July 14, 2024: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
I don’t know how many of you got a chance to watch the movie Barbie when it was out, or streamed it online, but if you did, then you know it wasn’t about a doll – not really. It was a fabulous critique of patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism – all in the hilarious context of Barbieland and Kendom.
Today we are getting a view into some biblical Kendom, that land of blatant patriarchy, in our story from 2 Samuel and in the Gospel. No, not really in the text itself, but in the way we have interpreted it through the centuries. So, before we can address what good news is being offered to us in either text, we should first understand a few things about what these scriptures and their interpretation have done.
First, the stories themselves. Just briefly – in the gospel, we find a classic Mark thing – a story in bookends. The beheading of John the Baptizer sits between the sending out of the disciples by Jesus (which we heard last week), and their return (which we will hear next Sunday). The story is kinda gross – King Herod has a daughter Salome (but in Mark she is Herodias, which is kinda confusing as that is also Herod’s wife’s name, so we will use Salome, to be more clear). Anyway, she does a dance to entertain her dad’s guests on his birthday. They are all enthralled by the performance. He promises to grant her anything she wishes. She goes to mom to check on what she should ask for and is told “the head of John the Baptizer.” This is because John, who is in the King’s prison, had been telling the King that his marriage to his brother’s former wife isn’t moral. That could annoy people. Anyway, Salome obeys and adds her own unique twist – that she wants his head served up on a platter. Apparently, she has watched way too many horror movies for a girl her age. The king, being a total jack…, well, you know, doesn’t have the courage to tell his daughter she is out of line, and does what she asks. Good grief – I mean who’s the parent here? This is a nightmare of a story if ever there was one.
And, in 2nd Samuel, David goes to retrieve the Ark of God. Now, as I have said many times, take note when there are verses missing and…there is a big whopper of a tale cut from the passage we heard. We read that David goes to retrieve the Ark (newsflash – because he hears it brings the current holder of it, Abinadab, much good fortune). He is dancing before it playing instruments along the way – that is one happy and talented guy!
Then we skip a bunch of verses, and we hear that he is now taking it out of the house of Obed-edom, still dancing mind you, but this time wearing the priestly garb of an Ephod, sacrificing animals along the way (an ugly detail, but in context, that is how folks gave their thanksgiving to God in those days – kinda makes giving by check or Venmo a whole lot nicer, right?). Then the story takes a weird turn, and shows his wife, Saul’s daughter, Michal, despising David for his behavior dancing in the Ephod before the Ark as he came into town.
What that heck is THAT all about?
Well, first, what did they cut out? Why was the ark first in one guy’s house then in another guy’s house? Well, here is what is missing. David didn’t bother, apparently, to read up on how to properly transport the ark. There’s lots of scriptures about it, but instead, he just puts it on a cart and rolls it along. When Uzzah, a son of Abinadab and one of those charged with transporting it, tries to secure it because it had been jostled by the oxen bearing it, well…you know what happened right? You know, that is, if you ever watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. Goodbye Uzzah.
Fact is, David is really at fault here, because unlike the instructions for assembling a piece of Ikea furniture, God did provide very clear directions on how to build and transport the Ark. There was practically a Tik Tok channel dedicated to it (see Numbers, Exodus, Raiders of the Lost Ark…). First of all, only Kohathites from the priestly tribe of Levi were to transport it. Had they been there, no one would have touched it. For that matter, it never would have been placed on an ox pulled cart in the first place. God was clear about that too – the Levites would bear the ark on their shoulders using poles inserted into rings on either side – see, very detailed instructions – RTFM David.
David saw what happened to Uzzah and said “Oh no… hey – you take it” as he laid it like a bomb at the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. Nice, right? But guess what? Good things came to Obed-edom when his home was filled with the presence of God. So, you see where this is going, right? And that brings us to where our passage we read this morning picks up again. David goes and gets it from Obed-edom, but this time with maybe a little more reverence – he is vested as a priest. The narrative doesn’t say if he thought to have priests carry the ark on their shoulders, but I am guessing he ditched the whole ark on a cart thing.
Then you get that weird bit about Michal. Yet, again – we are not told the whole story. Here is the Cliff Notes version: Michal was given to David by Saul, because that’s the way things worked then for women (to be clear, THAT’s a story in itself, but let’s not go there). Saul tried to have David killed, and Michal saves his life. For that she is married off to someone else while David builds himself up in power. After Saul’s death, he negotiates to get Michal back. After their tiff today, she doesn’t have any children by him.
So, we are all caught up.
There is a lot to learn about both texts, but first let’s address what the church through the years has done to Salome and to Michal – to David and to Herod – because it matters. No where does it say that Salome danced in any sort of sexual manner, yet that is often the rather salacious take that preachers since the beginning have taken. Let’s be clear – this type of interpretation says more about the pastor than it does about the actual story – and it isn’t a good look. With Michal, she has been treated with derision, and the assumption is that she had no more children by David because God had contempt for her. No where in scripture does it say that either – only that she and David had a tiff. Given what we later find out about David’s rather despicable acts, not to mention that he removed her from the home she had with her other husband – we begin to see how our own sexism is laid into the text as we condemn one without cause, while lifting up the other as a patriarch of the faith.
