7-11-21
Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I knew the shark song BEFORE it was cool. I don’t get to
say that often! I learned it as a counselor working at that Lutheran Bible camp
in Wisconsin, only the tune was slightly different. Same words though – Baby
shark dododododododo…. Did you know there are OTHER verses, that there is
actually a narrative? Baby shark, momma shark, daddy shark, grandma and grandpa
shark, then it’s “going for a swim, saw a fin…shark attack, lost a leg, lost an
arm… going to heaven. Now when I teach that song, I tend to skip the ending and
stop with the nice happy shark family.
Today begins Shark Week on the Discovery Channel - entire
week dedicated to the beauty, power, terror, and general awesomeness of sharks,
not just the famous great whites. There are mini sharks, super-fast sharks,
deep sea sharks, sharks with whip tails, even sharks that glow in the
dark.
Shark Week convinced me that Sharks are awesome.
But they are a particular kind of awesome that I for one would never
EVER need to see up close. God created these awesome creatures with strength
and speed and power and big teeth. We are in awe of them, and rightly
so, because they possess a power that we can’t tame or control.
During a Shark Week of years passed, I learned that
sharks have not changed all that much over the last few million years. But from
this text, THIS week, we learn that people have also not changed…
pretty much ever!
Sharks don’t eat when they’re not hungry. They don’t
throw big parties and make grand showy promises in order to impress. They don’t
commit murder to save face in front of the people they need to sway to stay in
power.
It makes me wonder what sharks think of our world, if
they knew. If the sharks new that just this past week alone Haiti was plunged
into confusion over the assassination of their president, the death toll in the
tragic condo collapse in Florida is rising, the Delta variant is threatening
our return back to some sort of “normal,” and the Olympics Committee is still
holding fast to transphobic and racist practices. Out there
in the world, power is used and abused, power hurts and manipulates. We
perhaps could learn a thing or two from SHARKS about being more HUMANE.
Last week, in the adventures of Jesus according to the
Gospel of Mark, Jesus went to his hometown. Jesus gave power to his disciples,
and sent them out two by two, healing the sick and proclaimed the gospel
of repentance in Jesus’ name, doing deeds of power, and they are getting
RESULTS!! But these results make the people in authority very, very
nervous.
John the Baptist, if you remember, is Jesus’ forerunner.
At the very beginning of Mark, the words of Isaiah announces his arrival….
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.”. And
he was a big hit with the people, baptizing left and right,
making the powers-that-be very, very nervous. Especially with John’s tagline – The
one who is coming after me is more powerful than I am.
And sure enough, after John, Jesus arrived,
healing, casting out demons, calming storms and eating everyone. It was all
coming true, just as John had predicted. And that make King Herod very
nervous, indeed. Herod was already hanging onto his power by a thread. Herod
thought he had already taken care of his awkward little problem.
This traumatic little story is actually a flashback. John
the Baptist has already been arrested and killed by Herod by the time Jesus had
sent out his disciples last week. But John’s execution must have haunted Herod,
which must be why Herod believed in the most absurd thing – that John whom he
had killed must be alive again.
Because John was SUPPOSED to be an example. When you
speak truth to power, you will not get a trophy or metal or pat on the back. THIS
(head chopping motion) is what happens to prophets and prophetic voices
- when you call out the leaders, behaviors, and cherished institutions
in this world, you get into big trouble
You might not lose your head, like John. But you might
lose friends, lose face, be labeled as “easily offended” by your friends or
family, or otherwise thrown under the metaphorical bus.
But our power…. And the power of the disciples does not
come from this world, from King Herods or Romans or Caesars. OUR power comes
from CHRIST - the one who also spoke truth to power, and showed the world power
through God’s truth.
As it turns out, Herod was wrong about Jesus. John
had not come back from the dead, as some thought. But at the same
time, Herod was right about Jesus… just a little too soon. John would
not rise again after his death. But Jesus did. That, I think, is the good
news to be found in terrible story – even though John died… even though We will
die… But Jesus died AND was raised from the dead.
That’s real power, and it makes the powers of the world
shake in their boots.
Jesus showed once and for all the power of God is not the
same as the power of human beings. That God’s kingdom is not the same as
human kingdoms. That God’s rules are not the same as human rules.
Jesus showed the world a power that it had never seen up
close before - a power that did not come from brute force, or intimidation, or
violence, or injustice, or discrimination, or bullying, or
manipulation. The power of this world is built on fear and but
is as slippery as we imagine sharks to be – always in danger of slipping away
and gone in the blink of an eye.
God’s power is built on love, and will last forever, and
never runs out. Its for you and for you and for you and for me, all members of
God’s eternal family. Even more unchanging than a million-year-old shark. Now,
and forever, you will always be a …” Child of God, dodododododo, Child of God,
dodododododo….” Thanks be to God, Amen.
