Freedom or Not

By John Wilkinson

It may be impossible for us as human beings to avoid foolishness.  Where we have a choice lies in whether our foolishness leads us to freedom or a loss of freedom, whether our foolishness takes us onward to the God revealed in Jesus Christ or traps us in our small selves.  Will our foolishness bring about salvation, or will it take us down to irreversible loss?

Today's readings from scripture portray both true and false foolishness, both freedom and the lack of freedom.  In one case they show us a party where wisdom is absent, hope has been cast aside, and freedom is nowhere to be found. In the other case, we see a most memorable parade led by a man who knows both sides of foolishness, but at his best chooses the foolishness which points to God. 

 

King Herod throws a birthday party for himself.  He invites his courtiers, his yes men, and the people he needs to impress.  He has no friends in sight, for he has no friends at all. His daughter Herodias does a dance of the sort no father should approve of, but Herod is the one who applauds the loudest.  He sputters out a promise to give the girl anything she wants, even half his kingdom.  This promise exceeds Herod's power; he's but a puppet king, unable to give away even an acre. But the girl does not ask for real estate.  After consulting with her mother, a latter-day Jezebel, she calls for the head of John the Baptist, King Herod's prisoner, to be delivered to her posthaste on a platter. Now Herod is in away fascinated with John; holding him prisoner keeps him safe from Herod's bloodthirsty wife.  But now this so-called king has gone and shot off his mouth in front of a dining hall full of self-important guests.  Backing down from his intemperate promise would make him look bad in front of this snide, unforgiving audience.

We need to hear it too, because we, like God’s people through the ages, are prone to interpret difficult times as a sign that evil has trumped God. This story serves another purpose as well. The deaths of John and Jesus warn us that God does not always reward faithful discipleship with an easy life.

The truth-teller’s road is narrow and filled with potholes. Thank God that's not today's only scripture story.  And that’s not the only way life can turn out.  We hear also of a real king, King David, bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem in the grandest style.

He musters thirty thousand soldiers, and they accompany the Holy Ark carried in a cart, step by step toward Jerusalem.  Everybody is dancing, everybody is shaking it up!  Loud singing, lyres and castanets and cymbals, and still more loud singing!

The star of the show is King David himself, who, as scripture tells us, "danced before the Lord with all his might," like Little Richard and Elvis and the Four Tops and Bruce Springsteen all rolled up into one.  David is a free man!  He dances before the Lord, dances for the love of the Lord!  His life is not easy, his life is not perfect, he has done wrong and dealt wickedly and been forgiven; this king dances with abandon, for the joy of the Lord is his strength!

King David, though an obvious believer in monarchy, would have answered AMEN to what anarchist Emma Goldman said, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution!"

King David would climb up on stage and play a harp or blow a horn with U2 as they sing out, and this free man would join with choirs of  Anglican cathedrals.  He will not dance alone.  He does not dance alone.  Look for him in the line of dancing saints that now encircles the throne of God and the Lamb, a conga line that stretches past the horizons of heaven.  Picture them all present at this altar when our Sanctus sounds forth.

Heaven's music is a lot like David's dance, for there as well tragedy does not get the last word: joy and exuberance prevail.  The deep energies of God ignite a cosmic dance that shakes, rattles, and rolls; that never wearies and never stop’s.  

Will our foolishness bring about our salvation, or will it take us down to irreparable loss?  That’s the question that each of us must answer.  Amen!