Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 6:16-29 bible study (January 23, 2024)

January 23, 2024

Tuesday morning Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 6:16-29

May the Hope and Love of Jesus Christ sustain you in all the days of your life,

Good morning to you. What a wonderful wet night we all got to share last night, with more on the way this afternoon. The desert seems to be drinking up all the rain it can get from this storm. Thank you for allowing me to offer my passion for the work of the Gospel in the world yesterday in my opening for the Bible Study. Today I am asking you to offer prayers for courage, peace, strength, and if it is the LORD'S will, healing for Jeff Hovelson who is now diagnosed with terminal cancer. It is an aggressive form, and he has been given up to a year to live. This cancer cannot be removed surgically, and there is not available treatment for its destructive power in the body. Karen is Jeff's wife, and his children are adults, Shannon who is our Joshua's wife, and her brother Mike. They will all need our prayers in the coming days, weeks, and months.

"Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him." ~Mark 6:20

As strange as it may seem, today we are going to take an in depth look at this passage which tells us of John the Baptist's death, which according to yesterday's passage had already taken place, and it reveals even more about the grave disfunction that the kings from the Herod line had in their lives, marriages and children.

As we start, we find that Herod the Antipas is in his fortress on the Red Sea in a place called Machaerus. It is located between three ravines and is nearly an unassailable fortress. Today in its bleakness, the dungeons are still visible along with the hardware to which prisoners were chained. This is the place where John the Baptist was imprisoned, and where his life was ended.

The story includes a number of not very nice, quite immoral characters, even by today's standards of morality. We first encountered Herod the Great. He was the king who ordered the children of Bethlehem slaughtered, trying to destroy the new King who had been born there. We are going to discover in this passage, and from history, that Herod the Great was a ruthless, murdering, leader of the nation, and of his own family members for fear that his male children might move to ascend to Herod the Great's throne. Toward the end of his life, Herod the Great, grew more and more insecure, and here is what follows:

a commonly spoken phrase, “It is safer to be Herod's pig, than Herod's son!"

1. Marriage one - Doris - a son born to them Antipater was murdered by Herod the Great

2. Marriage two - Mariamne the Hasmonean - two sons - Alexander and Aristobulus - both murdered by HtheGreat

3. Marriage three - Herodias (she wanted John dead for his accusations about her marriage to HG) Herodias as the daughter of HG's son Aristobulus. So, she was HG's niece and genetic close relative. By the way, here is that incest that the law of the OT objects to as being destructive to its people. (from Sunday's SS Class) Now, we are not done yet:

4. Marriage 4 - HG then marries another Mariamne (Boethusian) They have a son Herod Philip. Then HPhilip marries Herodias who was the daughter of his half-brother Aristobulus, and they have a daughter Salome who dances for Herod Philip (HP), and who HP has strong attraction to.

5. Marriage 5 - HtheG then marries Malthake and has two more sons, Archalaus and Herod Antipas who became the ruler of Galilee, and is the Herod of this passage who has John killed at the request of Salome. This is the complex mess of the king's family and marriages. I hope that I have it right. The Herodias of this passage was a niece and grandniece to her husband Herod Philip. Oh, we’re still not quite done.

6. Marriage 6 - Herod the Great marries Cleopatra of Jerusalem. They have a son named Philip and he marries Salome. And yes, they too are certainly blood relatives.

Seeing all of this I hope that we can understand why John rebuked Herod, who it seems kind of gets the blame for the actions of an entirely messed up king's family. It is out of this unholy mess that John finds himself the victim of Herod Philip's lust for his niece. At her request, John is beheaded. We must, of course, consider the "silly" offer that Herod made to Salome. He was willing to give up his land and power just to please her, all a rather foolish offer for a king to make.

Let's now take a look at the characters of this passage in Mark 6:

1. Herod - He both feared and respected John. He certainly did not like John's constant reminders to him about his sins, and especially his adulterous behavior. I suspect that Herod learned such behavior from the best of the worst leaders in Israel. We shouldn't be surprised. After all, we know about ourselves that we are constantly Saints and sinners too. Herod was impulsive, showing off before his men who he had gathered for a banquet, and risking it all a dancing woman who had enticed him and tricked him into giving her any promise for which she asked. Herod also worried about the impression that he would make on his men. He had a great deal of insecurity in his kingship.

2. Herodias and Salome - They were driven to destroy John the Baptist. Yet, Herodias stayed with Herod through some very difficult times. When he was exiled to Gaul by the Roman emperor, Herodias had an option to not go with Herod, but she was committed to her husband.

3. John the Baptist - he was the cousin of Jesus and had spent much of his life as a desert recluse. He was a man of courage, willing to challenge the morality of the King of Galilee, and the king's wife's as well. John had come to the people Israel to tell them the truth of the coming action of God in their world. He always told the truth in the face of anger and hatred for God's message that he carried. Like all who speak God's truth, John placed his care and protection into the hands of God. The message was the most important thing! We also know that John was very humble in knowing his place as the Light of Christ was coming into the world.

The Coming One of God is being prepared for in this text. The world was, and is, a difficult place, filled with the faithful and those who will refuse Christ's Love for their lives. How do you prepare for His presence every day?

