July 13, 2003
Mark 6:14-29
Ephesians 1:3-14
The passages from Mark and Ephesians both come from a general belief that God knows all things and has absolute power. Herod heard of the growing popularity of Jesus both in terms of what he taught and in his marvelous miraculous activity. Herod had recently been responsible for the death of John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus. John had proclaimed himself as one preparing the way for the coming Messiah, whom he believed to be Jesus. Immediately Herod supposed that John had been reincarnated in Jesus and would certainly do him harm. Herod had feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man. Herod therefore endeavored to keep John safe until his wife, Herodias suggested that her daughter ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod had promised the girl anything she wanted in appreciation for her dancing before him on his birthday. Herod believed that John was coming back through Jesus to bring justice upon his head. Herod clearly believed that God knew everything about him and had sufficient power to get even with Herod for killing a servant of God, even if it meant John must come back through the person of Jesus. Clear evidence that Herod believed God knew all things and could do all things.
The letter to the Ephesians speaks of God making plans before the foundation of the world for the event of Jesus and for the choosing of all who would become disciples of Jesus, even Paul.
This kind of thinking is common to much fundamentalist Christianity and is dangerous to the future of the world in a time like ours. After all, if God foreknows the destruction of the world and through his power will bring it to pass, there is little that mere human beings can do about the future. An alternate belief that makes good sense is that no one knows the future of the world because the future is dependent upon the behavior of the human family which lives in it. It is a positive, wholesome, and defensible belief that God wishes the best for the world--forever, and that humans can choose to work with God in fulfilling that positive dream, or they can contribute to the problems of the world by assuming God can/will save it if that if it is his choice to do so. With freedom comes much responsibility. We human beings are free to grow in knowledge of what God's dream for us is. We have been given power to work with God in bringing that dream to pass. Our future and that of the world is not foreordained. The future of the world is as much in the hands of human beings as it is in the hands of God. This fact is a gift from God through the power of choice given to human beings.