Proper 15
Cal's Lil Lectionary Notes
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29
Did you get whiplash from these readings? I sure did!
We open with the Second Book of Samuel’s rhapsodic account of David “dancing before the Lord”, as well as distributing food to all the people. In our BC context it reminds me of the Potlatch ceremony, observed by a multitude of Coast Salish nations including the Heiltsuk (Bella Bella), Haida (Haida Gwaii), Nuxalk (Bella Coola), Tlingit (BC/Yukon & Alaska), Makah (Washington State), Tsimshian (Terrace, Prince Rupert, & Alaska), Nuu-chah-nulth (Vancouver Island), and Kwakwaka’wakw (Vancouver Island). According to the Venerable Wikipedia, “A potlatch involves giving away or destroying wealth or valuable items in order to demonstrate a leader's wealth and power. Potlatches are also focused on the reaffirmation of family, clan, and international connections, and the human connection with the supernatural world. ...Potlatches often involve music, dancing, singing, storytelling, making speeches, and often joking and games.” While this celebration occurs because of the homecoming of the ark of the covenant, it involves the same spirit of generosity, heritage, and covenant. There is also something to be said for the dispersal of gifts from the king, illustrating that the true wealth of the people is the text of the covenant.
Hundreds of years later, we have a story of Herod, who unlike David is so cut off from the Covenant that he has broken it by marrying his brother’s wife (the union would have been legal and indeed an obligation if Herodias had not already had children). John the Baptizer is such a powerfully charismatic figure that despite his challenge, Herod protects him as a prophet. Sadly, John loses his life because, once again, Herod proves himself unschooled in the Covenant by making a foolish oath to give his stepdaughter anything she’d like. Oaths and vows are extremely serious in Judaism and severe consequences may be imposed on breaking them – Jesus himself, being a rabbi, encourages his followers not to swear oaths at all (Matthew 5:33-37). Backed into a corner, Herod cannot refuse the girl, who, apparently as fiendish as her mother, asks not merely for John’s head but for it to be served on a platter.
One of the values enacted by the Potlatch is balance, held not through treading carefully on the land and in clinging to the wisdom and traditions of the elders as passed down through the generations. David shows allegiance to his own tradition by placing God at the center of his peoples’ life. Herod, a puppet king in a colonized nation, has sadly forgotten the traditional ways, and his people now pay the price for it.
What are some ways in which we today can give honour to the best of those who came before us? We draw ancestors not only from our genetic line, but from the land itself: plants, animals, the primal elements, and celestial bodies. What would it look like for us to carry the light forward?
A prayer for your Sunday:
You Who are Majesty, you rejoice when your beloved dance before you like David, and you weep when your beloved are cut down by treachery and empires like John the Baptizer. Give us the discernment to know when to dance and when to mourn, when to break down and when to build up, when to keep silence and when to speak. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Brother. Amen.