You have my love in Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 6:14-15 bible study (January 22, 2024)

Monday Bible Study on the Gospel Mark 6:14-15

January 22, 2024

Good morning in the Name and by the Grace of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. 

On Sunday, I offered a Sunday School Class for people interested in having an opportunity to learn about, and discuss the topic of how the ELCA, and American Lutheran, have come to embrace the LGBTQ community based on how the moderate part of the Lutheran Church understands the interpretation of traditionally misused Old Testament passages which have been used to segregate this community of people from the Church.  As a congregation we have moved in the direction of inclusivity and affirmation for all people regardless of race, color, sexual identity, or any number of other things that traditionally keep communities separated from God's Grace.  The class concluded with words of inclusion for all people because we do not see eye to eye at all on so many parts of life, that our unity is found only in the Spirit's gift of faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  I later heard from a person who identifies as part of the LGBTQ community who truly felt affirmed and loved because of this class.  I understand that the larger church and our congregation still have before us those who cannot abide the inclusion of this community of people, yet I (and our congregation) welcome those who do object to this inclusivity as brothers and sisters in Christ, with no desire for their separation from our congregational community, yet it does still happen, and when it does I can tell you that it gives me pain in their need to attempt to move the Gospel of Jesus Christ back to its place of serving primarily white heterosexual people, who by the way, have their own struggles with sin and brokenness, even though they claim Christ as Savior and Lord.  These people are wandering in a wilderness of uncertainty about the nature of Christ's love for all people.  Our reality in life is that the Gospel, as given to us from Christ Himself, is meant to mediate the Grace of God to every single person on this planet.  We are to love God above all things, and in like manner, love our neighbor as we love ourselves, with no exclusions.  The Church, according to Martin Luther, must be ever reforming.  Without the necessary Spirit movement, it is most difficult for us to be always moving forward for the Gospel, and reaching out to new communities of people, many of whom grew up in the faith with their families.  We are closed minded, shutting out Christ too, when we fail to accept the growing evidence of theological scholarship.   The lesson of Christ in the Gospels is that He was truly a social activist in His time, and that He served God's Truth with His life, and freedom from Sin.  Jesus went to His death because of our brokenness and closed hearts, and part of the closed hearts is evident when we think that only those like us deserve Christ's Grace in their lives.  He constantly had His greatest success when he reached out to those well out of the traditional Jewish community.  We cannot, and must not ignore the power of the Gospel as it reaches into people's lives, no matter who they are.  They are our brothers and sisters in Christ too.   As you can tell, I needed to address this with you who are members with me at American.  I will with my life continue to do as Luther told us to.  I will continue with the Gospel in my heart to sin boldly, if that is what I must do to share God's Truth and Love for the lives of everyone, welcoming all who are faithful to be on our common journey in Christ to let the Gospel's Light shine with Holy, glorious brightness.  I am confident, that for Christ, if this is indeed a sin, that I, and all who hear the Gospel Truth and come to faith in Him will stand before God's judgement, only and always, with the merit of His Son.

"Jesus' name had become known" ~Mark 6:14

Today our study is a bit shorter, but as is so often the case, these two verses are really loaded with the information we need in order to come to the next much longer passage about Herod, John the Baptist, Herod's wife, and Herod's stepdaughter.  The passage which follows actually takes place before today's passage, because it tells us about how it was that John came to be murdered at Herod's hands.

We have to wonder why it was that Herod has not heard of Jesus much earlier than he did.  Herod's home was in Tiberius on Galilee.  It was an almost completely non-Jewish community, so we have no record of Jesus ever going there.  I hope, however, that you remember the sending out of the disciples in pairs to teach God's Truth, and to bring healing to those who they met.  There is a good likelihood that at some point, the disciples went into Tiberius to share about Jesus.  At the point of today's passage, John is already dead, and Herod, who we discover tomorrow is the one who has ordered John's murder, out of what may be guilt for that murder, responds to the news of Jesus, thinking that Jesus is John resurrected, and come back to plague him with trouble for his killing of John.  Herod seems to have been mixed about his relationship with John.  He liked hearing him, but at the same time, he feared John's truth about his incestuous marriage. (more about that tomorrow) 

We also see in this passage a consideration that Jesus may indeed be Elijah which gives to Jesus an identity as a nationalist, who would bring renewed independence from the Romans.  He would be what the Jews hoped for in the Messiah, a great leader, flexing Jerusalem's muscle.  Of course, Jesus came to be known as a prophet by the Jews, but anger continued to mount against him throughout His ministry years.  Even today, the celebration of the Passover feat, leaves a chair for the coming Messiah.  Of course, in his ambition, Herod is always thinking about how he can benefit from the presence of this itinerant teacher, who is also a healer.  Submitting to the authority of God's Son was not in the cards for Herod. 

