Year B

Mark 6:14-29

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Dance of Blessing

In the big hit movie, Shall We Dance a lonely businessman trapped in unfulfilling work, notices a young woman gazing with sadness from a second floor dance studio window. Desperate for some change in his routine and intrigued by her wistful look, the man uncharacteristically bounds out of his predetermined path and climbs the stairs to the school. Although he intends just a one-stop curiosity visit, he ends up joining a class and sneaking time away from work and home to learn. Along the way he has to choose: who is he –a businessman or a dancer? In the end, the man proves himself a marvelous dancer, and brings his wife into his passionate success. He has been transformed and blessed by the dance.

Today’s readings are all about dancing and blessing. God’s covenant with the people of Israel, first formed with Abraham and Sarah, and later through Jesus Christ, was always to be a source of blessing, as God says to Abraham in the book of Genesis, “I will make of you a great nation and will bless you.” The people of Israel blessed by God were to be a blessing to the world. The temple, and later the church are to perform as blessings. Blessing is not a blessing unless it is shared; it must pass through many hands. King David certainly knew about blessings as he invents new steps and leaps before the Ark of the Lord in its journey to Jerusalem. This was to be the beginning of a new era.

After a decisive military victory, David prepared to unite the north and the south kingdoms with a new capital in Jerusalem. The union would be cemented with the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in its new home. It’s a time of celebration and David remolds ordinary steps into graceful works of art. But his wife, Michal, the daughter of the late King Saul, sees him and rather than be excited for this blessing, she is disgusted and “despised him in her heart.” She is threatened by the seemingly erosion of the older traditions of her father. But this act of restoring the Ark of the Covenant and performing a liturgical dance was seen by the people as an act of humility, respect, and thankfulness for the blessings of God.

The Ark of the Covenant was the portable throne of God designed to travel with the people of Israel from its Mount Sinai encounter with God.  You can read about this encounter in the book of Exodus chapter 19:1 – 34:30. Symbolically, the ark represented God’s plan to live with God’s people, and was a sign of God’s rule and care in both peaceful and embattled times. It represented God’s will to bless the Jewish community, and through them to bless the other families. By relocating the ark to Jerusalem, it restored a cherished symbol of the past into a new city of the future to help the people remember who God is.

Blessing is remembering who God is and what God has done for all people, Jews and Gentiles before the foundation of the world. We, Gentiles, are inheritors of all the gifts from God, through Jesus Christ who came to live among us, to teach us, and to lead us into a covenant relationship with God. What a blessing this inheritance is for us. Our text today from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians begins with a blessing of God. The words nearly dance off the page. Paul’s whole letter is addressed to Gentiles, and the passage today assures them that through Christ they have access to the blessings of God in a way similar to the blessing of Israel. All the blessings that were given to Israel have now, through Jesus Christ, been given to us.

This opening hymn of praise serves as a reminder of what God has done in Jesus and it also introduces several themes to be addressed in the remainder of Paul’s letter. These include the mystery, grace, and purpose of living a life in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Paul will speak to issues between Jewish and Gentile Christians within the community and also address the ethics involved in being heirs adopted by God in Christ. This letter reminds us of God’s love for us and that we have been invited to share in the riches of God’s grace as God’s own children. Paul says that this inheritance is a way of life, a journey “toward redemption-a great dance with powerful music and a wonderful band leader: the Holy Spirit.

Joni Eareckson-Tada a well-known singer and songwriter, a quadriplegic, expressed well where Paul ends up in this passage. She said, “I have hope in the future. The Bible speaks about bodies being glorified. I know the meaning of that now. It’s the time after my death here when I will be on my feet dancing.” This is what we can believe and hope is true for John the Baptist as we hear again the story of his tragic death. The Gospel text today seems out of place and instead of blessings and joy it is one of violence, brutality, and death. The text suggests that the joy of God’s good news can come as a threat. Herod was intrigued by John, the last of the prophets in the great Old Testament tradition. Yet, he feared John because John spoke judgment against Herod’s own family. Herod had killed his own brother in order to marry Philip’s wife.

John never minced words when it came to pointing out sin which led to his violent death, the direct consequence of the way he lived. He spoke truth to power which can be a scary thing to do, and it can be dangerous. But just as the disciples gathered their courage to ask for the body of John despite the possible consequences, so we must also find courage to speak out against those things that are wrong. God’s dance of blessing takes courage because it can release passions that bring life or death. The dance in this text is the dance of death. But surrounding it in the stories of Jesus’ healings and the successful journey of healing made by the disciples through the surrounding villages are dances of delight, life and blessings.

Blessing is many things. It is children, it is friends, it is peace, it is economic sufficiency were no one has too little, it is freedom from oppression and warfare, it is a mother’s embrace, and it is mutual love. Describing it can be an inexhaustible task. In desperate situations it is salvation. It is well-being in every sense of the term. Perhaps most important, it is a way of life, a way that generates life and blessing. Its alternative is the way of death and curse, the way of living that destroys peace and economic justice that makes people fearful and distrustful, and destroys all possibility of genuine community.

Therefore it is so very important that we discover the meaning of real blessing in our lives and how to join God in living toward it. We are reminded today that blessing does not fall automatically from the skies. God’s gift of blessing calls for us to respond individually and in community in ways that promote healing and love. God wants everything in this world to live together in a dance of mutual blessing. Those who will join God in this work like David and Paul will increase their own sense of being blessed as they become instruments of blessing to bless all. May we strive to join God in this dance of love.