Out Our Way: The Gospel according to Goliath: Saving Face  

Mark 6:14-29  

Out our way, reputation is important to most folks. Unfortunately, some people think reputation is not earned but given by the fickle opinions of others. Thus they will say one thing to please this person, and then opposite to please that one. Instead of gaining a reputation for wisdom, they end up with the reputation of being a fool and unreliable.

One of the things I like about Goliath is that there is no real guile in him. He is an honest soul who is who he is all the time. While horses do indeed have two sides and one has to train them both, they are seldom two-faced. Not so for many people.

Consider the Gospel account of the death of John the Baptizer.   Baptism had been a Jewish purification rite for centuries, usually reserved for converts to the faith. John had infuriated the religious authorities by insisting that even those born and raised in the faith needed to be purified in baptism before the Messiah came.

As in our own day, corruption and scandal had plagued the established religious institutions as religious leaders focused more on power and status than on God. This made John very popular with a great many common folk. But it wasn't only the worldly clergy who caught John's ire; he even dared to condemn Herod Antipas for committing adultery with his brother's wife and making her his mistress. While the scandal in the palace was well-known and widely condemned in private, few dared to challenge this sin in public. Even the religious authorities tried to look the other way rather than risk Herod's ire, or that of his mistress. But John did not look the other way. What is wrong is wrong, no matter who you are.

In contrast, we have Herod Antipas himself. He is a weak man with little moral courage. When his mistress, Herodias, demanded that John be punished for publicly denouncing their sin, Herod gave in. But he did not execute John, as Herodias demanded. He was afraid of John, but he also admired him, and so he kept him in prison.

Then came his birthday party. Herodias' daughter, Salome, danced for Herod and his guests. Herod was pleased and offered her any reward she wished. After conferring with her mother, she demanded the head of John the Baptizer. Startled Herod wanted to refuse, but he had promised, and he feared the ridicule of his guests and his mistress if he did not give in. So he had the holy man of God executed.   

But the guilt stayed with him. When he heard about Jesus performing signs and wonders, he believed it was John come back from the dead to persecute him for his cowardice. Herod had sought to please others and ended up despised by everyone, including himself.

Maybe Herod should have spent more time with horses and learned some horse sense. Two-faced people can never move forward because they are always getting in their own way.   

(John Bruington is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Havre. The church website is http://www.havrepres.org.)