Haven’t you ever noticed how women in the bible are either saint or sinner, perfect or the devil incarnate. Men, well they can commit adultry and rape like David, deal with their wives and concubines in terrible ways like Abraham, deny Jesus three times like Peter, persecute followers of Jesus like Paul and what do we do – they become the heros of the faith? Meanwhile, we call Bathsheeba a whore, push Hagar out of the picture, and totally ignore the women followers who funded Jesus’ ministry like Mary Magdalene. We call Salome a temptress and Michal a woman punished by God for annoying David.
It reminds me of the monologue from the Barbie movie offered by the fabulous America Ferrara. Speaking to some of the women who had been duped into accepting the patriarchy of the new Kendom, her character says: “It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.
You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people.
You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. Always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that, but also… always be grateful.
You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line.
It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault. I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us.” (a link to this moment in the movie is at the end of this sermon)
Michal, Salome, and for that matter – Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of Jesus, the woman at the well, and every dang woman since the dawn of time – says AMEN!
Folks, we continue to perpetuate our real world Kendom – a world of patriarchy – every time we look at scriptures in this way. Every time we lift up the men, but condemn the women, or create unrealistic expectations of them. This must end now. Enough is enough is enough!
That said –what then can we get from these texts, once we strip them of their patriarchy. Well, it’s simple really.
First, we are reminded that transporting the presence of God is risky business, if done without reverence for the divinity we bear! And second, as we carry that presence with us, we must have the courage and integity that our faith teaches us to do what is right, even when it may be hard to do.
As Jesus makes clear, before and after the story of the beheading of John, we are sent by him to heal, to love, to cast off demons. We who are baptized into him, quite literally carry with us the presence of Christ within us. His light shining, not through our perfection, but through our own brokenness. Knowing this, we should walk with great reverence and humility for the presence of God that is all around us, and in us.
And while we tend to be enthralled by royalty and the trappings of power, we find in the gospel that with great power should come great responsibility – sadly, it often is lacking. But we do see that courage that Herod lacked, and it is found in the disciples of John who bravely came for his body after learning of his execution. That was a dangerous thing to do, but they knew it was right and respectful of the dignity of this servant of God.
All over the world we see this play out over and over again – those who may not have earthly power, but have reverence for God’s creation and the courage to do what is right, rather than what is expedient. They are the ones we need to model.
We see it the mourners who came to the church and the cemetary in the outskirts of Moscow in defiance of Putin to mourn the death of Navalny, the man killed because he fought for freedom in Russia.[1] We see it in those who stood against the torch bearing racists in Charlottesville. We see it in the people who serve Christ in Palestinian territory, including Layan Nasir, an Anglican laywoman, who has been detained by Israel without charge since April. We saw it in the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Archbishops Tutu and Romero, the Nuns on the Bus and the Sisters of Memphis, and so many more throughout time.
Here’s the thing folks… God’s presence isn’t contained in any human made box, but is in everything – how we treat one another, and all of creation – that is how we act toward God. It has the power to heal, to build up, to create, to restore. And, our lack of reverence for it will kill us and those around us.
Now to be sure, those whose faith leads them to be a voice for the voiceless, to stand against injustice – people like John the Baptizer and Jesus, and many people of God before them and since – well, it can lead to their death. Yet, as one commentator noted, “Opposition to the reign of God takes a toll and has lasting consequences, but it never has the last word….We don’t always have the power to rein in the destructive potential of self-obsessed rulers, toxic values, and an unwillingness to listen to truth. But innocent people will suffer when we don’t use the power available to us.”[2]
Indeed. We certainly see in our news from last night of the destructive potential of violence when we do not do what is right. Innocent people do “suffer when we don’t [wisely and courageously] use the power available to us.”
So, let us be the ones – the ones to say we will no longer allow our sacred texts to be used to justify patriarchy, sexism, and misogyny. Instead – we will lift up the voices of women, respect them, and learn from them. For women are made in God’s image, and our behavior toward them is a reflection of our reverance for God.
We will not cower for fear of how we may look if we do the right thing in a difficult circumstance – we will do what is right even to the cross.
We will dance with joy, sing with gusto, and pray with all our heart because we are grateful – not for things, but for the very breath of life, the beauty of God’s creation, the love we experience in Christ Jesus.
Because as followers of Jesus, as ones who revere the holy presence of God all around us – there is no other way – to do otherwise is to die rather than truly live.
Let us choose life.
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-2/commentary-on-mark-614-29-6
[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-2/commentary-on-mark-614-29-6
Barbie monologue clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBqlDWHkdHk
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
July 14, 2024
Pentecost 8 – Year B
1st Reading – 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Psalm 24
2nd Reading – Ephesians 1:3-14
Gospel – Mark 6:14-29
