Extra extra read all about it!
If there had been in existence back in Jesus’ day the Nazareth News or the Galilee gazette, could you imagine the headlines that Mark could have written from chapter 6: 12 nobody’s heal and exorcise , Herod’s ‘killer’ party , Food shortage over.
Despite there not being newspapers, word was still getting around about Jesus. He was being gossiped about. People were trying to work out what all his antics meant.
Word of mouth was how info got around and people weren’t shy in sharing. The telling of stories was a deep part of the Jewish culture and heritage. In some ways the written word has robbed us of the need to ‘gossip’ stories. And the skill in doing so.
Jesus’ activities were being shared. In those communities word often got round to what was going on. The rich to an extent could buy privacy but word still seemed to get out. That’s why Herod heard about Jesus, and Mark seems to have heard about the goings on in Herod’s palace and the beheading of John the Baptist.
This passage is sandwiched between the sending out of Jesus 12 disciples who healed and cast out demons whilst preaching the good news of repentance and the feeding of the 5000 where it begins with Jesus’ disciples gossiping about all they had experienced when they’d been sent out. And this theme of preaching the kingdom of God and gossiping about it runs through this meat of the sandwhich in our passage today. Was it the disciples being sent out that meant word finally reached Herod in the palace of all that Jesus was doing?
In the first few verses of our gospel reading we hear that there was gossip and conjecture going around as to who Jesus is, off the back of the twelve being sent out. It’s presented almost like people have been debating who Jesus could be – drawing from the greats of Jewish history- still not grasping that Jesus was one more powerful than any who had come before. There was something about Jesus that got everyone questioning and thinking – even going as far as thinking he was someone raised from the dead. Funny how that turned out. That Jesus would be the one raised from the dead to bring forgiveness and restoration and the oncoming of the Kingdom of God where all who accepted Jesus as their king would live under his reign. Definitely something to be gossiped about.
When I was working in Central Asia some of my friends developed the skill of gossiping bible stories with their friends of other faiths – they would practise being able to gossip scripture – it always lead to amazement and fantastic conversations. Just as we might share with friends about the latest episode that we’ve watched in great detail or the outcome of a sporting event we witnessed , do we share about what we’ve read about Jesus, or experiences through his spirit, or things we’ve learnt about in church. why don’t we share about the amazing passage of scripture we’ve read this morning? What stops us?
I wonder if there’s a fear of bible bashing , or a loss of our reputation, or whether it’s linked into that thought : ‘well having faith is a personal decision it’s not my business.’ The private life however is a modern invention. But in the Jewish era and throughout a lot of history there wasn’t so much a concept of private life – in small communities everyone knew each other and everyone knew what was going on in peoples lives.
Indeed we read in the bible when one person heard about Jesus and made a commitment to him often the whole household was baptised. Faith wasn’t an individual private thing. It was shared. And it would be a normal thing to share all aspects of life. It would be normal to share encounters with God. To gossip about Him. That’s in effect what the psalms are, people gossiping about what God has done, gossiping about their feelings and experiences. Questioning and expressing.
In our passage the word about Jesus is getting around and they’re questioning who he is. Their questioning isn’t a bad thing – they were trying to work it out. Jesus had got them thinking – gossiping about what they’d seen and heard. Could he be Elijah? Another of God’s prophets ? Even John the Baptist risen from the dead – maybe these miraculous powers in this Jesus are because of that! There was a recognition that something special , extraordinary was going on here and yet it was still not fully grasped. Indeed it caused panic in Herod. Maybe because he was feeling exposed for the decisions and actions in his life.
John was preaching repentance and righteousness in preparation for the one whose sandals he was unworthy to untie. He spoke out against immorality, unlawfulness, and challenged role models behaviour. Herod and Herodias didn’t like this.
People with power and authority are observed – their life is scrutinised – gossiped about. And as Christian’s are we aware that maybe we are being scrutinised and observed too. That that will be gossiped about. That our actions will be seen. There are Christian’s that give God a good name and those that bring his name into disrepute. Praise God is holiness isn’t dependent on us but it gives us food for thought as to how are we living out our lives – are we living as forgiven, seeking repentance and righteousness? How have we responded to the message about Jesus?
When John shared the message of repentance and righteousness Herod had him imprisoned. So he wouldn’t spread it further afield. There was a sense of respect for John. He just didn’t want his reputation tarnished. Herodias it seems Didn’t want to hear it at all and wanted John dead. And so, we get the recounting of this shameful dinner party where probably drink fuelled Herod allows himself to be manoeuvred into granting favour to Herodias’ daughters request. And whispering in her daughters ear Herodias gets what she wants – Johns head.
John suffered for his gossiping of the gospel. There has been suffering for telling the truth of Gods gospel ever since. Jesus bought about the kingdom of God and the reality is that people don’t like the message of that kingdom. In Tom Wright’s words: ‘The kingdoms of the world are indeed to become the kingdom of God, but those who speak of this in advance are likely to suffer the anger of those who feel their power slipping away from them.’ The power of individualism maybe, the power of selfishness, characteristics that aren’t really of the kingdom – the kingdom which is about the other, equally to ourselves.
There are possibly a few reasons why we don’t gossip the bible as much as maybe we could. Maybe we fear to be seen as bringing judgement on the Herod’s and Herodias’ of the world – and even on ourselves? Maybe we’re worried about the dent in our reputation. Maybe there’s concern over having to look more clearly at ourselves.
This interesting passage challenges our attitude to the gossiping of Gods gospel – the good news of who Jesus is. It challenges our pride, our individualistic attitude, maybe even how seriously we take the kingdom of God.
Tom Wright says: ‘There have always been kingdom prophets to declare God’s judgement on human pride and folly, and to suffer the consequences.’
It’s a sacrifice maybe in terms of human reputation to put ourselves out there and gossip about what Jesus has done for us but wow what he has done for us is surely worth gossiping about.
Sermon presented at St. George’s 14th July 2024 by Claire
St. George's Church Ramsgate 