discomfort for a bit. And I want us to dwell on why this might be. Because Jesus isn’t unaware of the discouragement that this can pose. First thing, Jesus sends them out two by two — for company, for accountability, for companionship. Not just for some tag teaming, but because ministry and witnessing can sometimes be so discouraging and energy sapping. But the two by twogives us so much — it’s so loaded that multiple commentators note that it could mean multiple things at the same time. That it could suggest a support system created by Jesus for his disciples. It could also suggest flourishing and unexpected success. And it could also suggest deep union in the midst of hardships. In our Community Group gathering this past week, our sister Layla was quick to jump on the idea that being called two by two was something commissioned to the animals to come into the Arkback in Noah’s time before the Flood. And it was John Calvin who called the Ark the first church. And that just as these animals were brought in two by two in order to repopulate and multiply in this new creation they step out onto post-Flood, here are the disciples commissioned two by two in order to multiply and bring the story of resurrection life to those who don’t know Jesus. And we in the church are commissioned likewise to bring about resurrection life — not alone but in community and as commissioned by Jesus himself.
There’s this TV series starring Chris Hemsworth titled Limitless. And it’s where he does a variety of things to learn how to live better and longer. He does everything from fasting to learning a new instrument to strength training. There’s so much offered to humanity for the betterment of our physical vitality. And one of the episodes is about pain and how our practicing of enduring through pain is good for living longer and healthier lives. Early on in the episode, there’s a test that measures how much pain he can handle. He’s connected to a machine that measures this in accordance to how much power is dialed up. So initially, he’s given this test while alone, and he actually does rather poorly. But then, the tester brings in a couple of his childhood friends. And they also get tied up to do this test. And so, they all do this test together. And they do it while playing Jenga. And what ends up happening is that he doesn’t just do better but exponentially better and his friends likewise. In some way, they all multiply the amount of pain that Chris could handle alone. Not because there was any load sharing. Because they each had to handle the pain on their own. But there was something about community and something about laughter and good company that allowed for them to be able to resist the pain. And you know, gospel ministry is serious business. We take seriously the truths of Scripture and the forgiveness of sins. But laughter is so essential when we’re in each other’s company. What one minister who has recent experience with grief says is that laughter and sorrow are not opposites. But rather, these are two sides of the same coin. Because they’re so closely twined to the one who created us for deep laughter and joy. Who entered into deep sadnesses and sorrows. Because as G. K. Chesterton writes, laughter is the reentrance of wonder. And it serves as a means to bring us back into the place of missional alignmentand calibration. And when Chesterton was writing this, it wasn’t laughter while watching a funny YouTube clip by yourself in bed. But this is about deep communal laughter that we share together.
And here’s what I want to press on us. Because the joy of living on mission for the gospel is through this, we get to experience deep union. Because two by two shows to us the picture of a yoke, which is not the yummy yellow stuff in the middle perfect friend eggs. But the wooden instrument hung over and attaching two working animals to move together, to work together. To allow for the strength of one to carry the weakness of another. Because when reading the passage on the surface, John, it looks like, died alone. But I’d argue that the reason he was able to endure through such injustice is because he was always in deep union and intimate company. There’s something interesting here. Because what Heroddid was use his words flippantly. He offered a promise. And it was foolish, and it was spur of the moment, after it’s said that he was pleased with Herodias’ daughter’s dancing. Whatever kind of dance this was, it made Herod’s pre-frontal cortex go crazy. But think about this moment here. Because I think the logical thing would be to say — I take that back or even Maybe I can offer something else. But what happens? He stays true to his word. And if even a crooked man like Herod will stay true to his word, it shows us that there’s power with promises and words. And so, what about words from an all-knowing and all-good and eternally merciful God? Theologians like Jurgen Moltmann call the Triune relationship that preceded creation a dance — the perichoresis, which is where we get the word choreography. And this dance amongst the Trinity was the perfect dance. And it’s a dance that man was invited into, as God announced — Let us make man in our image. Let’s invite humanity into this dance. But as Adam sinned and as we all do, we break this chain and move away. And so, what Story ofGod shows us is that instead of letting us stray and drift, God in his initiative moves toward us. And like Salome here in our story, our movements were immoral, we were offensive to God. Because we broke the chain. But instead of giving us what we deserve, there was a promise the Triune God made from before the beginning of time — that they would commit to saving the elect. And so, Jesus leaves this perfect dance in order to pay the consequences for those who had left the dance in our movements of sin, in our allures to move toward other dance partners.
