The Gospel Calls All to Change Their Mind
Year B: Proper 10
John the Baptist had staked his integrity as a prophet on pointing to Jesus as the Messiah, the one who was to save his people from their sins. After John’s confrontation with Herod, he was thrown into prison. He stands for everyone who suffers for the cause of justice and truth.1 —Thomas Keating
Year B, Proper 10, July 14, 2024
First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Psalm: Psalm 48
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Gospel: Mark 6:1-13
Sermon - The Gospel Calls All to Change Their Mind
This week’s gospel text is on the death of John the Baptist, but before we get to it, I want to remind us of what comes before. Last week, we looked at two stories of rejection: (1) the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth and (2) the potential rejection of the disciples as they taught the gospel. This third story in Mark 6 is also a story of rejection.
Herod rejected John because John dared to call the political leaders of his day to live moral lives.
In preaching the gospel of the kingdom, we emphasize the need for everyone to change their mind. This means calling on everyone regardless of economic or social status to see how their sins, as private as they might be, have a negative impact on the world around them.
Whether it is unfair business deals among the lower class or adultery among the aristocrats, all are called to change their mind, turn to Jesus, and be transformed.
For John, preaching the gospel was worth the risk, and in the end, it cost him everything.
Corruption among political leaders is nothing new. Isaiah prophesied, “Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow’s cause does not come before them” (Isaiah 2:23).
Political corruption is still alive and well in our day as well. Politicians enter office with a modestly set salary but leave as multimillionaires. The rich do not support the candidate that would “defend the orphan” and hear the “cause of the widow.” Instead, they support the candidate who helps them become richer and richer as the widows and orphans grow poorer and poorer, but they cover their sin by changing their social media pictures for a few weeks out of the year.
Politicians run from spouse to spouse, use their insider knowledge to make the most off of stocks, and pledge to help all Americans while lining their own pockets.
The prophets of both testaments speak out against this kind of corruption, and John’s persistence in preaching the gospel of the kingdom led to him losing his own life over it.
In Jesus’s sermon in Luke 4, he read from a passage in Isaiah. Luke records,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:18–21
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, as Paul explained in Romans 1:16, but the gospel doesn’t just stop there. It has the power to overturn social and economic structures that are unjust. It doesn’t do this violently, but it accomplishes this goal, stated by Jesus in the text above, by exposing the evil behind the ideas that lead to these systemic injustices.
The gospel calls all to change their mind. Regardless of one’s role in society or status, all are called to repent and follow God.
Second Reading: Life in Christ
The phrase “in Christ” (or some variation of it) is one of Paul’s most loved sayings. In Ephesians 1:3-14, this expression is used at least ten times in this opening paragraph of the letter to the Ephesians. Here is what being in Christ means:
We have all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
We are chosen in Christ.
We are adopted through Jesus Christ.
We are blessed with God’s glorious grace in the Beloved.
We have redemption and forgiveness in Christ.
God’s good pleasure is set forth in Christ.
All things on heaven and earth are gathered together in Christ.
We have an eternal inheritance in Christ.
We have hope in Christ.
We are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Christ.
When we read a list like this, we begin to understand just how much God loves us. It’s no wonder that Paul would later write, “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18–19).
This is my prayer for you as well. I encourage you to take a few moments today, perhaps during communion, and mediate on one of these lines. Which one do you feel the most drawn to in this season of your life? Which one do you wish a particular friend or family members of yours could come to realize this day? Which of these might our congregation, community, state, nation, or world need now more than ever?
If you have someone in mind, it might be a good idea to message them that passage and tell them you’re thinking about them.
Thanks so much for keeping up with this blog. If you have any suggestions, recommendations, or critiques, you can always comment here or reach out through my website: https://danielr.net.
Keating, Thomas. The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience. New York: Continuum, 2008. Print.