We Are Cowards. This Is True*

The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost

Amos 7:7-19
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

We Are Cowards. This Is True.*

Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Romans 1:7)
Like father, like son. So goes the popular saying. Whenever we hear the name Herod, we automatically remember that tyrant who had those babies in Bethlehem killed because he could not brook having a rival to the throne. And we would be correct. Herod the Great, the father of the Herod in our Gospel text today, was, to put it simply, an evil man. During his reign, he managed to kill two of his brothers-in-law, his wife Mariamne, the mother of the Herod in our Gospel text, two of his own children, and, of course, those children in Bethlehem, all because he was a coward. One historian records that, five days before his death, in order to guarantee a proper atmosphere of mourning, Herod the Great ordered the arrest of many citizens, and decreed that they should be put to death at the moment of his own death. A coward to the end. Fortunately, the soldiers could not fulfill this death wish and set the prisoners free when Herod the Great died.
Now, what about the son, Herod Antipas? Herod Antipas was not a king, but a tetrarch. The Romans, when they had conquered Israel, divided the nation into three: Herod Philip II was made tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis; Archelaus was put in charge of Judea, Idumea and Samaria, while to Herod Antipas was given Perea and Galilee. Herod Philip (not the Herod Philip II) was Antipas’ younger brother and husband of Herodias. Well, what else do we know about Antipas? In our Gospel text, St. Mark tells us:
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Somec said, "John the Baptistd has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him." But others said, "He is Elijah." And others said, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised."
Superstitious, isn’t he? Antipas was afraid that the Baptist has come back from the dead to haunt him, because he had John the Baptist beheaded. So much like his father. Well, what else do we know? In verses 17-18, we read:
For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."
Antipas, it seems, was also a lecher. He couldn’t keep his hands to himself. He had to have his younger brother’s wife for himself, and since his younger brother, Herod Philip, was not a tetrarch, there was little Herod Philip could do. It also seems that Antipas was a tyrant. He would not abide criticism, especially not from a fiery prophet dressed in rags and eating locusts and wild honey!
But perhaps, the most despicable quality of Antipas was that he was a coward, like his father. Why, you might ask. Well, it’s there in our text:
And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.
From this tiny bit of information that St. Mark gives us, we clearly see that Antipas was afraid of Herodias, and he was afraid of John the Baptist. But he wasn’t just afraid of these two:
But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you." And he vowed to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom." And she went out and said to her mother, "For what should I ask?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist." And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John'se head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.
Turns out Antipas was also afraid of Herodias’ daughter, Salome! He was also afraid of what the people at his party would say if he denied the girl’s request. After all, he had promised the girl anything, even up to half his kingdom! But my goodness! Who would take such an oath seriously, especially after hearing the girl’s request! What a bloodthirsty girl! What a coward!
But more than this, Antipas was a coward because
Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.
He was obssessed with what John had to say, but that was the extent of it. And in this Antipas was the worst kind of coward: he refused to face himself; he refused to acknowledge his sin before John, before God. He refused to look at himself in the mirror of God’s Law. Antipas knew it was a sin to take Herodias for himself, but he could not bring himself to admit this to himself, and to God. And that is probably why he was greatly perplexed.
MALADY
And we, like Antipas, are also cowards. We are cowards. This is true. And the more you deny it, the more the statement proves its truthfulness: we are cowards. This is true. We refuse to acknowledge our own sinfulness, like Antipas. We live everyday convinced that we are good, decent people. Good fathers providing for our families, good mothers establishing a home, good children obedient to their parents. And this may be true. But we still refuse to acknowledge that our hearts are steeped in sin. People may not see the outward acts of sin, but the truth is we who think of ourselves as "good Christians" have so much garbage sitting in the middle of our lives that the odor makes it impossible to breathe without gagging. How many of us are addicted to food, porn and shopping? How many of us are depressed, angry, unforgiving and just plain mean? How many of us are a walking, talking course on basic hypocrisy, because we just can't look at ourselves in the mirror and admit what a collection of brokenness we've become WHILE we called ourselves "good Christians"?** We are like Antipas. We are cowards. This is true.