And you see here, dancing is about honoring the movements of the other. Knowing each other’s steps and drawing near in proximity. And you look at the story of John the Baptist. What happened to him? It’s tragic and unjust, in many ways. He didn’t deserve his end. And yet, he committed to this end, because he was never alone. And he committed to his end, because his sad ending isn’t without an eternally better epilogue. And as a side note, for our friends we’ve lost this past year — for Bora and for Rebecca. Their endings might have been sad, but they weren’t without an eternally better epilogue. Because their ultimate dance partner was not cancer but he who entered into their perils and misery. He who would honor their movements, because he knew exactly what it was like to be left immobile, to be crying out in pain, to feel alone. They looked a better epilogue, and so did John. Because Herodthought that John was raised from the dead. And he thought that John was innocent and holy. But there would be one who was actually and perfectly innocent and holy — he who actually rose from the dead. And his story makes stories like John’s not for naught but attached to a deep and incredible purpose. Because he who commissions us two by two is one who accompanies us. He who tells us — Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. A better epilogue, because of a better friend.
One final detail here. The disciples were actually given this comfort too. And Mark is rather intentionalabout this. Because the detail we get in verses 8-9 is that these disciples were to pack light — no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, not two tunics. But what’s unique to Mark is that he actually writes of them taking nothing except a staff. But you look at the other synoptic Gospels, and they actually record that these disciples were told likewise to pack light to bring nothing, which included no staff. Mark is actually the only Gospel that explicitly includes the presence of a staff. And I looked at numerous commentaries for this — commentaries from the early church to the Reformation to modern scholarship. And all of them conclude that this wasn’t a different event, and it also wasn’t Mark being wrong or inconsistent. But rather, it was a particularly Markan emphasis that Matthew and Luke aren’t emphasizing. Because the staff was utilized in that context to ward off wild and dangerous animals. And this particular emphasis, if you remember from earlier in our sermons through Mark, was also a unique emphasis following the baptism of Jesus, which also included John the Baptist. That Jesus went to the wilderness, where he was to face wild animals. Just like this passage, Mark is the only Gospel to include any mentioning of wild animals. And so, why the staff and wild animals? Because Peter is the primary eyewitness to this Gospel and because the context was Christian persecution in Rome, it’s very likely that this was a particular message for those who were suffering for their faith in Rome. Because one of the inhumane ways Christians were persecuted in Rome was that they were thrown into the gladiator games to face wild animals. It was vicious and horrible. But it’s that the instrument these gladiators would be given to prepare them for these sure death encounters was a staff, referred to as a rudis.
And here’s why all of this matters. For Peter, who is the eyewitness here. He’s speaking from and into a context where it might not have looked like Christianity was winning. In fact, following Jesus and proclaiming his name looked a lot more like losing. It didn’t make sense. And yet, the encouragement that Peter is showing by layering this motif throughout this Gospel is that Jesus gives us the staff to prepare us for these encounters of hardship and even death. But the wilderness with wild animals, he didn’t just send us into it. But he ultimately went there. So that we can know that in whatever situation, no matter how difficult or unfortunate, he’s with us. Because what other God do you know would put a yoke upon himself, to be dehumanized for us? Not just torn up by the bites of savage animals but by the thrashes of the wrath of God that none of us could withstand? Because the ultimate yoke, the wooden instrument that binds us to our Savior is the one he carried up Calvary’s Hill for us and in our place. And because he hung there alone and in our place, he can promise us that if we trust him, if we take his yoke, then our burden is light because his yoke is easy. Because he hung there where we should have and had the wrath of God in full weight fall upon him. Let’s remember, church, that as we’re yoked to one another, we’re first yoked to Jesus. And what guides are movement is the cross that he took in our place. May Jesus’ steps up Calvary’s Hill guide us in our counterculture and witness to our neighbors and to those unaware of the goodness of God.
