A sermon preached at St. Mary’s (Iffley, Rose Hill and Donnington) by Graham Low on 14th July 2024

When Clare spoke to me recently about preaching today she was very concerned that today’s gospel is remarkably dark, with good news very hard to find. Yes, today’s passages are challenging, but I hope I may show you that they are not without hope.

The prophet Amos lived in Israel during a long and peaceful era of territorial expansion and national prosperity. The military security and economic affluence were taken by many Israelites as signs that they were receiving the Lord’s special favour, because of their extravagant support of the regime. Into this scene stepped Amos, a shepherd, called by God to preach harsh words in a smooth season. He denounced Israel for relying on military might, social injustice, abhorrent morality and meaningless piety. His uncompromising and forceful preaching led him into conflict with the authorities. His confrontation with the priest Amaziah is one of the most remarkable in prophetic literature. He was expelled from prophesying in the royal sanctuary and went to Judah where he wrote down the essence of his public utterances about the sin and injustice of Israel and its forthcoming downfall. His words have left an indelible stamp on later thought about God and human history. The matters he raised remain just as relevant in the 21^st century as they were in the seventh century BC. Prophetic figures continue to make informed and brave comment on the iniquities of the major dictatorships in today’s world, and are often imprisoned or even killed for what they say. But prophets are people of hope who take enormous personal risks for the eventual benefit of others. Like Amos, they believe in the eventual triumph of right over wrong, of good over evil.

Today’s passage from Mark’s gospel is inserted between the sending out of the twelve and their return. It is about Herod’s views on Jesus and leads to the death of John the Baptist. It serves to intensify the theme about the fate that awaits Jesus. John is Jesus’ forerunner and his fate has similarities to the one whom he has pointed. We may note the opinions about Jesus (vv14-16) may have been held by some at the time but few, including the author of Mark, would have accepted the view that Jesus was the executed John brought back to life.

The grizzly story of John’s death has some bizarre features, and is very different from the later and non-biblical account by Josephus, where John is executed because Herod fears an insurrection. It seems that Mark has confused some of the people in the story. He says that Philip is the first husband of Herodias, whereas he was Herodias’ son-in-law. But we may note that the Herod family were so incestuous and tortuous that errors here may be forgiven. Mark states that Herod has great respect for John, but is morally bound to honour a blank cheque offered to his, or Herodius’ daughter. As it stands this may be a less likely account of the reason for John’s death than that of Josephus, but for Mark the story points towards the fate that awaits Jesus. This interpretation is given some weight in the note about John’s burial, which is reminiscent of his later words about the burial of Jesus. So, even in the midst of the apparent success of Jesus’ mission, the shadow of the cross falls. Nevertheless, Mark’s gospel does end with brief mention of the resurrection.

So let us turn to today’s reading from the letter to the Ephesians, probably written by one of Paul’s followers after his death. It’s great opening theme is about God, whose purpose embraces all time and space, and comes to focus in Christ. It is because of the faith and life of the people of in Christ, that they can have such confidence. Confidence first in the resurrected Christ, followed by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then by grace. Many people think that this is one of the finest and most beautiful passages in the Bible. It is unlike any other texts in the Pauline letters. In the Greek it can be punctuated as a single sentence. There is repetition of key words, the gathering up of phrases, and the circling round and enrichment of the central theme. This gives it a depth and resonance that some think may be unsurpassed in Christian praise. For many people it gives much to return to, to dwell on, and importantly, to enjoy. I’m not sure that it has been set to music, but others have suggested that it could be. The writer’s confidence and conviction in this benediction that Christ is the key to unlocking the mystery of God’s purpose, and the key to putting it into effect for Gentile and Jew, is quite remarkable. As Christians today, heirs of so many creeds and dogmas about Christ, we can fail to appreciate the depth of claims that are being made here. They were made by a writer who lived but a generation or so after Christ, and who unfolded and embodied the wonder of God’s grace. It is a challenge for us to appreciate the impact that Christ and his message must have had upon hearers in the Mediterranean world. This was a conviction which was not merely intellectual. It was matched by an experience of forgiveness, an experience of being engraced, and an experience of the Holy Spirit beginning the reclamation of human life and community for God. The gospel thus proclaimed and focused on by Jesus, made sense of reality, of the whole complex of time and space, of cosmos and history. Thus Jesus was, and still is seen as the centre of the cosmos and history, as the one who both explained and lived in the glory of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.