Lectionary readings: Ephesians 1:3-14
and Mark 6:14-29
The Herodian dynasty was incredibly complicated,
and extremely murky. On the death of Rome’s vassal king Herod ‘the Great’ in 4 BC,
his kingdom was divided between three of his sons, and his only sister. Herod
Archaelus—son of Herod the Great and his fourth wife, Malthace—became Ethnarch
of Judea; but he was so poor a ruler that the Romans deposed him in AD 6,
sending him off into exile in Gaul and turning Judea into a Roman province
overseen by a Roman governor. Herod the Great’s sister, Salome I, became
Tetrarch of Jamnia, Azotus and Phasaelis, until her death in AD 10, when her
territory was folded-into direct Roman rule. Herod Antipas—the full brother to
Herod Archaelus—became Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, where he ruled until he
was sent into exile in Spain in AD 39 by Emperor Caligula. Philip—the son of
Herod the Great and his fifth wife, Cleopatra of Jerusalem; half-brother to
Archaelus and Antipas—became Tetrarch of Gaulantis, Batanaea, Trachonitis and
Auranitis, lasting until his death in AD 34.
It is Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and
Perea, who we find in our Gospel reading today. He had married Phasaelis,
daughter of King Aretas IV of Nabatea (yes, Phasaelis is the same name as part
of Salome I’s territory, a name given in honour of Phasael, a brother of Salome
and Herod the Great—their mother being a Nabatean). But later, while on a trip
to Rome where he stayed with his half-brother Herod II—son of Herod the Great
and his third wife, Mariamne II (in his Gospel, Mark wrongly names Herod II as
Philip)—Antipas fell in love with Herodias, the wife of Herod II—and
granddaughter of Herod the Great and his second wife, Mariamne I. Herod the
Great had executed his second wife, Mariamne I, and their two sons Alexander
and Aristobulus IV for allegedly conspiring to murder him. Aristobulus IV was
Herodias’ father, and his death left her an orphan while still a minor. Herod
the Great engaged her to her half-uncle, Herod II. This displeased Herod the
Great’s eldest son, Antipater II, son of Herod’s first wife, Doris; Doris and
Antipater having been exiled when Herod married Mariamne but recalled when Mariamne
and her two sons were executed. Therefore, Herod demoted Herod II to second in
succession, behind a restored Antipater; only to have Antipater executed soon
after, for allegedly plotting to poison his father; moving Herod II briefly back
to the front of the succession line; only to write him out of his will, just days
before Herod’s death, on account of Herod II’s mother, Mariamne II, having
known about the poison plot of Antipater, son of Doris, and yet not having brought
it to her husband’s attention. Fortunately for Herod II, he had been living in
Rome, and in this way avoided his father’s tendency to have his sons executed.
Herodias, last seen married-off to her
half-uncle Herod II, divorced her husband in order to marry her other
half-uncle, Herod Antipas. And he had to divorce his own wife, Phasaelis, an
act that provoked his father-in-law, King Aretas IV of Nabatea, to declare
war—a war that Herod lost, despite dragging in his Roman allies. But first,
Aretas had to secure the safe return of his daughter, the exchange taking place
at the frontier fortress of Machaerus. According to the historian Josephus, it
was also here, on the border of their two territories, that Herod flexed his
muscles by hosting himself a birthday party—it would have made more sense to
host such a party, for Galilean dignitaries, at his capital, Tiberias—a party
at which his step-daughter, Salome (named for her great-great-aunt) (this
Salome would later be married to her step-father’s half-brother, Philip—from
where Mark’s confusion might arise) performed seductively, and in return he
promised her anything, up to half his kingdom (though, technically, it wasn’t a
kingdom). And her mother, Herodias, who herself witnessed the execution of her
father and uncle and grandmother as a young girl, calls for more blood, the
head of John the baptizer, an influential figure vocal in his disapproval of
her second marriage.
John was no fool in warning Antipas against
this relationship. Eventually his patron, the Emperor Tiberius (for whom he had
named his Galilean capital, Tiberias), died in suspicious circumstances, to be
replaced by Caligula. Caligula was an old friend of Antipas’ nephew, Herodias’
brother Herod Agrippa, and Agrippa made a land-grab move against Antipas,
resulting in Antipas and Herodias being sent into exile in Spain.
I did warn you that it was incredibly
complicated, and extremely murky. What contrast, our reading from Paul’s letter
to the church at Ephesus! Listen again:
‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the
world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption
as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his
will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With
all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the
fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things
on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined
according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel
and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live
for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with
the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance
towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.’ (Ephesians
1:3-14)
These short verses are full of Father God’s
plan that we should have an inheritance as adopted children within the kingdom
of heaven, bestowed upon us in love. Not calling for our blood, where we have
betrayed God, but bringing about our redemption even through the undoing, the
transformation, of human violence through the power of forgiveness. A will—an
intention set out, and to be honoured—that will not be re-written, but that is
for the fullness of time; not dividing a kingdom into lesser authority but gathering
up the entire cosmos in Jesus. Not a paranoid, filicidal ruler; but a wise,
generous king who establishes a people, and gives them not what they ask—up to
half of his kingdom—but more than we could ask or imagine, the Holy Spirit,
God’s active life-bringing presence in the world. Mystery made known!
David, in our reading from the Old Testament (2
Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19) saw it from a long way off and rejoiced. John ushered
it in, and even ushering him out (Mark 6:14-29), the Herodians could not
hold it back. If you are a Christian—if you turn to Christ as Saviour and
submit your life to him as Lord—then this adoption as a child of God is the
foundation of your identity, on which all other constituent parts—gender,
sexuality, relationship status, ethnicity, nationality, education, vocation—indeed,
every other facet—either rise or fall. It is foundational, from before
the foundation of the world. This status—recipients of grace—is not something
we have to defend against others, nor scheme to secure. It is freely bestowed,
in accordance with divine good pleasure, with the delight the Father has in his
children. It is a sharing of blessing, from the Father to the children and the
children to the Father, blessing that characterises heaven, and transforms earth
as it is in heaven. What a contrast, with the way of the world, the
self-serving way exemplified by Herod but entirely recognisable today. In God’s
mercy, may we resist such distortion of our souls, to the end of our days; and,
instead, participate in God’s boundless love, to the praise of his glory.
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