We are sinful. And, like Antipas, we love the way we are. And we love ourselves just the way we are: no hassles, no need to think or meditate. Just sit back and relax, and just keep on doing whatever it is you’re doing. The sermon may be disturbing, but that’s only for a little while. Easy enough to forget. As long as people see that I go to church, that’s fine. Never mind what’s inside my head or heart, because no one can see that, right? It is easier to be a coward and continue living in sin, than be courageous and confront Jesus. Wrong. It will take the death of God’s Son before we can be courageous.
GOSPEL
And that is exactly what happens. Because Jesus knows we are cowards, unable to confront ourselves in the mirror of the Law, he takes it upon himself to be courageous – FOR US. Because we are cowards and incapable of becoming courageous by our own strength and wisdom, Christ becomes courageous for us. He Himself faces and confronts our sin. He comes before the presence of the Almighty, taking our cowardice, our sin with Him, and takes it all to the cross with Him!
And on the cross Jesus forces us to confront ourselves. He forces us to face our cowardice, our inability to admit that we are sinful. He Himself confronts us, faces us, and shows us the end of our sin and cowardice – His death on the cross. AND HE FORGIVES US!
There on the cross Jesus transforms us. He takes our sinful nature and nails it to the cross with him. He confronts us and transforms our cowardice into courage. The courage to receive forgiveness from the cross just as we are. The awful truth is that we cannot get our act together first before we face Jesus. We cannot first become good before we confront Jesus. Jesus will not have it. He refuses to accept us after we’ve cleaned ourselves up. Jesus wants to confront us JUST AS WE ARE. Why? BECAUSE JESUS DOES NOT WANT TO PRAISE US; HE WANTS TO FORGIVE US. And there on the cross we receive forgiveness for our sin. Forgiveness that comes to us through His Word and through His Sacraments. And the irony of this is that we cannot first become good before we receive His forgiveness; we first have to receive his forgiveness and then we become good. But, you ask, what do you mean, “good”? I still sin, I am still greedy, I am still covetous, my mind is still full of filth. Never mind. For whenever we hear His Word and receive His Sacraments, Jesus forgives us. And on and on and on until we die. And when we finally face God, we might even be surprised, because, hey, there is a resemblance! Like the Son we, sinful sons and daughters of God, have become like the Father! But that is not because of us. That’s because of Christ, who accepted us JUST AS WE ARE. Herman Sasse, in his meditation on Luther’s last words, “We are beggars. This is true,” says:
“Christ dwells only with sinners.” For the sinner and for the sinner alone is His table set. There we receive His true body and His true blood “for the forgiveness of sins” and this holds true even if forgiveness has already been received in Absolution. That here Scripture is completely on the side of Luther needs no further demonstration. Every page of the New Testament is indeed testimony of the Christ whose proper office it is “to save sinners”, “to seek and to save the lost”. And the entire saving work of Jesus, from the days when He was in Galilee and, to the amazement and alarm of the Pharisees, ate with tax collectors and sinners; to the moment when he, in contradiction with the principles of every rational morality, promised paradise to the thief on the cross, yes, His entire life on earth, from the cradle to the Cross, is one, unique grand demonstration of a wonder beyond all reason: The miracle of divine forgiveness, of the justification of the sinner. “Christ dwells only in sinners.”
The last words of Luther were: “We are beggars. This is true.” Which is to say, we are always in need of Christ’s treasure, the forgiveness of sins. Now I say to you, we are cowards. This is true. We always need Christ’s courage, the courage to face the Crucified JUST AS WE ARE: sinful, unclean, so that we may receive from his bloody hands grace, forgiveness and life. We are cowards. This is most certainly true. This is most certainly for you.
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)


*I took the liberty of revising Luther’s last words: “We are beggars. This is true.”
** Michael Spencer, When I Am Weak