Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Mark, Chapter 6: "A Foretaste of Danger"

According to the sixth chapter of the Gospel According to Mark, Jesus left his unwelcoming hometown and ordered his chosen twelve disciples to go ahead into the surrounding villages in teams of two, preaching repentance.  Although he "gave them authority over evil (or "unclean") spirits," he told them not to take anything with them except a staff (perhaps as a reminder of Moses' staff of authority?).

They must have felt woefully unprepared and poorly equipped for the mission.  When have you been assigned a task, either in church or in any other context, in which you felt unprepared and inadequately supported?  It's a lonely, frightening feeling.  But the disciples went--and notwithstanding all warnings about the possibility of rejection, they experienced nothing but success.  At this moment of apparent  triumph for the Gospel message, Mark inserts a detailed and graphic account of the arrest and bizarre death of John the Baptist.  Mark's account blames King Herod's wife Herodias for arranging the death of John.  When Herodias' daughter pleased Herod and his guests with a dance performance, the king offered her "anything" as a reward, and (after consultation with her mother, who held a grudge against the prophet because of his earlier criticisms of her) the daughter requested John's head.  Feeling cornered, the king agreed.   Why does the Gospel report the death of John in such detail?  Why at this point in the story?  It would have been hard to anticipate that the Baptist would be put to death in such a manner.  What are the implications for Jesus' followers--not only his followers in Galilee, but his followers everywhere, today?