Sermon: Mark 6:14-29, July 11, 2021

A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on July 11, 2021 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on Mark 6:14-29. You may play the audio of the sermon here.

A mostly unedited transcript of the sermon follows the jump:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The text this morning is from the Gospel according to St. Mark, the 6th chapter: 

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist 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.” 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.” 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. 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’s 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. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Thus far the text.

My dear friends in Christ,

     We have nothing to fear from the world, although the world has much to fear from us. It's true. The world should be very afraid of us, even though it's not. The world should be very afraid of us because we have Christ, who is Lord of all, dwelling within us. And the Lord has promised that he will take his recompense against this world for what they do to His saints. And so when the world sees us, they should see the Christ who has vowed to avenge his saints in this place. But the world doesn't fear us. And that is because the world is very dumb.

     It's true. The world does not know what it should know and rejects what it should hold dear. But you have not. The fact that you are here today testifies to the fact that you have within you this Christ, this Christ who will protect you in all things. And that is a very good thing for you because, though we should fear Christ for he is the one who is the judge of the living and the dead, He has promised to have mercy upon you. And so, while we fear him as the judge, we have no fear of judgment. There's a big difference there.

     To fear judgment is to think, well, maybe Christ will send me to hell. Maybe I haven't done enough. And the answer to this, of course we know, is you have not done enough, but your Lord has promised not to send you to the place that you deserve, the place that's prepared for the devil and his angels, but has instead promised to welcome you into his kingdom. Not because you've done anything, but because he has done everything. 

     If you were to fear the judgment of Christ, well, you would at least know what the world does not, but it would show that you have a very weak faith, if you had faith at all. Instead as Christians, we don't fear the judgment. We know that we will be called on the last day to stand before Christ. And he shall declare us righteous,  again, not because of the work that we do, but because of the work that he has done for you. Every saint has this hope. Every saint from Adam and Eve, all the way through David, all the way through Amos, all the way through until today has this hope. Now it may not be that every saint was able to testify that the name Jesus is the one that would be given to the Messiah, but from the very beginning, this ha...