Blessed be our God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Sometimes, living the life of faith seems quite straightforward – and we receive many blessings as we grow in discipleship. At other times, it’s a real struggle and we might wonder why we bother. And sometimes, we even consider giving the whole thing up – it all seems too hard.
And then we hear the stories of the saints – and we wonder what we are complaining about.
John the Baptist didn’t have an easy time of it throughout his all too short life. And in today’s Gospel we hear the shocking story of his death – when the executioner suddenly and unexpectedly turns up in his jail cell, carrying a newly sharpened sword.
John was used to Herod himself regularly turning up unannounced for a chat – Herod seemed to like hearing what John had to say, even if John didn’t mince his words about Herod’s rather unconventional personal life. John had been in prison for some time – but as these conversations between the King and his prisoner went on, maybe, just maybe, Herod was coming round to the idea that he might release him, after all, John hadn’t done anything wrong – just been a bit too public in his criticism.
So when the footsteps came hurrying, accompanied by a metallic clank, did John’s heart lift for a moment thinking that this might be the moment of his release?
Only then to drop like a stone as the awful reality of what was about to happen struck home.
No warning, no time to prepare, or beg for mercy.
On your knees, bow your head, close your eyes and say your prayers – say farewell, say goodbye – and off with his head.
John’s head, put on a platter and carried into the place of feasting and drunkenness – loud laugher and derision – that sharp tongue can’t hurt you now, Herod and Herodias.
Except of course, it can – John’s words and legacy live on and Herod will face first the fear, as we hear today, that in Jesus, John has been raised – and then the full realization, that if he had had his hands full with John, then Jesus is something else altogether!
It’s almost comic, but tragic too.
But John, of course, does exactly what he was meant to do. He prepares the way for the one to come after him – Jesus, who also in his turn, will die, humiliated and murdered – an even worse death than John’s – but yet his death will lead to a rising that will change the course of human history.
The rise and fall of human endeavours, of kings and empires – it was ever thus – and if there’s one thing sure about gaining power and popularity – is that once you are the top of the tree there is only one way to go!
With the shocking news of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump yesterday, and the ever growing questions over Joe Biden’s capability to run for a second term as President, we see this all too clearly.
But John and Jesus are not playing out their stories for their own success on the human stage – they are taking part in the greatest story of all time – God’s story.
It’s a story of cosmic significance! Its scope is beyond our human imagining. And yet we see how God wants to bring us into the heart of his story.
God is so vast, so powerful, so majestic – why on earth does he bother with us, tiny and insignificant as we are in comparison? And so small in every way – our tiny concerns are surely beneath his notice – so tied up as they often are with our own comfort and immediate wants and needs.
And yet God wants to come down to our level, to see things through our eyes and inhabit our experience – its what God does in Jesus – and we hear in the Old Testament reading how God comes down to the prophet Amos’s level too – using a simple human device – a plumb line – to help Amos and the people understand how straightforward it should be to keep aligned with God’s purposes -and yet how far off from the true they so quickly go!
Paul knows all this too well – and he writes to the Ephesians to try to help them see the vastness of God’s plan – a plan formed not just before we were born – but before time itself began.
We were always destined to be part of God’s closest family – adopted as God’s own children, receiving an inheritance which belongs to God’s own Son, but which Christ joyfully invites us to share along with him.
It’s like coming home after a difficult journey and a few wrong turns!
Today of course we are hoping that football might be coming home – as England supporters we have longed for this moment – I wasn’t born when we last won a major trophy – and its been a long and disappointing, not to say heart-breaking journey ever since!
And for me – football has always been linked with my sense of identity – both through supporting Norwich City and England – which has of course been more painful than joyful over the years.
But I’ve learnt through the bitter disappointments – which I’ve not always taken well – to understand something of the hugeness of God on which I can depend when the disappointment of football or other things for that matter pull me down.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
We are destined to receive all this, the glorious inheritance of Christ – the Christ who is Lord of all heaven and earth for goodness sake!
We so often set our sights too low when we pray and in our hopes and dreams – our desire for England to win the Euros is a huge thing to us today, but as of nothing compared to the riches that await us in the glory of heaven!
And who knows – we may be able to have both!
Our calling is to live always in the light of God’s love, carrying the promise of new life that is always within us and the inheritance that awaits us. We set our faces to joy and new beginnings, even in the midst of disaster and death. Its how Christian martyrs throughout the ages have gone stoically and even joyfully to their death – knowing that they are going home to God and so what is there to fear.
So, John, kneeling in his cell, bows his head and knows that his time has come – not just to say farewell to this life – but to enter into the joy of the heavenly life and the fulfilment of all he has done.
We hope and pray that football may indeed come home for us here in England tonight – but whether it does or it doesn’t – the promises of God remain.
None of this makes our lives easy – being a saint, or indeed the Son of God didn’t guarantee an easy life either – quite the reverse.
But we are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit – the pledge of our inheritance – the salvation of God’s people and our eternal joy is assured. Amen.
Service: Reverend Michelle Dalliston 14th July 2024. (St John The Baptist Church Peterborough UK)
Readings: Amos 7.7-15; Psalm 85.8-end; Ephesians 1.3-14; Mark 6.14-29