IN CHRIST
Psalm 85:8-13; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:1-14-29
8th Sunday after Pentecost, July 14, 2024
Rev. Dr. Ritva H. Williams
In this morning’s gospel reading we are treated to a scene in the life of Galilee’s Roman appointed ruler Herod Antipas. John the Baptizer has criticized Herod Antipas for marrying Herodias his former sister-in-law (and daughter of his half-brother). she nurses a grudge against the Baptizer. Her daughter dances at Herod’s birthday. To show his appreciation Herod offers her whatever she wants. At her mother’s prompting she asked for John’s head on a platter. Herod complies.
Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes puts it, this story has all the sordid ingredients of a sinister thriller — power, bitterness, shame. A whistleblower jailed. Family dysfunction. Politics. Wine, women, debauchery and violence. Not what you would expect from a Bible story, is it? But this is not a detour from the gospel; this is the context of the gospel. These is the world in which Jesus proclaimed the gospel. These are the events which helped launch the Jesus movement in first century Galilee and Judea.
The world in which we live, work, play and witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ is not so
very different. As Pastor Garnaas-Holmes continues:
… the world gives selfishness and fear great power, and they kill people. People do what they know is wrong till they don't know any more, and they do harm. And we live among them—not by default, but precisely because they need us, and we have been given to them. This word needs humility, generosity and grace.
For every Herod it needs a thousand Christs. To this, for this, we are sent. (“Context,” July 8, 2024, unfoldinglight@gmail.com)
For every Herod in the world, we need a thousand Christs. Before you protest that you are not and cannot be Christ, let’s dive into our other scripture readings. Let’s see if we can hear the Word of God speaking through them to teach how to be “little Christs” in a world populated by too many Herods.
In Psalm 85 we learn that God speaks, just as God spoke at the creation of the cosmos. God speaks peace — shalom — wholeness and well-being, thriving and flourishing for all people. But it’s not magic. Shalom doesn’t just pop into existence because God dreamt it up and spoke the word. At creation God called forth new life from things that already existed. God brings forth shalom through communities of faithful people who turn their hearts to God.
God speaks salvation — redirecting, recovering and restoring conditions to make it possible for life to flourish and thrive whenever it goes off the rails. God’s dream of salvation and shalom is near to those who are in awe of God, who have deep respect and reverence for the God who speaks the Word into the world. Again it is through such people that God works to bring the glory of salvation to dwell in the land.
The psalmist speaks of steadfast love and faithfulness meeting. Righteousness and shalom intimately entwined. Faithfulness springs up from the earth. It is the awe-filled human response to God’s steadfast love. Righteousness looks down from heaven and goes before the Lord to prepare a pathway for God. Righteousness paves the way for both salvation and for shalom — the peaceful flourishing of all people. But what is righteousness.
According to Professor Rolf Jacobson, to be righteous is to be spot on in everything as God would have you be spot on. For example, a righteous scale measures accurately, a righteous person keeps their promises, a righteous child cares for their parents, righteous parents care for their children. To be righteous is to have integrity — to walk the talk. (Crazy Talk, p. 148).
In the Bible, righteousness and justice overlap (in fact they are the same word), and refer to the ordering of communities, societies and nations in ways that all people thrive and flourish. Biblical justice is much more than fairness and equality for all people, as Professor Jacobson explains,
“The rules of sporting events are designed to be fair but not just. The rules exist so that the biggest, fastest, strongest, smartest, hardest working, and more prepared will win — and everyone else will lose … But God wants as many as possible of us to win … And this means that in addition to being as fair as possible, society must also be as merciful as possible” (Crazy Talk, p. 102).
The message of Psalm 85 is that God brings forth shalom and salvation through communities of faithful people who turn their hearts to God in awe. Shalom and salvation emerge in the world as God’s people experience and model steadfast love, faithfulness, shalom, salvation, and righteousness which consists of of integrity, fairness and mercy.
How do we experience God’s love, faithfulness, shalom, salvation and righteousness in such a way they become part of who we are, transforming how we think, speak and act?
Father Richard Rohr describes the spiritual journey as growing up, cleaning up, and waking up. Growing up is simply the process all persons undergo toward psychological and emotional maturity. Growing up to full maturity always involves growing outward, learning to care for others and the world around us. Cleaning up is about developing impulse control and establishing healthy boundaries around our natural ego-driven self-centeredness. Cleaning up is an important step toward emotional and spiritual maturity. Cleaning up can help us wake up, and is accelerated when we wake up to the reality that we are part of something much bigger than our personal and private, even social and cultural worlds. Waking up is the goal of all spiritual work, worship, sacraments, prayer, and Bible study.
In our reading from Ephesians, the author praises God for their waking up, labeling the reality they have woken up to as being “in Christ.” We learn that God has blessed us in Christ (1:3), chosen us in Christ (1:4), adopted us through Jesus Christ (1:5), bestowed grace on us in the Beloved (1:6), redeemed us in him (1:7). In Christ have an inheritance (1:11), and in him we are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit (1:13). Most importantly we learn that the mystery of God’s will forth in Christ is a plan to gather up all things in heaven and earth in Christ (1:9-10).
The phrase “in Christ” occurs 164 times in the letters of Paul and his disciples. It refers to a cosmic, universal reality that is always and everywhere present. Although we may not be aware of it, all of us are organically connected“in Christ” like branches to a tree. “In Christ” is the Paul’s equivalent of Jesus’ “kingdom of heaven which is spread out over all the earth, but people don’t see it” (Gospel of Thomas 113).
In Christ we experience God’s steadfast love, shalom and salvation. In Christ we learn righteousness and justice. In Christ we are united in a community that transcends barriers of nation and denomination, race and rank, class and culture, gender and sex, size and shape, ability and disability. In Christ is ground we walk on, the water we swim in, and the air we breathe.
In Christ is good news to every person, but especially to those who have been conditioned to believe they are alone in a scary world, caught between heaven above and hell below. The good news is that both heaven and hell are in Christ, and Christ has broken down the gates of hell and liberated all who are imprisoned there. Consequently, neither death, nor life, not angels, nor rulers, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:38).
And so we pray,
O God, awaken every human heart to your steadfast love in Christ. Empower us to grow in righteousness as we experience your salvation and shalom, so that all people everywhere may live in peace and justice in Christ. Amen.