The Jews may also have seen Jesus as a prophet, but their history with God's prophets was not a good one.  Of course, we see how that all plays out in a familiar way with Jesus as He is rejected by the crowds at His trial.  The difference between Jesus and the other prophets is that He literally brought the presence of the living God to the people of Israel in His person.  It had been 300 years since people had responded to the prophet who spoke these words, "This is the Word of God".  Though the masses loved Jesus’ preaching and teaching, they were apparently very shallow in their faith.  What they saw in miracles of healing, the feeding of the masses, and the destruction of evil, did not stick with them very long.  I hope that we cannot say that about what we hear in sermons, and what we read in Scripture.  In the busyness of life with its everyday trials and difficulties, it becomes, just as it did for the Jews, so hard for us to be moved beyond the few minutes of the experience.  This is the reason that we continue to need access to the nurturing Grace of Christ as it gets shared with us every time we gather in the faith community.  We truly need one another's compassion, strength, peace, and FAITH!

I will be back with you tomorrow morning.  Stay safe.  The weather is supposed to be really bad on Tuesday.

I give you Christ Love from my heart.   Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study on Ezra 6:16-22 (January 18, 2024)

January 18, 2024

Thursday morning Bible Study on the OT Book of Ezra 6:16-22

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ.

A reminder that we have a special Sunday School Class on January 21 at 9AM.  During this class we will discuss how it has come to pass that the church/Church has taken a turn away from the myriad laws of Moses in the first five books of the Old Testament, and has moved to a far more grace-centered, informed by the 10 Commandments, New Testament approach to follow Christ's model for how we discern with prayer and faith how we live together as the community of all who accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.  I hope to see you there.

The Old Testament book of Ezra

Today we are in Ezra 6:16-22.  As we have been reading Ezra, this part of the description of how the nearly completed Temple will now be used, and try to come to understand why the King, one hundred years or so after Cyrus, feels bound by the commands of a former king of Persia to assist The Judahites as they move to begin worship, which certainly includes animal sacrifice as an expiation for the sins of the people.  During the time of the building of Jerusalem and the Temple, there was a celebratory worship, but it was accomplished by the builders who were not really priests, and especially not priests who had been purified for the task of getting that worship started.  In chapter 6 it is clear that now, the correct kind of preparation for starting worship is in place, and the people who will be in charge of it are all purified for the purpose. All of this is similar to the start-up of a congregation.  This generally begins with a synod sent mission developer, who finds a place to gather people who are interested in worship, and then, hopefully interested in chartering a congregation which then sets about the task of building a church, setting programs for the dispersion of the Gospel message like focus groups, Sunday School teachers, worship assistants, outreach groups who will head out to welcome many more diverse people to the new church, and arrangements will be made to call a first pastor to serve the Gospels in their midst.  The one great big difference is how all of this is financed.  For a new church start, there is always assistance from the larger church, and ultimately it falls on the shoulders of the new worshiping community to provide the necessary finances.  But this is not the way that the Judahites began.  Their finances were provided by more than one king of Persia.  When we read today about the numbers of animals which Persia will provide for the festival of celebration of the Passover, At the hand of God, moving the heart of the Persian King, every need has been provided for, including the costs of this massive number of animals that will be sacrificed, not this time for getting forgiven, but instead, having come to realize that God has done this all for them, bringing them home from exile, and doing even far more than that, are celebrating God's love and kindness to them.  Earlier, they would have considered the task before them as their own work to seek a renewed relationship with God. In a reading of Ezra, we discover that it was the belief of the exiled people that Cyrus was seeking to placate the Judahite God, asking for prayers and renewed hope for the people who had come from outside of Persia.  Cyrus, and the kings who followed him, were truly the tools of this rebuilding and extravagant worship with God as the driving force behind all of it.  Perhaps one of the most important learnings for us from this passage is more about God's desire to provide for us in greater ways than we could ever hope for. 

I have to tell you that in my own life, my internship in Des Moines, IA was lonely except for my family.  3000 members was such a large number of people to attempt to even know names.  In my first call there I was so busy in my ministry that there was neither time for my young family with a new one on the way, nor for my wife.  Everything was in a seat behind the 70-80 hours of serving the Gospel every week.  It was not coming to American, that I really found my joy in serving the Gospel.  My spirituality had a chance to blossom through preaching, celebrating the sacraments, teaching, and welcoming everyone who came through the doors. Early in my ministry at American there was one new member class of 40 people, and to have the honor of having two of our congregations’ members move on to become ordained clergy was amazing.  That happened too in my first call with two members moving into ordained ministry, yes, and even one from my internship site who credited me as the driving force for his ministry. I didn't enter into ordained ministry for the Gospel of Jesus Christ ever thinking about who I might inspire to become a pastor, yet God has given me more in that way than I could have ever hoped for.  The same thing is true for the Judahites.  This new beginning festival in the Temple is more than they ever dreamed would be possible for them in their relationship with God.  The ones who have returned from exile need cleansing, and the priests are ready to move on to that for them.  However, unlike the time of the building when outsiders were troubled and troubling for the Judahites, now everyone who wants to become a part of this new community is welcome to join in.  The biggest issue here of course is that to join, the men need to be circumcised.  This is after all, an outward sign of that inward change which coming into the relationship with the God of the Judahites requires.  Of course, in the Christian community that outward sign is Baptism.

This is the end of the study for today.  God bless you.

In Christ, Pastor Kim